Midnight snack...

It is 4 a.m.

No, really it is 4 a.m.

I brought my computer home over the weekend to work on a few things because I had some time to make up that I missed last week.

So really it is 4 a.m and I am typing away on my work laptop at my coffee table - with a 'midnight' snack sitting next to me.

Something so 'normal' - working late into the night; maybe not even really so hungry as you are tired, but you find yourself staring at the inside of your frig anyway! You grab something easy, quick like some cheese. Um...open the pantry to find some crackers to go with it.

Awake but tired - you really could find it all in your sleep or with barely a light on in the kitchen - you always keep the cheese in the middle left deli/cheese crisper of the frig and the crackers are always on the bottom shelf to the right in the pantry.

You go ahead and pour just a little bit more soda over the ice you already have in your glass...your mouth kind of waters at the thought of that first drink and how it burns your throat going down. You're really not going to be up much longer so you pour just a little.

A few minutes later you find your work complete and your snack devoured. You head off to bed.

The midnight snack.

For every 1 in 6 Americans the simple, normal midnight snack is out of reach.

For the 50 million Americans struggling against hunger - the midnight snack is nothing more than a dream...

In the meantime

"As soon as I'm able, I'm going to get back to work… but in the meantime, I am so glad you are here!"

Cheryl stopped by the South Plains Food Bank to pick up a box of food for herself and her family. Cheryl is a middle aged woman with an engaging smile and a big heart. She loves to garden and never imagined in her wildest dreams she would be getting her "groceries" from the food bank. As a matter of fact, before she and her husband moved here from Ohio for a job, they volunteered at a food pantry in their church.

Almost as soon as they arrived here, her husband began feeling bad. It turns out he has cancer, a cancer that saps his strength. His illness forced him to quit his job. Cheryl has nothing but praise for the doctors taking care of her husband, but all the same, the bills are mounting up. As bad as that is, Cheryl fell and broke her ankle which means she isn't able to work right now either.

My friend Charlie Johnson once explained that we live life in the meantime; that time when hope is waiting on the promise of a brighter tomorrow. None of us expect to find ourselves in the meantime, but it is the meantime that defines who we are and who we are to become.

Cheryl's dream is to get back to work, to get out of debt, to get healthy, but in the meantime, she needs help in the form of food. We all have dreams and hopes we are waiting for, but in the meantime, we help one another. Sometimes that help is something as simple as a box of food and someone to listen.

At the South Plains Food Bank, we don't always know when we will meet "Cheryl" but we will. So what do we do in the meantime? We get ready. We collect food. We build up hope. We live in the meantime.


 - David Weaver

SPFB Dry Food Box

IMAG0043, a photo by davidweaverjr on Flickr.

Packed for the meantime.