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.

Want vs. Need

1 in 6.

1 in 6 Americans is touched by a food bank.

I am one.

I live in fear every month that I am not going to have enough money to provide everything we need for the month. And yes, I tease my mother all the time that I know the difference between want and need: I want a haircut; my son needs insulin! I get it the difference really.

Occassionally, when I am online, I will read those cost saving articles - "How to trim $100 a month from your budget," or "50 ways to save $2,000 a year." I have to laugh because most of the time I am doing everything they have listed! There's no where to trim or save in my budget!

I live in fear. There is not a dime to spare in my budget. Rent, utilities, gas, groceries, medical bills, student loans, car payment, car insurance, monthly prescriptions, and doctor bills take everything I make. Really, they do.

I am not one paycheck from being homeless. I am one extra prescription a month; I am one more doctor visit a month; I am one more medical bill away from being homeless. One more thing added to my plate and we can't afford to live on our own.

And I am not alone. There are thousands of Americans just like me.

1 and 6 Americans is touched by a food bank.

They are people who are not one paycheck away - they are one more thing away from needing help.

The baby gets sick; the car breaks down; they begin taking care of aging parents; their hours got cut at work...it was just one more thing added to their plate.

Their plate is full of everything, but food because they are forced to choose between medicine for their child and food.

They live in fear. They live totally stressed out; stressed out about how they are going to make ends meet this paycheck.

1 and 6 Americans is touched by a food bank.

Do you know one?

I am glad Spring is here

When it came to things poetic, I am obtuse. A couple of days ago, however, I came across this poem by Robert Frost. The next day I stopped by the South Plains Food Bank Farm and our Apple Orchard. The GRUB Kids have been getting the farm ready for our growing season. Debbie Cline, our Farm Manager, has already harvested some asparagus. Onions are planted. Lettuce and cabbage are growing. Tulips are about to bloom.

At the Apple Orchard, 2,500 trees have been pruned. The trees are leafing out. The Jonagold Apple Trees are beginning to bloom.The Orchard is taking off!

The produce that comes from the farm and the orchard will wind up providing tasty treats for the clients of the South Plains Food Bank... at least that's the hope. I don't know what kinds of flood, droughts, hail storms, freezes, or pest we will have in the weeks and months to come but for the moment, we are full of hope. The hope of new beginnings.

I am glad Spring is here.


A Prayer in Spring
Robert Frost

OH, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.
And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.
For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfil.