Mascera, Mudflap (KLLL), a tutu and the Can-Can Food Drive

Today as I was running a few errands before work I tuned in to KLLL's morning show. They have kicked off the Annual Can Can Food Drive for us in a huge way! We don't officially get out there until 11am with all the sponsors and volunteers but Jeff, Kelli and Mudflap were already promoting the food drive and getting people in to buy $5 bags of food to help re-stock the SPFB!

I started listening at 8am and their goal was to sell 20, $5 bags in an hour. First, let me explain about the bags of food. Every bag is filled with food, healthy food, that will go into the food boxes the SPFB hands out. United is selling them for $5 (they worth more than that) and the SPFB is able to feed one more family on the South Plains. Mudflap (from KLLL's morning show) was on site to sell those bags! They are at the register of the United on 82nd and Frankford. Okay, back to the goal. With 15 minutes left, they had already sold 39 bags so they increased their goal to 100 bags!! From 20 to 100 -- WOW!! There were some people who simply stopped by and handed their money to Mudflap and he then went and bought the bags. It's that easy!!!

I have to say that I'm glad I wasn't wearing mascera this morning -- ladies, you know what I mean. Any water in the eyes and that stuff just runs like mad down your face. I wasn't expecting to be so moved by the generosity of our fellow Lubbockites, but I was. I couldn't help but think, this community really does care. Maybe I'm an idealist or maybe people just really want to see Mudflap in a tutu (that's right, if our goal for the day is reached, Mudflap will wear a tutu tomorrow). However, I choose to believe that even in this time of economic hardship that is hitting us all, people still want to afford their friends and neighbors the right to eat. I think of the faces of the children that will be fed thanks to this food drive and I can't help but tear up a little.

Our goal for the week is 1000 bags ... so let's keep it going strong Lubbock!

The Lines Are Getting Longer

A friend of mine was in town for a few days. Naturally, I invited him to lunch. On our way I warned him that the restaurant we where we were going for lunch usually had a big crowd. Expecting a long wait, we arrived a little before noon hoping to avoid the line. To my surprise, there was no line. We were seated and served in no time at all. The food was just as good as ever, but plenty of tables were available the whole time we were there.

I saw the owner of the restaurant, Paul, and asked how his business was holding up. He smiled, pointed to the empty tables and said, “See for yourself. It’s been like this for a while. People just aren’t eating out as much.”

The irony of this hit me when I returned to the South Plains Food Bank after lunch. We had a
line of people out our door waiting to pick up food boxes.

Since late last summer, we have seen a 20% increase in the number of people turning to the South Plains Food Bank. The increase was even more dramatic in October and November when fuel prices were reaching its peak. I remembered what Paul said, “…It’s been this way for a
while.”

Hunger Survey

OK... It's been a while since I've posted anything. I was talking to Jenifer Smith the other day. Jenifer has been helping out with our quadrennial hunger survey. We do it as part of a national survey conducted by Feeding America. The purpose is to give us a snapshot of the faces of hunger in the nation and here on the South Plains.

A couple of weeks ago, Jenifer went to interview clients at one of our agencies, St. Paul's on the Plains Episcopal Church. On Thursday morning, they host a Neighbor 2 Neighbor Breakfast for people in the South Overton neighborhood. South Overton is a once proud neighborhood that now is a crossroads for many homeless and low income people in Lubbock. Neighbor 2 Neighbor is a wonderful ministry that connects the church to the local community.

Jenifer showed up at 6:30 a.m. (which is no small feat in itself) to talk with clients and gather info for our survey. She spoke with a homeless gentleman, Jeff, who was coming by for breakfast. Although he is only in his mid thirties, Jeff's face is already weathered and lined from being outside so much of the time. Jeff is works as a day laborer on a steady basis. He lives "outside the library."

Part of the survey asks whether or not the participant has gone without food, has made choices between having medicine and having food, or skipped meals so someone else could eat. As Jeff responded to the questions, tears began to form in his eyes. As Jenifer put it, "They began to flood the lined channels of his face." As Jenifer shared the moment with him, tears formed in her eye. She found some tissue for him and her as they cried in silence.

Sometimes it never dawns on us... what our choices mean. Noha ben Shea says that, "Life is lived forward but understood backwards." Jeff never really thought about himself as homeless and hungry until that moment. And for the moment, all Jenifer could do was comfort Jeff and remind him of all the people in our community who care and try to help.

When Jenifer told me this story, she made a comment that stuck with me, " I wish I could wipe away his hunger as easily as I wiped away his tears."

Both Jenifer and Jeff were changed in this encounter. It's one of the the serendipties of the Food Bank that give us all a new awareness of one another and the possibilities of hope.