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.