When you need help, who will you call?

posted 02:00 PM 12/02
Permanent Link.

Every year, The Olympian runs the story about Barb’s Family & Friends holiday dinner, as well as the story about the holiday food baskets given away at the Thurston County Food Bank. I would venture a guess that if you’ve never been in one of those lines, or at one of those dinners, you may not be able to understand the wide range of emotions the people in those places feel. Personally, I have never been to any of Barb’s holiday meals, but to be honest, I have been in that food bank line. Not for many years, mind you, but I can’t imagine that I was feeling any different then than the thousands feel that make that trip now.

Sometime when you don’t have a lot of other things on your mind, give some thought to this:

How much food must be donated to feed 6,727 people? That’s the number of people who received Thanksgiving baskets this year at the Food Bank. Christmas has yet to come.

How many of those do you think are working poor? Not that whether you’re working or not really makes you any more worthy or needy — it’s just a curious thought. When you work for a living, you’re supposed to be able to feed your family, right? Did you know that 2,010 hours of manpower was donated to the Food Bank this year? These are people who used vacation time, floating hours, spare time (and who’s got much of that?), etc. to make sure when they sat down to their own Thanksgiving dinner, they knew they had a small part in helping those less fortunate do the same.

Barb’s Family & Friends fed 1,250 people this year at their annual holiday dinner. That’s 250 more people than they fed last year. Even though Barb is gone now, her legacy is one of love and compassion that is carried on by her family and friends. That is no small contribution to the less fortunate in this community.

Where does the food come from? It comes from the many people who donate to these organizations throughout the year. There are many grocery stores in our area where you can drop a can of food into a bin on your way out of the store. There are many ways to donate to these organizations, and even when you can’t donate food or money, what about a couple of hours of time?

Here’s another bit of information that recently came to my attention: The First Baptist Church, at Ninth and Washington streets in Olympia, serves a complete hot meal every Sunday evening at 4 p.m. Not just for the holidays, but weekly throughout the year. They feed between 200 and 300 people every Sunday, and it is available for all. Where on earth are they getting their food?

Have you ever asked yourself or someone else, “How can I help?”

Like many, I’m not able to pull money out very often, but I can help once in a while, and if that means adding to the food bins in the grocery store or buying an extra case of vegetables at Costco, then why not? If I ever wonder if I have the means to help, I just remember where I was when I found myself in that food bank line all those years ago.

Want to help?

Thurston County Food Bank: 220 Thurston Ave., Olympia, 360-352-8597

Barb’s Family & Friends: Call Rodney O’Neill at 360-786-9835

First Baptist Church of Olympia: Call 360-357-3881

Comments

From my kitchen to yours

posted 02:24 PM 11/28

Small ways to make a big difference

posted 05:12 PM 11/25

Let's swap biscotti and cookies

posted 05:39 PM 11/21

A sign of the times

posted 03:30 PM 11/18

Cutbacks everywhere. And the only difference between me and the last tired soul to declare mental bankruptcy is that I have a desire to reorganize and not give up the ship entirely.

Looking at a bad week in the rear-view mirror

posted 03:47 PM 11/14

The demise of a fairy tale

posted 03:28 PM 11/13

Tragedy inspires new childproofing

posted 04:44 PM 11/11

Sunday Swap #4: No-Sew blanket, and the need to read

posted 08:30 AM 11/09

My daughter was looking for gift ideas recently, and wanted to add a homemade touch as well as keep it economical. She came across a pattern for a no-sew blanket.

Getting credit where credit is due

posted 05:26 PM 11/06

Campaign ads leave bad taste that lingers

posted 09:56 PM 11/04

Sunday Swap Meet #3: All about comfort

posted 12:28 PM 11/02

Halloween has come and almost gone, it must be time for Christmas?

posted 02:54 PM 10/30

As much as I love the malls at Christmas, and I will still go just for the ambience, online shopping is God’s gift to working women. I can shop in my bathrobe. I can shop and sip margaritas, and my feet don’t hurt when I’m done. I just march my buzzed butt off to bed, knowing my shopping headache will be because of too many margaritas at the kitchen table and not because someone needed instruction and a license to drive a shopping cart.

Randomosity

posted 07:34 AM 10/29

Sunday Swap Meet #2

posted 12:33 PM 10/26

Recently, my daughter, my granddaughter, and I decided to attempt one of those ‘candy-in-a-box’ kits by Wilton, where you can make chocolate lollipops and/or candy pieces. Just to be clear here, my daughter and granddaughter did the work, I supervised because, well, you know, all good candy factories have a supervisor, right?