Good to remember

I went to my local food pantry yesterday. It was the first time I'd been to the actual location in months.* It's in a church basement, and as I trotted down the stairs with my donation, the first words I heard were, "Who needs a ticket? The wait this morning is two hours."

Two hours! Now granted, the wait may have been unusually long because it's a holiday weekend, but still, that's a long time for my neighbors to wait for four cans of vegetables/fruit/soup, frozen meat, and bread designed to last a week. (The rules state a household may only visit the food pantry once a month. Otherwise there won't be enough to serve everyone in need.)

People are always generous around Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. The good spirits surrounding these special days just make helping others top of mind. But we must remember that need extends into summer, too.

Especially because kids don't take advantage of school lunches in summer. I'm glad I included a package of cookies and a bottle of mustard along with all the soup and tuna. I like thinking that somewhere in my community, kids are going to enjoy hot dogs for lunch with chocolate sandwich cookies for dessert.

Every time I visit the grocery or drugstore, I pick up something that costs $1 or less. There's always something on sale -- a can of peas, a packet of mashed potato mix, a box of mac and cheese. I never notice the expense and it makes me happy to see that, in no time, I have enough food to share with my neighbors.

If you don't know where the local food bank is in your area, click here.

*I donate food to the organization regularly via the drop box at our Visitors' Center, but this summer The Center is being renovated.