211/365 Food Pantry Knowledge

Some things we just know. For instance, we know that complete meals, including protein, are more valuable to the food pantry than a can of carrots. In the summer when free breakfast and lunch programs cease, fortified breakfast cereal is of utmost importance. Food pantries also give away toiletries and often run low.

When I lived in the suburbs, I didn't know these things. We had no need to know those things. None of our parishes had food pantries. I think down in Dallas, we did Thanksgiving boxes.

We have a collection on the first Sunday of the month for the food pantry--a collection of food, that is. I always try to have something, and when I think of it, I shop specifically with that in mind. This month it caught me off guard. It was a box of oatmeal and two cans of refried beans. Fail. No--not fail, because the oatmeal is important.

I sometimes wonder if we could put our garden to better use and grow some produce for the food pantry. Greens, for instance, followed by tomatoes or something from the squash family. I wonder if we would be successful with that. I know if I depended on food from a food pantry I'd love a fresh tomato or cucumber. When we had the school garden, that's exactly where the tomatoes went during the summer. So many tomatoes. But like all things, it wouldn't work without folks to do it. And I'm full up.