While working in our church’s food pantry, I was lugging bags of free food out to a car, while the recipient waddled along beside me (carrying her bags of free clothes), and found there were between 1 and 3 adult men sitting in the car, smoking. I put the bags down by the church door, walked over to the car and rapped on the window and told the men, “You need to get out of this car and help that woman carry those bags of food” and then walked off. After that, unless the person getting the food was elderly or walked with a cane, I never offered to carry their food to their cars again. I told them they could make several trips if they needed to. I got dirty looks from them, and from a few of my co-workers because everyone thought I was being mean. So I asked the co-workers why they thought it was bad for me not to carry those bags of food. One older lady said that she looked on it as part of the ministry to carry the bags and that she was trying to be nice. I responded that she was being taken advantage of because most of the people she was carrying for were much younger than her and could easily carry their own bags. Besides, I added, they aren’t doing anything for this food that we’re paying for to give them and if all they do is walk out to the car carrying a few bags, that’s a little work for their free stuff.
While delivering Christmas dinners to the “needy” for church one year, my sister (divorced, working mother with no support)and her 10 year old son saw enough of these people to completely change their thinking.
Walking up flights of stairs, loaded down with grocery bags of food, having the door opened to see able-bodied men and women with better furniture than my sister. They instructed that my sister “just put everything over there on the table”. No thank you, but a couple of inquiries as to whether or not there were presents for the kids this year as well.
Never mind that these are the same people who receive a nice big government cheque from us every month. Disgusting.
“While working in our church’s food pantry...”
I have never understood why productive people in society need to volunteer in food pantry’s and soup kitchens instead of requiring the recipients of these programs to do this work. Its the lazy bums and drunks that should be sorting the food, ladling their own damn soup and washing the dishes.
I helped carry bags from our food pantry to a mom that had called the church - couldn’t get there during pantry hours, but would come after work and get them.
Sounded good to me. She was wearing scrubs, and I helped her track down the bags and then carry them to her car - a Cadillac Escalade, and an able-bodied 20-something man sitting in the passenger seat.
Hard to keep your heart right after that...try to stay thankful and serve...because you are not serving them...gotta do it for the one who gave it all for me...
The OT way of leaving some gleanings in the field for them to eat was very appropriate.......................