For the second year in a row I did not send Christmas cards.  I'd have had time if I wasn't such a procrastinator.  My main focus, however, was to get the thank you notes/receipts for the donations to the Food Panty and the St. NIcholas Project finished before Christmas Eve.  I mailed the last ones on the 24th.  Donations are still coming in but that continues throughout the year.

This is the Thank You I put in our local weekly newspaper.  "In spite of the cold, our hearts are warmed by the kindness and generosity of people in our community.  The food pantry shelves and freezers are re-stocked and we have funds to assist families with food this winter.  Our help comes from adults, teens, children, churches, businesses, and all sorts of organizations.  Our radio station organized the Can-a-thon, Home Town Christmas participants, collected food at various events, our grocery store collected your change as you allowed them to "round up" your sales slips to the next dollar, thrivent for Lutherans sent people out on shopping, and five music makers sponsored for our hospital held a concert to raise money for us.  The filled the theater on a stormy night.  All sorts of people helped us out.  Many people helped with the back-breaking job of hauling all those cans and packages to the Food Pantry.  There are so many others that they are impossible to list.  We speak for many people when we tell you how grateful we are to each and every one of you.  The Food Pantry Volunteers"

There are five people right now on our board.  We each volunteer one day a week.  The pantry is located in a room we rent from the St. Vincent de Paul Store.  Our customers call the store and they take the information and call the volunteer for the day.  We make an appointment for the customer.  Our pantry supplies paper, cleaning, and personal products as well as food.  There is no criteria beyond our own judgement about who should be helped.  We also give vouchers to the grocery stores for some items we can't supply if we think it is necessary.

The food pantry grew out of the juxtaposition of a number of ideas.  As I recall it, I had had a conversation with someone in New Orleans back in 1982 who told me that they had a city-wide Council of Churches.  It seemed like a good way to join forces with other congregations to share education and social net-working.  We already had been doing some of that in emergency situations as all communities do, but I could not figure out just how to approach it.  A couple years later our larger church was pushing for us to be more deliberate in those areas of our life together.  I brought it up at a meeting and someone else became the person who brought the idea to the other congregations.  Social service organizations became part of it, and the food pantry was born.  The location has been changed a number of times and the way it operates has responded to necessity.

I became involved a few years after its beginning because a friend wanted to be part of it.  She had attended a few meetings and she did not feel as though she was accepted.  She was a soft-spoken, gentle person and had trouble feeling that she was heard when she said anything.  I attended a couple meetings with the intention of just helping get acquainted with the others.  She wound up moving away and I became the treasurer.

The other volunteers work a lot harder than I do.  They stock shelves and manage the deliveries of food from various sources.  They do most of the shopping.  I just pay the bills and make financial reports.

2009 will probably be a very busy year for us.  Unemployment is very high in our county and underemployment is even worse.  Our local paper mill is on an extended lay-off right now.  As long as neighbors care about each other, we''ll manage whatever comes.

May your cupboards be full with enough food to share in the coming year.  I wish you all peace and prosperity.

Ellie