I honestly had to shake myself when it occurred to me that we have been participating in the Jerome Food Bank every week for ONE ENTIRE YEAR as of the first Wednesday in January. What an honor and privilege to be a small part of this juggernaut of unfailing volunteerism on behalf of the Haven crowd and the odd lot of dedicated Jeromites who are there every Wednesday (and sometimes other times as well) without fail to organize and distribute goods. The only aspect of our time with them that exceeds that privilege has been our learning curve! And what a steep and humor and error-filled one to put it mildly.
The next time you visit take a moment to read about our journey recorded in the stories “We Are NOT the Caterers” and “Stone Soup Kitchen Annex.” One of the graces of that journey has been the container angels that crop up mysteriously as bags of ziplocks and recycled containers appear at the back door, on outside doorknobs, and in the post. We are gratified at how many folks pitch in weekly but we confess that on occasion the storage in the garage has gotten way disheveled and disorganized to where we weren’t certain what all we had let alone needed. And then there is the pantry of spices that are critical to our cooking efforts and everyone knows how frustrating it is to be absent a flavor that is needed right at that moment. Running to the garage repeatedly was a pain in the neck while we were in full bore cooking gear.
This week we took the bull by the horns to change all that. The infamous scary closet in my office presented itself as the perfect opportunity for a new AND ORGANIZED location for our Food Bank supplies so Joshua led the attack to make space and get us organized. Shelves were added quickly, a new light hung, and then the task of the move-in.
It was a daunting task and this image was simply the last little bit of it – whew!
Man oh man was it worth it and look at us now – the PICTURE of organization, right?