Lessons in Gratitude Day 77

I am so appreciative of so many of the people in my life. Today I’ve had a wonderful e-mail from an old friend, phone conversations with  two of my siblings, fun and thoughtful comments on recent blog posts, and good interactions with my fellow volunteers at the Berkeley Food Pantry.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the food pantry and about the hunger in our community and across the country. I think about all the political rhetoric about the economy and new jobless “numbers” and the newly released statistics about how many people in this country live in poverty. Politicians and pundits are spending a lot of time talking about numbers and stats and polls. I wish they would spend an afternoon–at least one–volunteering at a food pantry or soup kitchen or homeless shelter and begin to put faces to their statistics. I see the people–74 came into the pantry today. I see their faces, I hear their stories. I fetch and hand them their groceries. I help them carry their bags to their car because sometimes they are older or have physical challenges. When they leave the pantry, it’s often with a “God bless you” or a thank you and genuine gratitude–it feels almost like a blessing from them.

I watch my fellow volunteers–their energy, their compassion, their steadfastness, their kindness. There’s never a sense of judgment, of looking down at clients, of pity, of anything other than service, “how can I assist you today?” We work hard, we bump into one another, we make mistakes, we share pieces of our lives with one another, we are dismayed when we run out of cereal or other types of food before we run out of clients for the day. I have gained a lot from working with them. And I find myself wondering if there isn’t more I could be doing to bring awareness of the issue of hunger in our community to our broader community. I am asking myself this evening as I am writing this blog, “what else do I need to be doing not just to bring more support into the Berkeley Food Pantry, but also more awareness of the problem of hunger?” For tonight I don’t have an answer, but my brain has begun noodling on it. I imagine it’s just a matter of time before some ideas come to me. In the meantime I’ll keep showing up on Wednesday afternoons and being in community with the volunteers and clients.

I have been blessed with many gifts, with the privilege of having an education, and with the physical ability to be able to contribute to helping make my community a better place. I am grateful for the nudging that led me to begin volunteering at the pantry and at the blessing the experience has been for me thus far. I am uncertain as to what the future holds for me in terms of employment and where that work might be. One thing I know for certain is that I will find a way to continue to volunteer, to contribute my time and energy in service to others–in person…face to face. The jobless, the hungry, the homeless are not numbers and statistics, they are people. When the powers-that-be begin to finally realize that, then perhaps things will change. It is up to me and others of us who know this truth to help them realize it.

Bill Shive, Director of the Berkeley Food Pantry