Subbing at the Pantry Shelf

Monday, March 24 I did the registration at the Pantry Shelf. We had 20 families and that perfectly filled the 3 hours we were there. I got to see Molly Storey and her son, Ned. The Story’s attend Central Christian Church which is the church I went to as a child. My parents and the Storey’s were in a square dancing group together. I worked with their son for a while in San Jose—actually in Scott’s Valley when he was a contract worker there. This time he reminded me he is a big city loving person and mentioned restaurants. He’s given up the city life for and working in the Tri-Cities now so as to be closer to his parents. Molly is in her 80s, and is pretty much housebound now, taking care of her husband, Neil. Molly has always been very active and is the treasurer for the pantry shelf. Her mind is still quite clear and her smile still lovely. Molly came in to turn in envelopes for the workers letting us know what we had donated. She said she wanted to save money on stamps (now 41 cents, soon to go up again). After she left I told the clients that she’s the treasurer for the Pantry Shelf. I think it took a while for them to connect the elderly woman with work there. Don’t know that too many of them realize how many volunteers it takes to keep the place going.

One of the regulars was there--Monte. He's around 60, quite large, and walks with two crutches. His back is really bad. He's fun because he turns what people say into puns. One of his favorite things is when he's asked his date of birth. He says he doesn't remember because he was just born. He plays with that one quite a bit. We joked back and forth and had people around us smiling, which was nice to see.

One of the clients and Monte's caretaker was a big help with translations and keeping me straight. Wish I could remember her name. Let's call her Sandra. Somewhere in the middle of the four hours with the clients two of them left and I made the mistake of giving their numbers to someone who came in later. Which meant people who had been there before them got those numbers. Thank heavens Sandra helped me straight that out. Around 2:15 pm a woman came in who had to be out of there by 2:45pm to pick her kids. We were up to number 35 or so and the people behind the counter were helping client 16. She said they were out of food. I tried to work with her but when she said her last name was changed now that she was married and she wanted to add all his children, along with her three, I told her there was no way she could be out of there in time to pick up her kids. Besides, it would be unfair to all those people who got there earlier and had to get home sometime too.

There is no heat in there now that construction is going on in the church. Several large holes in the ceilings and walls for the ductwork (not hooked up yet) make for lots of cold air in there. It was so cold I was wearing a long sleeved knit shirt, a sweater, and a jacket, and my mittens with the fingers cut off. The tips of the fingers on my left hand started getting numb and white after a few hours there, so I told the client if I fainted it was because of my cold hands, so she could explain to whomever. Eventually I could feel them again, but it took a while.

When I was doing registration one of the younger women close to me was talking with a friend about a tattoo she had done on herself which cost $125. I turned to her and said “I suggest you don’t talk about how much you spent on a tattoo when you are at the Pantry Shelf and turned back to the client I was helping. She told her friend it was a gift to her. And I’m thinking—you couldn’t use the money for food?!?!? I know a lot of the people who come have no way to earn an income—they have disabilities (mental or physical) – or are occupied with taking care of someone and have no time to work. And there are some who ARE working but not making enough to support themselves. But, there are so many of the younger people there who don’t have a clue as to what taking responsibility for themselves means. Especially the women who keep plopping out kids while changing boyfriends. Although I realize birth control sometimes fails. But, it’s frustrating.