Do what you CAN

Tis the season for food collection. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Mostly because we have a barrel at church and manage to fill it up every two months. Not bad for being such a small congregation!What's more impressive is that two weeks ago it was empty and the decision was made to see if we could send another barrel to the pantry before Thanksgiving, and it's looking like it will be filled on Sunday.

It's such an easy thing to do...donate food. Seriously, how hard is it to spot some one a can of veggies or a box of stuffing? This is the time of year where you can't turn around without finding a barrel or a donation bucket. Short of having someone come to your house and pick it up, it couldn't get much easier. Of course, if you desire pickup call your local boy scouts and find out the dates for Scouting for Food or wait until the Post Office Stamp Out Hunger drive. The point really is that there isn't any reason any of us can't participate in keeping the local food pantry stocked.

Don't know what to give? Well, lucky for you I found a couple of ideas. Toiletries are an oft overlooked item, so shampoo, toothpaste, soap are an option. A long time ago, a church I attended participated in the Feeding 5000 drive, and the suggested items for each box were:

Food items to put into each Project 5000 Box:


1. 2 cans of meat (2 different varieties – 12–24 oz. each)


2. 2 cans of vegetables-not green beans or peas, please (14.5 oz. each)


3. 2 cans of fruit (15 oz. each)


4. 1 can of pasta (15 oz.) (e.g., ravioli)


5. 2 boxes of macaroni and cheese (7.25 oz.)


6. 1 can of spaghetti sauce (26.5oz)


7. 2 cans of pork & beans or baked beans (16 oz. each)


8. 1 box of hot cereal (18 oz.)


9. 1 package of powdered milk (9.6 oz.)


10. 2 package of muffin/biscuit mix (8 oz.)


11. 2 cans of condensed soup or 1 can of non condensed soup.


12. 1 plastic jar of peanut butter (18 oz.)


13. 1 plastic jar of jelly (32 oz.)

Or another take on it can be found here from Kettering Fairmont HS. The list is set up the way it is because it's a class competition and each advisory get points based on how many list the fill. I think also that those are the component items used in the backpack program, so that's the other reason for their madness. The Feeding 5000 list or the Bronze list come out to about $20.00. It's really not that much, especially if you were to set the intention to provide that much on a monthly basis. I bet you could cover the cost with the money you find cleaning out your couch and car....just sayin'.

Til We Meet Again,
J