And the Cupboard Was Bare...

...well, not quite.  There IS food at the Berkeley Food Pantry,  but it is flying out the door faster than ever, and the shelves have to be re-stocked constantly with whatever is donated or can be bought with donations.  And the bags we're giving out are lighter.

On Monday, we had 68 households requiring food, a record for my nearly three years of being a Monday volunteer. Sitting at the table checking in clients, I was struck by the desperation many of them radiated, people whose cupboards are really, truly bare. Those of us in the front room, where the clients come, were thanked and blessed many times by people who carried groceries home on bikes, in carts, in roller bags.

I asked one lady, who had blessed us amply,  if we would go to heaven.

"Oh, definitely," she said, graciously. "And we will, too, because we were helped by you."    

Monday volunteers  Pat, Judy, and Maria.