“Get angry at hunger!” The featured speaker of the Honey Brook Food Pantry’s 2nd Annual Dinner told attendees to get angry about hunger and become hunger heroes.
“If you lined-up all the hungry people in America it would stretch from New York to Los Angeles two and a half times,” said hunger advocate Steveanna Wynn, executive director of Share who came out hard hitting with an in-your-face passionate talk.
Wynn is riveting in response to Honey Brook Food Pantry testimonials.
“We need action and advocacy. If proposed bills to reduce hunger assistance in federal and state legislature get passed, places like this pantry are going to go down. Ken will be hard pressed to fill the needs.”
She continues in a call to action, “It is good to feel good to help, but you should feel angry! Don’t call people clients, call them participants. These are good people caught in a vicious cycle. They are not people here by chance, they are people doing all they can do, but they can’t make it work. They don’t want to be here.”
The Honey Brook Food Pantry strives to be all that. In addition to their food drives and events, their food distribution includes the following programs: medical intervention with nurse on site; healthy cooking demos providing ingredients; financial and budgeting counseling; Free Market flea market; back -pack; gardening; transportation; and employment brokering coming soon.
To the crowd gathered at the April 7 dinner held at the Forks of the Brandywine EPC, Glenmoore, Honey Brook Food Pantry Board Chairman Kenneth Ross said, “There is no typical family or person that suffers from food insecurity. People have the wrong idea. They come in all shapes and sizes. They are not drunks, drug addicts, bums, lazy immigrants, etc. They are people down on their luck, in a situation trying to find a way out.”
“Honey Brook is unique,” added Ross. “Very high poverty areas neighbor rich farms and influential homes.”
Their mission is to achieve food security, independence, and respect. The magic is to connect those in need with those who provide.
The evening revealed the truth about hunger. Food Pantry clients shared their stories live or through written testimonials read by others.
“I’m working two jobs to make ends meet supporting my disabled husband with cancer and my two grandchildren,” said a food pantry client speaking with anonymity. “Because of the Food Pantry I have a bed for my grandson and a table and chairs. When my grandson says I’m hungry, Grandmom, now there is food.”
Her concern is that cheap processed food is causing obesity and health problems and the expense of buying healthy greens, milk and meat is beyond her reach. She earns too much to get assistance, the pantry makes it possible to stretch her food budget and get meat and needed hygiene products.
“If it wasn’t for the pantry and these good people, what would we do? In America, many are a few paychecks away from being homeless or in a shelter,” she concludes.
The room is hushed as 22-year-old mother of twin boys and a one-year-old daughter comes to the podium.
“Almost three years ago, I had twins born at seven months who were rushed into an incubator with wires and tubes everywhere. Four days later I was discharged from the hospital, my babies remained for 28 days. I felt empty and alone, not just because I left without them, but because literally I had no one.”
An abusive relationship with their father made her too scared to leave until the day he almost killed her. He fled to Mexico leaving her two months pregnant. This time her daughter’s father is in the picture, supporting them on $240 a week after taxes and child support he pays.
“Things get difficult. Tensions get high. We just can’t seem to pay our debts. Then, I can be left scared and alone with my three kids,” she said.
Having to leave her job because $350 weekly childcare was more than she earned, she has now applied for subsidized child care and was told she must be employed to get approved. She wonders how do you start a job without someone to care for the children?
They bought a small mobile home with their tax return last year, but there is lot rent, homeowner’s taxes and a long past due electric bill. This year’s tax money caught up the overdue lot rent, but a letter sits on the table reminding them they will lose their home if the homeowner’s taxes aren’t paid.
“This winter was rough, a broken furnace and frozen water pipes. We lived in our small bedroom with a space heater. With no gas to cook, we ate canned or microwavable food. I went hungry to feed the kids. Desperate, I called the pantry, A stranger, Ken Ross, listened and helped. Two heaters, heat-tape for the pipes and a propane tank of gas, along with precious food saved us.”
Food is the biggest part of her struggle. Meat and $2 baby wipes are things she can’t afford.
“We are grateful to all of you who volunteer with your amazing hearts and smiles. You make us feel accepted, a part of the community,” and to the donors, she said, “Without you I could not be here. Oh, precious food. Thank you, everyone. Your kindness changed our lives.”
Registered dietician and nurse Julie Funk, Director of Community Wellness Services from Chester County Hospital, told Tri County Record, “Hunger with all its complex dynamics has at the center of everything unrelenting stress creating chronic inflammation that leads to heart disease, etc. The universal message is to reduce these three important things: saturated fats, sodium and sugar in our diets.”
In addition to doing health assessments, through blood pressures, glucose and cholesterol levels, she sends those results to their healthcare provider. Her services are expanding through her One to One philosophy by providing One to One diabetic education.
“Our hospital’s approach is every ONE person you can reach in a meaningful way can make a difference! As a diabetic educator, seeing people one on one at the pantry, I help them make healthy choices.”
Funk is conducting a survey of regular attendees by determining their needs and creating programs they are willing to participate in.
“The growing season is approaching with healthy fruits, vegetables and grains. Our Taste-It program teaches them to prepare and season without salt. Then they get all the ingredients to make the meal.”
For more information about how to get involved at the Honey Brook Food Pantry, visit www.honeybrookfoodpantry.org or call 610-273-6102.
