This morning I decided I really wanted to do some heavy-duty cleaning around the house, but I needed to make a quick trip to the store to pick up a few things for the week ahead. Because I also wanted to indulge in that Sunday American tradition known as watching football, my trip was a bit hurried so I could get back home and settled.
As I came through the doors, I passed the Second Harvest Food Bank donation barrels. No big deal, they are always there. Plus, they have donation barrels at my local library, and I always drop off donations any time I go pick up a hold book. Those barrels are something I pass by regularly.
Today the sight of them stayed with me for some reason. I don't know if it was the whole awareness of it being the "big holiday food drive" push, or the thought that I was there casually picking up "whatever" and didn't have to really worry about where my next meal was coming from. Maybe it was just the early morning combined with PMS making me extra sentimental. But for some reason, after being done with my shopping and in the process of heading toward the self check-out at the front of the store, the image of those two barrels standing guard at the exit door, silently waiting for someone to notice them, came to mind and would not leave.
Turning around and heading back into the heart of the store, I was reminded that for only $10 more on my bill, I could buy four bags of rice, two cans of beans, and two large cans of soup. For an elderly man, or a small family, or someone who has been looking for work and hasn't found anything they can live off of yet, those four bags of rice, two cans of beans, and two large cans of soup could mean the difference between something to eat, and nothing to eat. What a sobering thought, and what a simple solution.
I don't expect that I'll always have $10 extra to buy things like this, but it is entirely possible to add one extra can of tuna, or one more box of crackers when I go shopping. Knowing that the barrels stand so patiently waiting will help remind me that people aren't hungry only at Christmas.
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