Look at these wonderful people

I just love all our wonderful helpers at the food pantry. Jan tore herself away from her new little daughter Charlie Ann to come down and help us out.Donnie and Andy are always there to help. Mr. Hannaford is a mainstay. If I didn't have Jackie to run interference for me I might be snookered by more people that I care to think about. She can be a bossy butt at times but her heart is as big as she is and its a good heart. Some of my helpers are camera shy and they were hiding from me. But we were getting ready to open the flood gates and had out those boxes. If you have a good back you need to come and help us out. I can't seem to get those young'uns to some on Saturdays to give out the food. Oh they will collect it for me. And there are many thankful people for those collections. But the strong backs are needed for 'toting' those boxes out the doors for the ones that can't carry it. All I heard on Saturday was "I'm gonna need a BIG Tylenol when I get home." Each box was filled with a 3 lb. ham, a 2 lb can of Chicken a 1 lb can of shredded pork, 10 15oz cans of veggies and fruits as well as the 2lb bags of rice and cereal and liter of milk. So each box weighed in at 20 pounds or more. Ya'll pray that we get another helping hand from FEMA for 2007. I hope that we can get even more this year. The pantry desperately needs it. Our overhead is low. The utility bill is about the minimum each month. The insurance is 300 or 400 a year. I forget how much on that one. The shipping each month for the food runs around 200 to 250 and we still have to drive down to the drop off point and then bring the food back. The December shipment was 3999 pounds and that cost us 200. The majority of the food is donationed but we have to pay for it to be shipped from Jackson to our pick up point in Starkville. I can only use the FEMA money to buy food locally so that buck doesn't go as far. But both grocer's do a wonderful job of giving us as much as they can both bear for the best possible price. And the pantry does have non-profit status. There are no employees. I could use a filing cabinet if anybody has one they don't use any longer. Some good folks donated a desk for me and a good chair and we have a long table and some folding chairs for when we have to sign people up and for re-registering.

Scott built all of the pallets and the tables that we stack the foodstuffs on. The rollers were donated by a store that was going out of business. Those have been a God-send. The boxes just load so much easier when you can roll then down the line instead of pushing with all your might.

Some of the pantry recipients come and cut the grass for us and make sure that the trash is put on the street and then move the dumpster back for us. They also come and help carry out the boxes. It makes them feel better that they can give and not just take.