December 2021 • Simple Acts at Christmas
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
It was a very busy Thursday morning at the pantry when I watched an elderly female slowly walk toward me with her walker and the assistance of her Tri-Met bus driver. It was nine days before Christmas. The air was brisk and cool that morning. We had just finished counting the 67 families that were in line before the pantry opened.
Looking at the female walking toward me, I knew she would not be able to stand in line for very long. As the two approached the bus driver said, “We just checked in at the dental van and were wondering if there is any way she can sit inside the church as she waits for her turn to see the dentist?” The woman was no taller than five feet, and the walk from one end of the parking lot to the other had clearly tired her. “Well, of course you can come in out the cold and sit in the church,” I told her. “I have the perfect place where you can watch and see all that’s happening outside.”
I took the woman by the arm and helped guide her into the building. She was clearly cold, but desperately needed some dental work done by the once-a-month dental clinic hosted at the pantry. Walking into the church, her body began to relax as the warm air settled on her. Grabbing a chair, I sat the woman in front of a window.
At that moment I witnessed a second female, just as elderly and frail, come walking up the to church door also seeking a warm place to wait for the dentist.
Earlier that week we received a phone call from a nearby hospital. The hospital’s discharge planner said he had a patient who is immunocompromised due to cancer treatment he had undergone. He stated that the man was also blind.
The discharge planner explained, “My patient needs to come to the pantry, but because he is not able to see, he is very concerned about the potential exposure he may have to others when he arrives if he has to wait amongst everyone there. He also would be taking public transportation to get to the pantry. Would it be possible for him to wait his turn in an isolated room inside of the church?”
It is an act as simple as providing a warm place for people to wait during Christmas that can bring about the biggest smiles and provide the needed comfort and assurance individuals need.
That is what the pantry provides for those who come. It is what your ongoing donations help make happen.
The longer the pantry remains a tangible source of assistance for those in need, the more security it breeds in the lives of the people who come, as well as giving a level of comfort to the discharge planners and case managers working hard to ensure the patients they care for in our communities are connected with the resources they need.
Through the support of our volunteers and donors such as yourself, we have been able to consistently provide nutritious food and decrease the anxiety for thousands of families in our community. There is just nothing like witnessing how bags of groceries, a kind word and genuine smiles can turn a person’s downcast countenance around and provide hope.
Before I close out this letter, I would like to invite you once again to purchase your tickets for our Annual Gala, “Share the Love,” which will take place on February 12, 2022. Tickets are selling quickly and we want to see you there. You can both purchase tickets and be a sponsor for the Gala by going to gala.pobcpantry.com.
Betty Brown
Executive Director POBC Pantry
