The next morning, I called the food pantry to tell them where they could pick up our donation. To my surprise, the pantry said that they had no way to pick up the food from the theater. If I wanted to donate, I would have to bring it over myself.
I drove to the Coolidge, loaded my car to the gills and carted everything to where the pantry was located at St. Paul’s in Brookline. It took me several trips to lug all the bags and boxes of food from my car into the pantry. I was drenched in sweat, angry, tired and late for a meeting.
As I looked around, though, I realized that while I had been consumed by my anger, self-pity and self-righteousness, pantry volunteers were helping their clients shop for essential food and supplies to help them through the week.
One family at a time shopped, while other families patiently waited their turn. It seemed like every conversation was the same. Each family seemed more concerned with leaving enough food for those in line than getting as much as they could for themselves. Volunteers had to coax people to accept more; assuring everyone that no family would go unfed.
Those in line sat patiently and stoically on benches in the hallway. The courage and dignity emanating from the people who were getting assistance that day was palpable.
The clients of the food pantry looked more like me than I would have imagined. In a flash, I realized my life didn’t have to take very many unfortunate turns for my family to be in that pantry line. What if my business went south? What if my wife lost her job? What if we didn’t have our family to go to when times got tough?
The fragility of my potential situation in the face of life’s circumstances hit me like a hammer.
I wondered if I even had the guts to overcome my pride and take a seat in that pantry line if my family fell on hard times. People who get their food from food pantries don’t want to receive handouts any more than those who don’t.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt more ashamed of myself than I did at that moment. Just a few minutes of being in those trenches made me realize that I wanted my life to go in a different direction.
Everything that came next – the Feed Brookline dinners at the Fireplace restaurant, the Brookline Youth Awards and “Soul Witness, The Brookline Holocaust Witness Project” – were inspired by those moments at the Brookline Food Pantry.
The needs of the Brookline Food Pantry have grown exponentially since 2009. The pantry is holding a Help Us Feed Our Neighbors evening at the Brookline Teen Center on Nov. 4.
We are fortunate to have the Brookline Food Pantry, with two locations, allowing us the opportunity to help our neighbors. Whether you can make it that evening or not, please purchase a ticket plus whatever you can afford. Its URL is brooklinefoodpantry.org.
