This morning I and a few of my fellow parishioners went to St. Mary's Episcopal Church in downtown Kansas City to prepare and serve the weekly meal. It's an important food source for the few hundred people that come in, both from the meal and the bags of groceries distributed from the pantry. I'm proud that my church - not even a full parish yet and the youngest in the diocese - has become the biggest supporter of the food services at St. Mary's - the oldest congregation in the diocese. And I'm damned proud that my wife is the person leading the way.
It's an incredible building, with every window, every brick, every statue having a story of its own. A book is being published that will guide you on a walking tour; if you're ever in KC shoot me an email and we'll do it together. Also, every year the Rainbow Angels Guild of the church presents a dinner theatre called "The Haunting of St. Mary's," and yes, it is supposedly haunted by a former rector. Being an Episcopalian is fun.
I helped in the pantry, preparing bags of groceries. It's staffed by a woman one step removed from the streets, an incredible combination of savvy, willpower and compassion. We made one type of bag for families, one for singles and one for the homeless, because they get the cans with the pop-tabs if we have them. Everyone gets some peanut butter, some fruit, veggies, soups, even some cereal and granola bars this week.
The pantry consists of two small rooms. There is another room that stretches the whole length of the sanctuary; it's less undercroft and more crawl space, but it used to provide a lot of storage space for food. They even set up metal rollers so boxes of food could be shuttled back and forth quickly.
This room used to provide such a space, but there's no food in it now. The pantry is serving more people than ever and the food is just trickling in - the classic problem when the economy goes bad. Episcopal Community Services, I was told, will serve over 1 million meals in the Kansas City metro this year. And of course there are other groups and missions trying to do their part as well.
People are hungry. We need health care reform, we really do, and we need to address global climate change and reform labor laws and all the rest. But in addition to all that, people are hungry, and America's food pantries are running dry. So if you can, give. I don't care if you give to a church or the American Alliance of Stone-Cold Atheists. Just pick up a few extra cans at the store - add $1 or $2 to your total costs - and give it to someone who's hungry.
Sorry if this is preachy
