Wednesday

Papa's Pantry

I was supposed to have a one-on-one computer session today at Papa's Pantry but that got canceled.  So instead I went in at my regularly scheduled time at 1:00 and we only had one appointment scheduled.  Before that appointment started, I had to vacuum the pantry.  But before I could vacuum, I had to sweep up all the dog food.  People donate bags of dog food opened, unopened, bagged in plastic zip-locks, etc.  The dog food dominates this one corner of the pantry and it's a complete mess and there are random scraps of food everywhere.  It's totally unorganized and very different from how the rest of the pantry looks and operates.  There were some pastors coming in later that day, whom Papa's Pantry wanted to impress, so it was my job to clean it all up and organize it before they arrived.  Mission accomplished. 

I helped the one lady shop for her food.  She was on the verge of tears the entire time, and she ended up taking a lot of food (and neatly arranged dog food!).  It amazes me how some people claim to be so desperate for food, yet they only take name brand items.  We offer both, and I would expect someone in dire straights to take anything offered.  But instead of grabbing 4 boxes of mac and cheese, some will only select the one box we have of actual Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.  Just an observation...

Lynn, the founder of Papa's Pantry, then asked me to do a partnered family through the pantry.  If someone is not partnered with Papa's Pantry yet, then they are allowed to shop for one week's worth of groceries for their entire house hold.  These are the only kinds of appointments I have ever done.  If someone is partnered with Papa's Pantry, then they get to shop for two weeks worth of groceries for their entire family, and they have additional access to non-perishables such as produce, milk, eggs, cheese, etc. They also have access to more name brand items and toiletries than un-partnered families do. 

It was kind of neat to do a partnered person.  I figured they would have access to basic perishables like I listed above.  Turns out, there is a lot they get to select from!  This woman got to take home yogurt, sour cream, butter, cheese, eggs, frozen pizzas, ground beef, ground turkey, milk, orange juice, chocolate milk, broccoli, apples, bananas, tomatoes, burritos, rib tips, turkey legs, breakfast sausages, cream cheese, and Salisbury steaks.  It is obvious that partnered families are desperate enough to partner up with Papa's Pantry, as this women also took razors, tin foil, shaving cream, tampons, mouth wash, tooth paste, soap and deodorant. 

Square Dancing

Square dancing is usually on Thursday nights but this week it got moved to Wednesday night.  Since it was on an alternate night, it was just going to be a review class with no new moves introduced.  Since Ryan and I haven't been to class in the last 2 weeks due to being in MC and then Birmingham, I was grateful for the review class.  Ryan did not go though, as he has tennis practice on Wednesday nights.  He is convinced he is the ultimate square dancer, and that it's not a big deal.  After being at that review class last night though, I can assure you, he's screwed.  They had learned things called do paso, thar family, shoot the star, slip the clutch, box the gnat, ocean wave family, alamo ring, pass the ocean, swing thru family, run family, and trade family. 

It was kind of cool being there without Ryan.  Usually we only dance with each other, but last night I was forced to dance with an "angel".  A square dance angel is someone who actually knows what they're doing and has been doing it for years.  This man must've been around 65 years old and his name was Harold, or Harvey, or Arnold or something.  He smelled atrociously but luckily you move around so much that the whiffs only come and go.  It was cool dancing with him though, since I didn't know what I was doing on all the new stuff.  I think from now on Ryan and I should both dance with angels!