Food and compassion

Rep. Chris Davis assists with food distribution

I visited the Mobile Foodshare site hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Ellington yesterday.  State Representative Christopher Davis was also there and helped in handing out the food - he was giving out some of the largest fresh beets I have ever seen!

One of our newer team members at Foodshare, Bea Maslowski, was also there as Ellington is part of the area where she will be working on Hunger Action Teams.

Bea told me this story as we were leaving after the food distribution was over:

"While I was passing out food, a middle aged woman was in line and I could see her eyes were red and that she had been crying. It was her first time getting food and she seemed overwhelmed, maybe even embarrassed.  Had that look of 'I never thought I’d be here and doing this.'

"So I spoke to one of the volunteers standing next to me and she reached out to her, told her it was okay, and walked her though the rest of the line to help her and comfort her.  It was one more reminder to me of the wonderful work we do and the compassion extended to the hungry people we serve by our staff and wonderful volunteers."

As undignified as it is to stand in a food line, we do everything we can at the Mobile Foodshare sites to make it as dignified as possible, including reaching out to people in need with compassion.  Thanks, Bea, for sharing this story of how it was working in Ellington yesterday!