Help Needed

Many years ago—in 1968, to be specific--I had three very young children and was divorced. It was the late 60’s; could have happened to anyone in those times. And, like anyone in that situation, there wasn’t much money. I had had a job since I was 15, but for the previous 4 years I’d been raising little kids instead, which certainly was work but not work that paid money. One day, I found myself standing in the kitchen and thinking that if I ate only twice a day, I could save X amount of money. And then I found myself thinking that that was crazy. I needed to get a job, despite the fact that I had three little kids. Eating less than I needed was not a choice I wanted to be making.

And, I didn’t have to make that choice because I was lucky in most other ways: the kids were healthy; their dad was available; I had a M.A. from UCLA; and the job market was reasonably good. I found a job pretty quickly (as a research assistant for a U.S. Congressman in his district office). It was a great job and the kids managed with the additional help of some hired folks. And we all continued to eat three meals a day.

But that is not everybody’s story in such a situation, so since then, I’ve always been particularly sensitive to the idea that people in America, the wealthiest place in the world, ought not, at the very least, have to worry about having enough to eat. And yet, here we are in the wealthiest place in the world (even if not so wealthy as it recently was), and there are people without enough money to ensure adequate food. Oh, they may not be facing malnutrition or starvation, but they are having to feel some sense of alarm about the price of milk and cheese and chicken (even though we in Washington pay a lot less for them than our neighbors in Canada do).

Now, with an unemployment rate slipping upward rapidly, there’s going to be a bigger problem and fewer people anxious to respond to the need. Does that stimulus program include additional food stamp money? What’s the state of local food banks that help to make up the slack for people like I was that day who just didn’t have quite enough money for quite enough food? Are their donations dropping? Probably, as most non-profits’ donations are.

Even in tiny, remote, peculiar Point Roberts, there are people who need some help getting adequate food. Fortunately, Point Roberts has a food bank that is run entirely by volunteer efforts. Nobody in that outfit getting salaries, let alone bonuses. The P.R. Food Bank helps 30 or 40 households here on the Point to not worry about adequate food. They may still have to worry about their rent or their car insurance or their gasoline, but at least, there’s help with food. However, that help doesn't just arrive from the sky: the Food Bank has to solicit help from the community both in terms of funds and in terms of time in procuring, storing, packaging, and delivering the food.

People always talk about how generous Americans are, and I’m sure they are when they see some need for generosity standing right in front of them. But people who need some help with food don’t stand in front of you and ask for help. Who stands in front of you, at least at this moment, is somebody who once could have used some help but had no one to ask. I was lucky and found another way out. For those who aren’t so lucky, who don’t have a lot of job experience, education, work savvy, and a good job market…well, they are still there needing help. Money, a permanent storage space for food, and actual time spent picking up, packaging, distributing food: all of that is needed by the Point Roberts Food Bank. If you are here on the Point, think about offering to help.