I spent the morning with my son and headed down later than usual thinking I would help restock and clean before the huge Saturday rush in the pantry. I arrived about 1pm. It was another non stop day of donations in, sort, then shelve them. I don't mind that but seems my reading and processing doesn't work as quickly as others so I try to just move the donations to the general area where they belong. There are usually a few volunteers stocking on each isle.
I took over the paper towl, toilet paper area. That meant I had to put 2 paper towel rolls in bags and separate toilet paper into 4 per bag. This seems easy until you have people requesting them for supplies. I was also next to the blankets, sheets, towels and sox. Well then I was helping people find things and still supposed to be bagging the supplies. At one point Neil and I were working together he was opening the bags ahead of time to we could just pick up the plastic grocery bags put paper products in them tie them and then shelve them. We also had to separate the trash bags. 13gal, 30 gal, black trash bags and the huge contractor bags. Contractor bags were in high demand because most of the town was ripping out their belongings and walls to get ready to rebuild. I saw smiling faces as they talked about the progress on their homes. I always try to ask how they are doing - listen to their stories and give them a hug before they leave. It's a fantastic job to have!
As the evening progressed it got busy. Busy with families that started back to school and work this week. I saw two new families. One a young mom with a 2 &3 yr old. As we walked through the pantry gathering her supplies we talked about how she was feeling and what kind of living situiation her family has. I was teary when she told me her son is now upset when dad leaves because he is afraid he will not come home again. Rain will never be the same. To him it will mean a hurricane is coming.
Another family I met said they decided they were going to stay during the storm. They stayed through Hurricane Irene the year before and didn't have any problems. As they secured their home they were inside listening to the rain and wind when their youngest said the floor is wet. His mom thought he had spilled his juice. When she looked she could see the water rising from the floor - they knew the worse was coming. They got out and found a hotel room. They were safe from the water. Safe from the winds. They did not know how horrible it would be to return to their home. The dad said it looked like his town was hit by bombs. He would have been able to make sense it that had truly happened. As we were standing in the dark loading their borrowed car (they lost 3 cars) the dad explained how he didn't know how they were ever going to recover. I could hear the sorrow and and pain in his voice. We were all choking back tears. He spoke how they had no credit card debt before the storm. How they now had days and days of hotel and food on the cards. They had friends come from all over to help get their home habitable. I'm thankful a neighbor told them they could "shop" at the pantry for most of their needs. I hugged them and said please come back and see us. As he was getting in the car he said they would be back because it would be easier. The veil of embarrassment was removed and they were comfortable asking for help.
I worked until 9pm - I usually leave by 7pm after the traffic. We closed our doors late. The handful of volunteers left helped restock the shelves. It was winding down quickly as we laughed and kidded with each other. I was the only outsider left. I'm still surprised by peoples reactions when they find I drive 2 hrs to volunteer. I explain I was guided here to help that's all.
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