I Was Hungry—and You Gave Me a TASTE of Redemption

Last week my friend, my son, and I volunteered at a food pantry. My facebook status that day read something along the lines of, “I hope that as we serve at food shelter today—my son will be formed at an early age—to be the kind of person who loves and serves.”

I often encourage parents, children’s pastors, and teachers to intentionally bring children alongside of them to serve the church and community. My personal goal, for my own son, is to enable Jayden to reflexively learn to love. For brain science teaches us (see “Liars, Lovers, and Heroes”) that we can make a choice once—and it is a choice. We make it again—and it is still a choice. But over time the chemicals in the brain work to cause us to act reflexively instead of making a choice. It becomes a habit. And even though my little man is only 3 he organized Ramen Noodles by color and did quite well.

As we were all working, sweating, and sorting through about one-hundred pounds of food, I was struck with several thoughts.

All too often, when asked to donate to the hungry, we give Ramen and starches—which is fine if you are near death. But usually people who come to food pantries need more than just starches to sustain life. They need to be given something special that conveys love and offers a “taste” of the restoration of creation—that which we (those of us doing the donating) have already experienced.

So I composed this list of advice—for those who are looking to donate to a food pantry (and reasons why):

1. If you do not already know this, most “poor” people in the US can scrape up twenty cents to buy Ramen Noodles. If you want to give something “like” this—try donating the pasta in a bowl or easily heated non-perishables you would take to work for lunch.

2. Splurge on the extra forty-nine cents and get the good cookies. Skip over the store brand (the ‘make you want to spew cookie’), and get a snack you would enjoy if you were a bit down on finances and needed to skip over the snack isle with sad eyes. Try Ritz bits crackers, Oreos, Chips Ahoy, and fruit snacks.

3. If you really want to help someone who is down on finances, give them the things that are the hardest to purchase. Milk, eggs, meat, and cheese. All these things are quite expensive and usually get overlooked when money is low. Especially meat.

4. Gas cards would be a great way to help someone feeling stumpy on cash. Particularly when the cost of one gallon of gas sky-rockets the price of a gallon of milk.

5. Forget the cheap Jell-O mixes in boxes. Seriously. I know it sounds crazy—but think about the times you had to work really hard to make ends meet. Did you want to pull out the pan, boil water, stir it, wait for it to cool, stick it in the fridge, and then serve it? Or would you rather just pull it out of the fridge and hand it to your kids? Remember next time—give the food pantries the already mixed Jell-O.

6. Think beyond the starches. If you’ve ever found yourself scratching your head and wondering why those who seem to have the least amount of money are also the largest people you know, the secret can now be revealed. It is because the poor eat cheap starches to fill them up when hungry. Think about how you would feel eating starches and noodles every single day in order not to be famished. It’s not so fun. Go the extra mile and get creative about filling those starving for food like fruits, vegetables, and meats.

7. When I was going through the boxes of food at the shelter, my favorite thing to find was coffee (the good kind), tea bags, soda, and fruit drinks. This is the FIRST thing to get skipped when your finances need to be skimmed. If you really want to show God’s redemptive love, pick up some fair trade coffee beans and help both the farmer overseas AND the person short on cash.

8. Think “easy and quick” when selecting things to donate for breakfast. Usually those who are poor are running off to work in the morning to slave at a job we (those of us donating) would never think to apply. Such as factory workers, maids, and other “lowly” tasks in the eyes of the wealthy. Ask yourself: What would you want to eat for breakfast on the run? I know I enjoy eating breakfast cereals, pop tarts, breakfast bars, and even those cool cereal straws. Donate these to the food pantry.

9. Donate money specifically tagged for gift cards. This way those who come to the food pantry can get what they need from the store (which usually includes the perishable things like milk, eggs, and meat).

10. Try donating a box of cake mix and frosting or easy cookie mixes. Look at the directions and find the boxes/bags where all you do is throw in an egg, stir in some water, and thirty minutes later you have homemade cookies. For—there is nothing quite like a warm chocolate chip cookie to share God’s love with the hungry.

“For I was hungry—and you gave me a taste of the redemption of creation…”