MY SECOND VISIT TO THE FOOD PANTRY - Ah! such nice vegetables!

I went to the Food Pantry early this morning.  I had been told that it opened at 10am, but, when I arrived at 10:15, there was still the usual mob scene of first-comers outside, and I was told, when I went in to register, that the Pantry would open at 11am. I went over to the Senior Center to ask when I should expect to receive my permanent ID card, and, along the way, I got a senior ticket to the Pantry, which permitted me entry immediately (yea! sometimes old is good!)

Anyway, there were a lot of fresh vegetables, so I came away with a pretty good haul, even though, this time, as opposed to the last time I was there, they didn't allow taking as much of the fresh vegetables as one might want.  I did get:
 
red chard - 1 big bunch
kale - one big bunch
baby kale - one big bunch
cilantro - 1 bunch
parsley - 1 bunch
bananas, very very ripe - 1 bag
turnip - 1 large red one with good greens on it.  

I would say it was a good haul. I can't complain, but only give thanks to the people who make this Food Pantry possible for those of us who need it.

WHAT IS A CSA?

CSA is short for Community Supported Agriculture.  A CSA is a membership group formed in cooperation with an organic farm (or farms) whereby members assist the farmers by buying shares in the farms’ harvest, which is then delivered to the members on a weekly basis.  Huh?

This is how it works.  CSA members pay money up front to a farm in the spring.  That helps the farmer(s) finance their planting, and, later, harvesting, of crops.  Once a week, during the season, the farmer delivers freshly harvested vegetables to a designated distribution site, and the members come and pick up their “shares” of the harvest.  (It is important to note that the harvest share is often a surprise to the members , although some farmers do post on their websites what they will be harvesting, i.e. what members can expect to receive in their shares)  

The advantages of this system are that the community supports the local farmers, and shares in the farmers’ harvest (sharing both in the bounty as well as in losses – a few years ago, a tomato blight resulted in wide-scale losses of tomato crops, which CSA members also experienced. Last year, a rainy spring resulted in small shares, as many crops were drowned at the beginning of the share season)  Normally, CSA shares provide an abundant number of vegetables, although CSA members might need education to learn what to do with “what’s In the share”, as the shares may well include unfamiliar vegetables (you learn as you go, and some CSAs have on-line member forums for recipe sharing and tips).

Another advantage of joining a CSA is that, if you can anticipate, and save money to pay for the share when the spring enrollment comes around, you save a lot of money over the course of the season, and, if something goes wrong in your finances during the season, the vegetables keep coming anyway (that has happened to me twice, so I am a firm believer in CSAs).  If fresh organic vegetables are important to you, joining a CSA is the easy way to get them at significantly lower prices than you would pay at an organic market.

One interesting aspect of being a member of a CSA is that, when you get “mystery vegetables” in your share, you have an opportunity to taste something new, and to learn ways to make that “mystery vegetable” into food you can enjoy eating (my own palate has been expanded by my being introduced to new vegetables and having to find out what to do with them to suit my taste. I have learned about quite a few new vegetables, and found myself incorporating new-to-me vegetables, and tastes, into my diet.

If you are interested in joining a CSA, in New York City, you can go to Just Food to find a CSA near where you live or work (for ease of weekly pick-up)

In other areas, you can go to Local Harvest, and key in your zip code to find a local CSA, or you can google CSA plus your zipcode (for example: CSA 23456), to find local CSAs.

FOOD PANTRIES - West Harlem Community Kitchen and Food Pantry

While I was minding my own business, busy working at a job that I really like, suddenly, I found myself with my work hours so drastically cut that I couldn't even afford to pay my rent. Forget about buying food.

I prioritized: No more manicures; then no more haircuts; then no more Strivectin, and I went to drugstore makeup (which isn't half bad - did you know that LOreal owns Lancome?) I quit yoga classes. I had the gas turned off (not the electricity, just the gas). I quit smoking. I quit going to restaurants. I quit going to movies. I cancelled cable TV (in my part of NYC that means NO TV). The only thing I couldn't quit was eating (and I got down to one meal a day for about 5 weeks before I realized that eating is something you just cannot quit doing)

Looking for work is a process which takes time. Meanwhile, there was no money for food, or even medicine, for that matter (I pay for insurance, but don't have enough money to pay the co-pay to go see the doctor and/or pick up the meds at the local pharmacy, so I considered ditching the insurance as well - not so good when you qualify as a senior citizen in some places).

So, I did what anyone with a computer would do - I googled. 

I looked at food pantries around the city, but almost all required certain qualifications, like already being on food stamps (lots of people who are working to pay the rent do not qualify for food stamps, even though they do not have enough money to buy food). As a member of a CSA which donates food to a local food pantry, I was shocked when I found out that the food pantry my CSA donates to serves only people who have SNAP cards (don’t those people get enough food with their SNAP cards?), and does not allow the working needy to come in.

Someone told me of a food pantry in her church, and I went there, but I had to go around with a “handler”, who would ask me if I wanted this or that, and did not offer some things that I might have liked, but how could I say that when I was getting a handout, out of the goodness of their hearts.  I was grateful for the food, but I was very embarrassed.

As a result, I was very surprised, and grateful, to find the Community Kitchen and Food Pantry in Harlem, where the only criteria for going there is that you think you need that service.

I had to go to a totally new neighborhood, but the place wasn't hard to find, as it had a huge store-like welcoming sign.

I couldn't figure out how to get in, but, when I asked a nice lady at the door, she put her arm around me, took me inside, sat me down at a table, and gave me the application forms not only for the food pantry, but, also, for the senior citizen program (this senior citizen program has a low eligibility age)

The West Harlem Food Pantry is set up like a little market. They have a system of “points” for choosing your food (for example: you might get 2 points worth of pasta or beans, 1 point worth of canned salmon or cat food, etc., and they have some “free” items, as well). They also have fresh vegetables. The first time I was there, "shoppers" were walking around unsupervised and making their choices based on their point cards. There was someone to “check people out” at the end, i.e. make sure they hadn’t over-spent on points. 

What I liked best about this place that first time was how people were treated with respect and dignity (they were left alone to make their own choices based on their points cards), and, also,  how helpful the “shoppers” were to one another, pointing out things someone might have missed, or sharing recipes and tips.

The Community Kitchen and Food Pantry is also host to a CSA (community supported agriculture) group, during the summer and fall growing seasons, which delivers fresh organic vegetables from a local farm for members to pick up once a week. The outstanding part about their particular CSA is the sliding scale (based on  income) for the cost of the CSA membership.  This is just a teaser. I will talk about CSAs, and my CSA experience in another post.