Tuesday

I serve at the food pantry on Tuesday mornings. We got another donation of chili at the center where I work on Monday, so I was going to take part of it with me to the food pantry. I started a little earlier than normal so I could load the Jeep and still get to the pantry and to unload the chili too. It turned out that the warehouse manager for the center was there, so I didn't have to load the chili all by myself. Then, when I got to the pantry, the day manager, Jane, was arriving at about the same time, and her husband, Jim, came with her, so he helped me load the hand-cart and get the boxes inside. The lady who generally manages the freezer space, Sandra, (who had told me how much they could take) was already there, so Jim and Sandra were loading the chili into one of the freezers. I was in another room - heard a crash, and ran in there....

This is a *slightly* posed picture...

The top shelf gave way, and took out the middle shelf on its way down... It took us a while to get everything picked up - we had to find the clips that held the shelves in place (one was hiding in the middle section of the 3-door freezer) - we finally got it all put back together, and the chili loaded in, but... it was "interesting".

Last week, we had run out of donated water at the pantry. We put a bottle of water into the bags of "lunch" that we provide to the "road warriors" (homeless). It has been so hot. When I served last week, we had prayed that we would get a water donation... Sandra had told others to reserve the spot where we had been storing water because God would answer our prayers ("carry an umbrella if you're praying for rain!").

See those crates? they are full of potatoes - where the water is supposed to go.

So... today, God provided a large donation of water from Aldi's...

But the space was gone. So, we needed to find another space - which you can see in that last picture... but... there were 5 large boxes of oranges already there - and no other available space that wouldn't be in the way... so we moved the 5 large boxes of oranges onto the shelves of the walk-in refrigerator - which was "interesting" because the bottoms of the boxes were bowed out and caught on the wire shelving, but we got them in there.

Later in the morning, we were re-packing eggs (we get eggs donated in 18-count cartons and boxes of 60 that we re-pack into dozens). I was moving the crates with the eggs to be re-crated out of the walk-in, and then moving the crates with the re-packed cartons back in. Sandra came by and said, "You know, it would be great if we could move those orange boxes into that back corner in case we get a large donation of produce tomorrow from Operation Blessing." 

Okay... move the oranges again - the top box of 5 was at about my shoulder height, but Sandra and I together could get it in place. So, then we could store the eggs in a space in front of the oranges, leaving lots of shelf space for produce for tomorrow.

Let's just say that I was *tuckered* by the end of my serving there...