Quentin Lloyd and Noelle Henson had no trouble naming their Christmas wish.
“A new house,” said Lloyd.
The couple”s house on Sherwood Road burned down in October, wiping out all their personal property. They are living in their small sedan.
The interview started when I happened upon Henson jumping superwoman-like into the car and in a split second back out, a process only a woman could accomplish in trying on some jeans she got at the Food Bank. I looked inside while she stood in our parking lot. I could see a tiny, but cozy, spot and all the supplies someone would need.
“If not a house, a least a new windshield for the car,” she said.
The couple is managing to save money a little at a time to regain their way into housing. For this week”s story, I had pledged to myself to speak to the first three or four people I met and ask them their personal and Food Bank Christmas wishes and was delighted to find, at random, optimists with such a compelling story as Lloyd Henson”s.
Her Food Bank wish?
“The Food Bank does a fabulous job,” said Henson. “But there needs to be a little more of the food that really sustains, like chicken and cheese. I know [stores] must have tons of cheese to give, but I don”t see it in the line that often. Just a little every week can really stretch what we get.”
Deborah Sherwood was the second person; her Christmas wish was self-explanatory and tickled everybody who heard it.
“I just found out yesterday that I”m pregnant,” she said, flashing a huge smile.
She had come to the Food Bank for the very nutritious variety of food offered.
“I come only when we need it. With a whole new life involved, it changes everything,” she said.
The family is also saving up for a home for three.
“The Food Bank is great. I get clothes and my books here, along with food. Having this available make so much difference when we are trying to save up and get ahead.”
The whole room of people in line, mostly middle-aged people and seniors, gave best wishes.
A man dug out a book titled, “Dream World of Pregnancy,” that we had left there but I had forgotten about. She had a pile of books to go before reaching the food line. Is she a member of the historic Sherwood family that founded much of the Willits area?
“I am now; I married into it,” she said.
Next came Derek Carbone, who found me. Our nonprofit, MendoPower Employment Services, once employed the big and powerful Carbone on temporary jobs. He was looking for work, but was glad to be in the article, too.
“Anybody who wants to call me, I”m available,” he said, giving his phone number, 813-1878. Carbone and his wife have a travel trailer but are looking to save up to pay to park it somewhere. He asked everybody in the Food Bank waiting room who looked promising if they had work.
Several others gave me phone numbers for jobs, even after I explained that MendoPower was no longer actively soliciting jobs. We found there is a huge need for good, temporary help, and more than enough workers. Small, but expensive to solve regulatory obstacles, derailed the effort, but people never stop applying. Provide jobs for five people and 50 more apply the next day.
The perpetual stories of painful struggle, the endless need for food, clothes, housing and jobs is an endless theme from the time Christ said “the poor will always be with you.” But having come six or seven years to the Food Bank now, and seeing them day in and day out from the vantage point of our employment nonprofit and book business next door, I can say the Food Bank really does help people up. Some of those people want to forget they ever were on the wrong side of the edge. Our culture judges people on a harsh and ridiculous success paradigm. The holidays, and the generosity shown this time of year, makes the difference, at least at the Food Bank.
What exactly is more money needed for in this “Season of Sharing?”
“We definitely need more cash funding to help us get through the lean times in the coming year,” said Executive Director Nancy Severy. “All donations are spent in support of acquiring and distributing food to Food Bank clients. This doesn”t always mean direct food purchases. We find we can stretch our dollars considerably and acquire lots more food by locating and transporting donated foods through various public and private emergency food programs. This requires the support of staff, vehicles, and warehouse throughout the year, all of which takes funding,” Severy said.
The Food Bank has changed its holiday schedule. Instead of having a special day and time just for the holiday food distribution, they will stick to the regular Monday-Wednesday-Friday food distribution schedule (seniors 10:45 – 11:15 a.m., all ages noon to 3 p.m.) through December. On the following days, folks will also get their Christmas turkey or ham and fixin”s for a holiday meal in addition to the normal food offering: Monday, Dec. 17; Wednesday, Dec. 19; Friday, Dec. 21; Monday, Dec. 24.
“We”ll have turkeys, roaster chickens and hams this year, and possibly some tofurkeys or frozen salmon. Santa will be here with gifts for children on Monday, Dec. 24 from noon until about 2 p.m.,” Severy said.
David Gibney, Carbone”s brother-in-law has the size and build of a San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman was my fourth interview. The three of us giants formed a solid wall in the Food Bank line and nobody doubted we know good food and appreciate the quality of the fare of what the Food Bank offers.
Gibney especially likes the books and has found a novel in which the atomic bomb doesn”t work and the U.S has to invade Japan.
“I like all kinds of books, fiction and non,” he said.
Today he is looking for information about the ancient Mayans in the large stock of free stuff.
“Everybody is talking about the Mayans and the end of the world right now. I”m not too worried but I know some people who are. I”d like to read about it if there was a book here,” he said.
Season of Sharing
Since the 1996 holiday season, the Advocate-News and The Mendocino Beacon have raised roughly $284,000 through the “Season of Sharing fundraiser.
“The Food Bank addresses the most basic problem facing hundreds of individuals and families hunger,” said Publisher Sharon DiMauro. ” The goal is to give the Food Bank money it can use year-round, not just during the holidays.”
Checks should be written out to The Mendocino County Community Foundation (CRMC), who administers the fundraiser free of charge as a courtesy to the newspapers.
Mail them to the Advocate-News at P.O. Box 1188, Fort Bragg, CA 95437 or bring them to the newspaper office, located at 450 N. Franklin St., Fort Bragg, just north of City Hall.
The fundraiser runs through Dec. 31. The names of all donors who contribute through the newspapers will be printed each week, unless they request to remain anonymous. If you have any questions, please call us at 964-5642.
This week”s donations come from William and Wilma Follette, Althea Marion, Edwin and Theresa Branscomb, John and Carla Markmann, Bruce and Karen Smith, Arnold and Terri Parks, and Trinity Lutheran Church Hope Circle.
The total donations to date are $2,991.
