Among holiday clichés, a reporter asking the question “what are you thankful for?” is as classic as a retread can be.
I used it anyway on Terri Lee Gentry, who smiled and laughed at my quintessential question. Gentry arrived that day at the Fort Bragg Food Bank frowning in a melancholy funk but left laughing. Funny? I hadn’t expected that from the question.
Long time Food Bank volunteer Lupe Arreguin had just made all the difference for Gentry with a better question.
“What’s wrong with you today? Where is your usual smile?,” Arreguin had asked.
“She noticed. That meant so much that she knew me well enough to see that I was off. And to be concerned. This place is really a big family. They give me so much more than food here. But the food is great too,” she said.
Both women have been coming to the Food Bank for more than a decade. They are the type of great human stories I like to find inside the North Franklin non-profit. The Fort Bragg Food Bank would be an even better place to come up with news about local governments, the mental health system, poverty and substance abuse. If only people weren’t afraid. And if only other people didn’t judge out of ignorance. That keeps many people and many stories from being told.
Fear stalks Americans today like never before. Fear of failure, fear of foreigners, fear of isolation. These fears are sometimes irrational. But fear of Orwellian figures from the county? I understand disability and food stamp services fairly well. But many people are full of false fears that Big Brother is watching them. If they tell me their story, they might get in trouble. If they talk about problems with city or county services, they might not get them.
Many fears are quite legitimate. Our society is fairly ignorant and backwards about poverty and poor people, among many other things. People are right to fear being judged for being poor, for being in recovery and most sadly of all, for being mentally ill.
Not wanting to get into a downer for a newspaper article coming out on Thanksgiving, I had decided instead to get responses to that well-worn question; What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?
This mission was interrupted in the parking lot on the way to the Food Bank, when a couple I had interviewed many years ago and several times since said they were ready to be in the paper . They gave me an update on their struggles, jobs, housing and more. But then the fear came. Newly acquired (and obviously needed) disability could be lost. The names were withdrawn. I didn’t even to try my usual pitch about how different types of disability work. Fear isn’t melted away my lectures. The atmosphere of intense giving and sharing inside the Food Bank can truly melt away the posturing and fears that our culture can create. So I went on inside and back to the question; What are you thankful for?
“I’m still alive,” answered Arreguin. There was a bit of fun among Gentry, myself and Arreguin about who was old and what delights remain the longest in life. Volunteer Tony Anderson was next for the predictable question.
“I’m thankful for the people who give us all this stuff. The food looks great. Somehow, there are always people willing to donate to keep this going,” he said. There are no one percenters at the Food Bank, no tech millionaires I know of, but everybody feels like they have enough, even if they don’t by cultural standards.
Anderson almost never lacks a smile and a boost for others. He isn’t rich by any societal measurement but feels like he is, spending much of his days giving stuff away. He loves to recycle, as a way to do double duty on good and giving. I tried to get Anderson to give me a little less traditional answer to the cliché question.
He nodded, giving the message of I could write whatever I wanted.
There was quite a bit of talk about holiday plans, reporters, kale and the winning football team of Fort Bragg High School. (This was last Friday).
“You guys are really turning my day around with all the fun,” said Gentry.
She now found a lot to be thankful for; the kale.
The Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens gives lots of fresh veggies all year round to the The Food Bank itself is happy for several new things this year, one of which being the new refrigerated shipping container now onsite. The new item allows the Food Bank to buy more food and thus at a lower price. Donor Bruce Campbell, the Fort Bragg Rotary Club and grant funds paid for the item. This is an entirely different and much bigger operation than when I started doing this series 7-8 years ago. The Food Bank has greatly expanded its distribution network and its capacity with new equipment purchased with grant funds. Another purchase this year made with grant funds was for an electric pallet jack.
There is a change in how Season of Sharing is being administered this year. The Fort Bragg Advocate-News, The Mendocino Beacon and the Fort Bragg Food Bank would like to thank the Community Foundation of Mendocino County for its help in receiving and processing donations — and passing along 100 percent of the funds to the Food Bank — for the past decade and a half. Starting this year, donations can be made directly to the Food Bank. Please make checks out to the Fort Bragg Food Bank and put “Season of Sharing” on the memo line. Mail to Fort Bragg Food Bank, Post Office Box 70, Fort Bragg, CA 95437. Each week, the names of donors from the previous week will be printed in the newspapers unless the donor wishes to remain anonymous.
