Benjamin Franklin said, “If you want to get something done, find a busy person to do it.”
Poor Richard would be proud of Fort Bragg Food Bank worker Patsy Moore. Moore was working and having fun at an exhilarating pace the week before Thanksgiving, as the Food Bank endures a shortage of volunteers.
Besides working without pay at the Food Bank, Moore has three paying jobs, doing yard duty at a local school, working with the English as a second language program and doing in-home support service work.
Founding Father Ben, who pushed hard to make the turkey, not the Eagle, America”s national bird, made a living out of his good quotes, such as, “It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.”
There was no misery or denial in Moore. Unlike most others doing community service who call themselves volunteers, she wasn”t shy about the fact she came to the Food Bank as a court referral.
“Yes, I had a DUI. I am working it off, but I”ll consider coming back to volunteer,” she said. “It really feels like we are making a difference in people”s lives. This place has such a great spirit. And I love Yukie”s [Holand] lunches, they are the best.”
The Food Bank got 4,015 hours out of people doing community service by court order last year, nearly 40 percent of the total volunteer hours. Some do much more than others.
Serving others
turns lives around
In my trips through the Food Bank, I”m always thankful and not just today, to find people full of energy and laughs like Moore. The smiles, energy and laughter are infectious and powerful, especially for the sad and sullen people, some of whom may have lost a house, a loved one or are enduring a health catastrophe.
I”ve seen the fun atmosphere at the Food Bank convert into willing volunteers several people who first came grudgingly under court order.
Writing this Food Bank series year after year has made a skeptical me come to believe ever more strongly that what we envision is often what we get. Serving others greatly empowers people who have very little by society”s standards.
“Some volunteers only work a few hours, but some worked as many as 800 hours. Many of our volunteers have been volunteering their time for 10 years or more,” said Food Bank Executive Director Nancy Severy.
“Some of our volunteers are community service workers sent to us by the courts and sheriff in lieu of paying fines or going to jail. Many of these workers do a great job and some even return to work after they”ve done their time. Many times we”ve had the pleasure of watching community service workers” attitudes morph from sullen to cheerful and helpful over their time at the Food Bank,” Severy said.
Volunteerism critical
to a healthy society
Volunteering is a great American story, a bigger one even than the great personalities and local heroes who are easy to find. Yet when the unique power of American volunteerism gets brought up in political debates, it is often ridiculed.
The first President George Bush got laughed at for “a thousand points of light.” Ditto with Hillary Clinton and “It takes a village.” For some reason, our recent culture marginalizes volunteering as something for sissys or retired people. But volunteering has actually played a critical role in our national security and defense.
America”s small towns were the most powerful economic engines in the world in the days before franchising, mega mergers and widespread foreign ownership.
While European and Asian power shifted to the big cities during the 1890-1930 timeframe, the United States bucked the trend, with mom and pop truly owning and running our country.
In those days, dozens of volunteer civic organizations set the tone in every American small town. They plugged local money back into the local economy, provided a safety net for the poor and a step up for young people. They set and enforced ethical standards.
Many are gone, but fraternal beneficial organizations like Rotary, Kiwanis, Knights of Columbus and Lions are now growing in other parts of the world while dying in their home country.
Power of
positive energy
But there is a new wave of energy for empowering towns like Fort Bragg. Locavores, buy local, bank local, Transition Towns and other such efforts seek to refire the power of America”s small towns.
Lauren Vier, a young mother I met in the line at the Food Bank, is trying to start a business that promotes localization. She is serious about the effort, having looked at property with Barbara Clark of Century 21 and worked on a business plan with the West Company.
“We can”t count on our government to take care of us. We need to be able to be able to count on ourselves,” Vier said.
As we talked, another young woman glowered in disapproval at the interview. Several people, as usual, had decided they didn”t want to use their names.
The spirit of Thanksgiving is powerful. But the spirit of negativity can devour it whole. The negativity that spread toward me in the line of clients waiting outside was as powerful as the positive energy Moore had offered me inside.
“I”m trying to be as organic as I can and as local as I can,” Vier continued.
Warehouseman-driver Doug Duncan provides an uplift to many with his smiles and compliments. When Duncan came out to let more people in and two senior ladies gave him big hugs, it seemed to intensify both the laughs and conversation in that end of the waiting room and the sullen negativity surrounding my interview.
There were grumbles about me, the food and the line, which was longer than usual for late in the day on a Friday, thanks to a shortage of volunteers inside.
I left that part of the line and found happier folk loading up with food. Kyle Spence, wearing a superman outfit, had found some free toys, which tickled the young man. His third birthday is coming up. He flexed his rather considerable muscles for the photo opportunity. Dad, Jeremy Spence, was having too much proud fun to duck the interview.
The family has gotten good food and some kids” stuff too over the last three to four months. Mom escaped while we talked “You two can be in the paper,” she said to dad and son.
“The Food Bank has really helped us out, it”s a great place. I have no complaints about the line or anything else,” Jeremy said, seeking to revive the Thanksgiving spirit.
Charles Unser, who used to volunteer regularly, now has a job at Safeway and said he has much to be thankful for.
“My work at the Food Bank helped me a lot, I learned about packing bags and about working with food and people,” Unser said.
Growing up under the Parents and Friends umbrella, Unser has exceeded expectations after expectations by being willing to try new and different challenges with a can-do attitude.
The power of positive energy has lifted many of those I have seen over the years out of the Food Bank and into self-sufficiency. Others have fallen deeper into life on the streets or in the drunk-jail-drugs cycle. Of course, it”s far more complicated than just self-empowerment, but that is where one must start.
If you want to turn around your life, town and nation through the empowering spirit, a good place to start would be volunteering and pledging to share the Spirit of Thanksgiving at the Fort Bragg Food Bank and everywhere else.
Three new volunteers seen having a good time are Stephen Anapolsky, Tracy Mahr and Diane Groves. Many more are needed this year.
A closing quote from Ben Franklin, who believed more in local than federal power:
“Who is wise? He that learns from everyone. Who is powerful? He that governs his passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.”
Season of Sharing
Since the 1996 holiday season, the Advocate-News and The Mendocino Beacon have raised roughly $301,543 for the Food Bank through the Season of Sharing fund drive. Since 1999, the nonprofit Community Foundation of Mendocino County has administered the drive as a courtesy to the newspapers, which means that every penny donated goes directly to the Food Bank.
“There are many dozens of nonprofit organizations in our area, all very worthy of support, but 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. It doesn”t matter a bit whether a person contributes through our fundraiser or directly to the Food Bank, the main thing is to contribute and if you”re able, to give year-round.”
How to donate
? By check: Make check payable to The Community Foundation of Mendocino County (CFMC) and mail or deliver to the Advocate-News, 450 N. Franklin St., Fort Bragg 95437.
? By credit card: Pay via CFMC”s website, www.communityfound.org. Click “Donate Online,” then “Poverty Related Funds” and select “Season of Sharing Fund (Fort Bragg Food Bank).
Questions? Please call us at 964-5642.
This week”s donors
The names of donors who contribute through the newspapers or CFMC”s website are printed each week, unless they ask to remain anonymous.
At the end of the drive, which runs through Dec. 31, the names of everyone who donates to the 2013 Season of Sharing will be reprinted.
In addition to appearing in the Advocate and The Beacon, the weekly installments are posted on both newspapers” websites.
As of press time Tuesday, a donation from Marion Nelson and one in memory of Nonie and Fred Grass brought the total to $575.
