KD, Tomatoes, and Ramen! Oh My! - Dec 29, 2018 - Second of the Food Bank Trilogy
In Part One of the “Food Bank Trilogy” I described shopping for Cheerios – the food for our RV Resort’s January drive – here in Green Valley. To date we are at 19 out of 100 – but – as Alice Cooper put it – “We’ve still got a long way to go…” until the end of January.
The food drive for December was/is KD-like Mac n Cheese dinner. KD is not my thing – but this is not about me. It’s an item that can be bought for 34 cents (Great Value brand) and is easy and fast to make. Very important for folks holding down a couple of part time jobs and feeding little kids, and for seniors with arthritis and mobility challenges.
And we were at 91 out of 100 (or thereabouts) when I received a most amazing email. A gentleman from Canada who I had never met wanted to donate $100 worth of KD-like dinner. I couldn’t believe it! I told our amazing Sahuarita Food Bank director A about this, and she mentioned, “You know, something we can never have enough of is diced canned tomatoes.”
So I wrote our lad back in Canada and asked him if he would be as happy if we bought canned tomatoes with this money. He wrote back, “Let’s do both!” YEE HAW!
Hmm… Now KD-like Great Value Mac N Cheese I could buy at Walmart online and have it delivered to my door. (This is the theory – the practice will be described in the third part of the Food Bank trilogy.) Que faire? I phoned Walmart and reception put me through to a store supervisor, J. I doubt J ever had a caller asking him how she could buy $100 of stewed tomatoes – but not just any stewed tomatoes – it had to be the Great Value brand because it was half the price.
He said he would call me back. I truly didn’t think he would. This was the Saturday before Christmas and I knew he was being run off his feet. But within an hour, our working cell phone rang. He had spoken to his manager and assessed the canned tomato situation, and said that I should be able to buy $100 worth of stewed tomatoes from the existing stock.
Hoot hoot! And then I asked him, “Are you working on Sunday afternoon?” He said, “Yes…” I said, “Can I meet you there and get your help?” and he said “Yes…” And I said, “Great! See you at 1 pm on Sunday!” Laurence overhead the conversation and was thinking, “Does she know what she is asking!?” Sure I did. I could never ask someone to help me like that if it was for me – but it was for the Sahuarita Food Bank. More specifically for little kids and poor seniors. Bring it on!
Sunday arrived, and it was 12:45 pm. Time to head out to Wal-Mart. Laur was truly embarrassed about all of this, but didn’t feel there was a dignified way out of this. So I suggested that while I was tracking down J, and getting started, he could go get the car washed. He jumped at the opportunity. I arrived and saw an assistant manager – P – and asked her to page J. She looked at me rather curiously and I assured her that we had worked this out before. Within a minute or two a friendly looking lad arrived.
He went with me to the canned tomatoes section and loaded up my cart with about 150 cans of different sizes and kinds. We pretty much cleared out the entire selection of Great Value tomatoes. He was very organized about how he placed things in the cart, to make it easier to check out. Me, I’d have just tossed them in. I wanted to adopt him on the spot.
Then I casually mentioned – “Oh, by the way, I also need $50 worth of Ramen noodles. I tried to order them on line but you can’t get the same deal on line as at the store.” (Two dollars for 10 packages! And very loved, according to the brilliant B who organizes the pantry for non-perishables.) This donation came from a very dear friend in Sudbury – P – who is not wealthy in money but is generous in heart.
I looked at our cart and it was filled to over-capacity. And a group of customers-in-need was starting to circle J. I said, “You help these folks and I’ll get a second cart.” By the time I got back, J had sorted out my competition (for his attention.) J pushed the tomato cart and I pushed the empty one to the Ramen section. Bingo! He filled up the second card with $50 worth of chicken-flavored and beef-flavored Ramen noodles – again, in a specific order to help the cashier.
J then helped me bring the two carts to P who was still directing people at the front of the store, and now had a cash machine with her. P and J rang up the food bill in no time flat. I asked J if Laur – who had just arrived – could take a picture of the carts and us on J’s phone – and could he email it to me? Talk about me being bold! He was happy to. He offered us help out to the car – but I said Laur would be happy to do it! 😊 (I volunteer my hubs for things on a regular basis. He’s now up to five volunteer jobs now in Green Valley!)
Up until Thursday of this week, our trunk was filled with canned tomatoes, and half the back seat with Ramen noodles. On Monday, 300 boxes of Kraft-like dinner were to have arrived – to fill up the other half of our 1997 old boat of a car. It ended up being a little more complicated than that – and this will be the third story in the Food Bank Trilogy.
On Sunday morning at church our Pastor encouraged us to always look for signs of Hope. With framily like y’all, I don’t have to look very far. Thank you!
OH! And if you want to kick in for some breakfast cereal, Laur promises to build a fort with it. And I’ll snap a picture of it and send it to you.
OK, I’m volunteering him. 😊
The food drive for December was/is KD-like Mac n Cheese dinner. KD is not my thing – but this is not about me. It’s an item that can be bought for 34 cents (Great Value brand) and is easy and fast to make. Very important for folks holding down a couple of part time jobs and feeding little kids, and for seniors with arthritis and mobility challenges.
And we were at 91 out of 100 (or thereabouts) when I received a most amazing email. A gentleman from Canada who I had never met wanted to donate $100 worth of KD-like dinner. I couldn’t believe it! I told our amazing Sahuarita Food Bank director A about this, and she mentioned, “You know, something we can never have enough of is diced canned tomatoes.”
So I wrote our lad back in Canada and asked him if he would be as happy if we bought canned tomatoes with this money. He wrote back, “Let’s do both!” YEE HAW!
Hmm… Now KD-like Great Value Mac N Cheese I could buy at Walmart online and have it delivered to my door. (This is the theory – the practice will be described in the third part of the Food Bank trilogy.) Que faire? I phoned Walmart and reception put me through to a store supervisor, J. I doubt J ever had a caller asking him how she could buy $100 of stewed tomatoes – but not just any stewed tomatoes – it had to be the Great Value brand because it was half the price.
He said he would call me back. I truly didn’t think he would. This was the Saturday before Christmas and I knew he was being run off his feet. But within an hour, our working cell phone rang. He had spoken to his manager and assessed the canned tomato situation, and said that I should be able to buy $100 worth of stewed tomatoes from the existing stock.
Hoot hoot! And then I asked him, “Are you working on Sunday afternoon?” He said, “Yes…” I said, “Can I meet you there and get your help?” and he said “Yes…” And I said, “Great! See you at 1 pm on Sunday!” Laurence overhead the conversation and was thinking, “Does she know what she is asking!?” Sure I did. I could never ask someone to help me like that if it was for me – but it was for the Sahuarita Food Bank. More specifically for little kids and poor seniors. Bring it on!
Sunday arrived, and it was 12:45 pm. Time to head out to Wal-Mart. Laur was truly embarrassed about all of this, but didn’t feel there was a dignified way out of this. So I suggested that while I was tracking down J, and getting started, he could go get the car washed. He jumped at the opportunity. I arrived and saw an assistant manager – P – and asked her to page J. She looked at me rather curiously and I assured her that we had worked this out before. Within a minute or two a friendly looking lad arrived.
He went with me to the canned tomatoes section and loaded up my cart with about 150 cans of different sizes and kinds. We pretty much cleared out the entire selection of Great Value tomatoes. He was very organized about how he placed things in the cart, to make it easier to check out. Me, I’d have just tossed them in. I wanted to adopt him on the spot.
Then I casually mentioned – “Oh, by the way, I also need $50 worth of Ramen noodles. I tried to order them on line but you can’t get the same deal on line as at the store.” (Two dollars for 10 packages! And very loved, according to the brilliant B who organizes the pantry for non-perishables.) This donation came from a very dear friend in Sudbury – P – who is not wealthy in money but is generous in heart.
I looked at our cart and it was filled to over-capacity. And a group of customers-in-need was starting to circle J. I said, “You help these folks and I’ll get a second cart.” By the time I got back, J had sorted out my competition (for his attention.) J pushed the tomato cart and I pushed the empty one to the Ramen section. Bingo! He filled up the second card with $50 worth of chicken-flavored and beef-flavored Ramen noodles – again, in a specific order to help the cashier.
J then helped me bring the two carts to P who was still directing people at the front of the store, and now had a cash machine with her. P and J rang up the food bill in no time flat. I asked J if Laur – who had just arrived – could take a picture of the carts and us on J’s phone – and could he email it to me? Talk about me being bold! He was happy to. He offered us help out to the car – but I said Laur would be happy to do it! 😊 (I volunteer my hubs for things on a regular basis. He’s now up to five volunteer jobs now in Green Valley!)
Up until Thursday of this week, our trunk was filled with canned tomatoes, and half the back seat with Ramen noodles. On Monday, 300 boxes of Kraft-like dinner were to have arrived – to fill up the other half of our 1997 old boat of a car. It ended up being a little more complicated than that – and this will be the third story in the Food Bank Trilogy.
On Sunday morning at church our Pastor encouraged us to always look for signs of Hope. With framily like y’all, I don’t have to look very far. Thank you!
OH! And if you want to kick in for some breakfast cereal, Laur promises to build a fort with it. And I’ll snap a picture of it and send it to you.
OK, I’m volunteering him. 😊