Our grandson, Aaron, recently turned 16 years old. The anticipation of turning 16 was to be able to get his driver’s license. Do you remember how slow the years, months, weeks, and when that day of freedom finally arrived? Then, do you remember how long it seemed before the freedom from school came and how quickly the responsibility of making a living (work) and family took over your life? The fun of “play” turned into 9 to 5 with the freedom of the so very short week-end. If I just didn’t have to make a living!
As you near retirement age, suddenly the years, months, weeks, and days begin to remind you of how slow the days were until freedom day — driver’s licenses, now until retirement. But after retirement, the days begin to fly by and what seemed like age 65 is suddenly age 75. The days rush by. Days are so short that what you wanted to accomplish on Monday finally gets done on Wednesday, if by then.
I know you are saying in your mind, “what has this to do with the food pantry?” I guess I am really talking about myself. The days seem to fly by. Suddenly, Monday turns into Tuesday, distribution day, with all so many things to get done. But before I get half of the things done, it is Monday again. Months move the same way. I have to decide each month what we will distribute the next month. This has to be done so that we can get the required paperwork ready for the next month. Getting the list of what we will give out often takes a while because sometimes what we have to distribute is limited. Because of this I wait to the last minute to see what is new or different at Second Harvest that we might be able to acquire for the next month.
And the days rush along. It seems that days and then months seem to rush over each other, trying to get to the next day or month. The older I get, the years seem to rush on, almost running over the next one. It had just turned 2019, when I saw on television a 2020 Ford Mustang. I do not really need any help moving the years along.
As I write this, it is early in March and I can already feel the pressure of what we will distribute for the month of April.
Time passes so quickly that if it were not for all the great volunteers, the rapid movement of time would make it impossible to get everything done that has to be done. So many thanks to Jan Olek who does the work of scheduling the volunteers who work each week! Also, thanks to all who volunteer their time at Harvest of Hope Food Pantry. They enable us to do what we do. We know how many hours each individual has worked as a volunteer for the food pantry. One of these months, perhaps, I will report how many volunteer hours have accumulated since we opened in June 2013.
For those who like numbers, the first thing in our inventory at the food pantry was peanut butter. We had 6,504 jars of peanut butter. The reason I know that fact is that our grandson, who was about 10 years old at the time, counted the jars of peanut butter. He counted the flats of jars and multiplied by 12. Since June 2013, every family has received a jar of peanut butter every month. No one has ever complained. I am a peanut butter eater. I eat a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast every morning.
Thank you for your continued support of Harvest of Hope Food Pantry. Without your faithful support, we could not continue to fulfill our mission of feeding the hungry, promoting physical and spiritual health, and bringing people together in a community of love.
God bless.

Sonny Pinckard is executive director Harvest of Hope Food Pantry, Americus.