What happens when Grandma passes on?

No Child Should Go Hungry in a Farming Community

Years ago, we started “No Child Should Go Hungry in a Farming Community” which is a program solely financed by agriculture producers to buy basic food items for needy children. Our program has been going on for more than ten years. The idea of this program sparked after speaking with Gloria Staples, a volunteer at our local food pantry. While talking with her, she mentioned that they provide for some single mothers and grandmothers who are taking care of their grandchildren.

One day, Jim Hoffman and Tom Murray Sr. went to Sanders to get two trucks full of supplies. These gentlemen donated their time and trucks. Sanders sells the supplies to the food pantry at their cost. Our office staff would go over to assist with the unloading of the items. Right inside the doors was an elderly lady waiting to get food. As she was watching us, our eyes met and she whispered, “God bless you”. She had tears in her eyes, and I was too choked up to say anything. I have no idea the hardship she had to endure at her age, caring for another group of kids.

While at the Moose Lodge, a guy and I got to talking about the “old days”. He commented that he and his sister lived with their grandma from third to eighth grade. Each night after school, they always hoped she had some bread, peanut butter, and jelly for a snack and she often did. She would then prepare supper for the three of them. The guy also commented that he always wondered how she managed to make ends meet. He said that looking back they were poor beyond measure. Shortly before his grandmother died, he came home from college and she was proud to tell him that she had her funeral services paid for because she didn’t want to burden him and his sister. He said that his grandma often commented that she didn’t know how she could have kept food on the table if it wasn’t for the generosity of strangers that gave her food donations.

Many of us have fond memories of our time with our grandmas and for some, grandma was the lifeline to a normal life. Grandmas are special.

Sometimes we don’t have enough donations to keep it going, but we try. Farmers are generous givers when they are given a cause.