Today's adventure ...

These are banana boxes ...

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If you are involved in the distribution of food and help to the poor, you are no doubt familiar with banana boxes ...

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They are convenient, ubiquitous and they come in quite handy ... you can pack about 40 lbs of non-perishable foodstuffs in an average banana box, and are able to use the convenient handles to shlep it around.

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Banana boxes also help gather, move and distribute perishables like bread, fruit and veggies ...

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This week I've been spending a lot - and I MEAN A LOT - of time with banana boxes ...

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The regular delivery driver for Samaritan House Ministries - the main food bank in town - has been on holidays, and I have volunteered to drive in his absence ... I have a WHOLE new respect for the work that he does ...

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My day starts at 7 am with a pick up at a local grocery store and continues with a schedule of stops ALL over town picking up bread and baked good, produce and milk for distribution through the food programmes run by Samaritan House Ministries ...

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Yesterday and today I filled and moved dozens and dozens of banana boxes filled with date expiry baked good, produce that caused Ms. H to declare: "sick, there's mold on those ..." and hundred of kilos of root vegetables donated by a local Hutterite colony ...

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Tonight my back is sore, my knees and shoulders are aching, and I have pains in nooks and crannies I didn't know could have pain ... but I feel good about being able to see in such a first hand way the important work that agencies like Samaritan House do in places like Brandon ... one of the staff at Samaritan House has gone on record saying - "all of this ... (the food distributed to the poor in Brandon) ... is garbage that we keep out of the local dump ..."

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She's right ... without our pick up today, hundreds of pounds of bread, muffins, cakes, donuts and other baked items would simply get tossed in a dumpster and sent to the garbage dump ... instead the people in Brandon who NEED help to survive, are being given food that they gladly use ... without our pick up today a hundred pounds of bruised, over-ripe and damaged produce would get tossed in a dumpster and sent to the dump ... instead it is cleaned up and given to people - some of whom get ONLY this "fresh" produce - to enjoy!!!

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I would gladly endure whatever aches and pains I feel tonight over and over because I know that when I back the truck up to the loading dock at a local grocery store - the food that I haul away is going to be used and appreciated by those in need who live all around me in Brandon ... it's exhausting and tiring ... but it is SOOOOOOO worth it ...

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It helps keep things in perspective ... it's NOT about photo opportunities and press announcements - it's about helping those in need and helping to feed, clothe and house the poor and vulnerable ... maybe one day our bureacrats and our politicians will get it and we'll no longer need places like Samaritan House !!!

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In the meantime - one banana box at a time - we keep feeding people ...

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