Be Thankful



[Editor’s Note: The following letters are in response to Susan Stratton’s article, “Bottom of the Barrel at the Food Pantry.”

Dear Editors,

This article truly resonated with me.

My husband has been off of work for almost this entire year due to job loss. He works in computers but he’s in a saturated market. He was also off for almost 2003. We feel called to homeschool and my husband wants me home with the children even though I have offered to go back to work to help the family. He is trying. He is retraining for a new position.

I have been to food banks and the quality of what you’re given sometimes conflicts with your feelings of whether or not it is safe to give your children. I have a child who is sensitive to food dyes. Does that mean I’m not grateful for what I am given?

No. I’m grateful… but in being grateful I also place myself in the shoes of who are even more impoverished than I. Do they feel less than because of what they’re given? I cannot speak for them. I have felt that way because of what I have been given. Clothes with stains, food brands I’ve never heard of, expired foods.

That’s the point of this article.

How do we give to the poor? Do we give things we ourselves would feel comfortable receiving?

Thank you for putting into words what I have felt from experience.

God Bless,

Maria Peceli

Sacramento, CA

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Dear Catholic Exchange,

I have always enjoyed, been enlighten and uplifted, as well as challenged by the wonderful articles sent daily to my email inbox by Catholic Exchange. I have not once felt the need to complain, and I wish I had written before to praise and thank you, because I truly feel blessed to be exposed to such wonderful writing. That is why, when I read the above mentioned article today, I was so very sorely disappointed.

The author makes one good point in that we should be giving out of our own supply and not our cast-offs to the poor. The tone of the entire article, however, was one of whining and complaining about her plight… and frankly just turned me off completely. I have known what it is like to not know where my next meal was coming from… but God help me if I ever sounded like her! And why this article was chosen for publication is completely beyond my powers of comprehension. I pray that she may hear the whisperings of the Holy Spirit to perhaps look for ways of redefining “need” in terms of having to have cable TV and a cell phone, and to accept that we all make choices in life. Perhaps natural family planning might be a good idea, since she cannot feed the children she already has, and yet seems to have another one on the way. God blesses us all with the children He wants us to have, but He also blesses us with the means to care for them. She is obviously a woman of intelligence; why is the only job she can find one as an underpaid clerk?

Please, I look to Catholic Exchange to edify and encourage me in my faith journey. I do not wish to sound unsympathetic to the plight of the poor; I firmly believe that the world's resources are here for all of us to share in right portion. I just don't see how this particular article has any way of inspiring anything but an urgent prayer for the author to let the Holy Spirit take charge of her life and finances in the pursuit of raising her family.

Thanks for letting me vent. I really am an ardent supporter; I share articles from Catholic Exchange all the time with different small faith communities I belong to. I ask God to continue to bless you all in your ministry.

Barbara Lyons



Dear Catholic Exchange,

First I have to say I love your website. It’s my homepage. I read pages from it faithfully everyday.

In that light I must say I’m very upset that you printed the article today by Susan Stratton. I agree with her conclusion, that we should donate our best to charity. But her negative characterization of very edible food given, yes, given her by a local food bank is highly offensive. These good people didn’t even ask her to prove she was in need; they took her word for it. There were lots of lovely people there, giving of their time, catering to her by taking her food to the car for her, yet she was put-off by the number of them. Tell me who has their values upside down?

My frustration with the article stems from the fact in the name of frugality I and many moms like me pay money for the type of food she was feely given. We shop at discount food stores and serve good food to our families that is just at expiration, or packaged oddly, or bears some brand-name we’re not familiar with. When I give food to the food bank, sometimes it comes off my shelf, and guess what; it may be just at or past expiration. But it’s still from my sustenance, not my throw-aways, as Susan suggests. If she wasn’t so focused on herself she would see that.

Many of us have lots of kids and grow gardens and put up our food to provide preservative-free food to our children.

Then she actually refuses free food! You mean her kids don’t eat spaghetti and tomato sauce? I’m sorry but you guys really have me riled in that you gave this article headline space. So it’s not just Susan that’s dissing my lifestyle, but you too! Ugh!

I am far from being alone. Many families in my circle of friends are in this situation, not complaining, still giving, doing the best we can for our families. Sometimes we do it so one parent can stay home and home school children. Sometimes it’s a single, working mom, who doesn’t even have the support of a husband. Sometimes it’s because our families have just had a series of hard knocks, or medical bills, or an elderly family member living with us.

In short, this woman has her nerve complaining! If hope was what she needed all she needed do was look in the faces of the wonderful people serving her, and not qualify her gratitude, but be truly grateful for the food the Lord has put on her table through their hands.

Sincerely,

Deb Imholte



Editor's Note: To contact Catholic Exchange, please refer to our Contact Us page.

Please note that all email submitted to Catholic Exchange or its authors (regarding articles published at CE) become the property of Catholic Exchange and may be published in this space. Published letters may be edited for length and clarity. Names and cities of letter writers may also be published. Email addresses of viewers will not normally be published.

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