Who Are These Hungry Folks?

Image source: Operation Blessing International

I continually get questions about the people we serve in our efforts to eliminate hunger in our community. These conversations typically follow the lines of "Do y'all give out food to anyone that wants it or do you check them out to make sure they really need it?" I understand where these folks are coming from, honest I do. Growing up in rural South Georgia, I have seen the abuse of governmental programs first hand.

So when I answer this question, I first describe what our organization does. It collects and transports food to food pantries and shelters. The food pantries are operated by local churches and other nonprofit organizations. These groups work very hard to get to know the families they serve and their individual situations. Not because they are trying to stop people from receiving help, but because they want to ensure they are helping them in the most appropriate and effective manner.

A couple of stories to illustrate this point. One of the food pantries works with a social worker in the local school system to identify families in need. They then make contact with these families and determine if they have transportation so they can come to the pantry and pickup groceries. At any given time, they have 18-20 families that do not have transportation. For these families, they make a weekly delivery of food. these deliveries provide their volunteers with a first hand look at the family's situation. When the family obtains transportation, they notify the pantry so another somewhere can receive a delivery. The manager of the pantry shared with me that they delivered to a Hispanic family and the father was quite bothered with accepting the assistance despite the fact they genuinely needed the food. A volunteer that could speak Spanish began talking with him, and he shared that he did not want free food. What he wanted was a job. He was a construction worker. He was able bodied, and he wanted to work and provide for his family. The volunteer discovered that the man had been turned down for job after job because he did not have steel-toed boots. And, being out of work and trying to keep the lights on, he did not have a means to buy a new pair of boots. The church that operated the pantry got him and the other men in his family steel-toed boots. All of the men in the family got jobs and notified the pantry they no longer needed their assistance.

A couple weekends ago, my wife and I made 5 of these deliveries one rainy day. Not only did we not see any undeserving recipients, we saw families doing everything within their power to be independent. One family consisted of a grandmother, mother, and two small children. When we were there, the grandmother had just arrived home from working 14 hours straight - working to keep the utilities on, rent paid, and medical bills covered. By anyone's standards, she should have been retired and enjoying her years. Instead, she was trying to provide for her family in hard times.

These are authentic needs. These are real families that have endured setbacks and hard times that they are struggling to overcome. They have swallowed their pride and asked for help not wanting their children to go hungry. I cannot fault them.

So, we serve.

-Peace

Allen

Review: When Mockingbirds Sing - Billy Coffey

(image source: Amazon.com)

What would happen in a small rural town if God chose to speak through a shy little girl with a stuttering problem? How would the local preacher accept the fact that God chose this odd little girl instead of a professional minister? How would the local gossip society accept this turn of events? How would the church elders react? How would it affect her family? Especially her Dad the professional psychologist struggling with his inability to help his daughter and failing to salvage his own marriage?

Didn't God select Moses in the Old Testament, a guy with a stuttering problem and insecurity issues? Maybe God likes to select the least capable to display His power. Maybe He could use anyone. Maybe he could speak through anyone.

Billy Coffey goes to the heart of out piety. He makes us look at our self-righteousness and our judgemental attitudes. This book will make the reader take a painful look at their penchant to snap judgements and check their heart.

I highly recommend this book and the pause it may give you upon reading it.

Author's website: http://www.billycoffey.com/

More info on When Mockingbirds Sing: http://www.billycoffey.com/coming-soon/

It Ain't Always Easy

 

When you think about embarking on an endeavour like clothing the poor or feeding the hungry, you do not begin thinking about the naysayers or any road blocks. Who would be against doing good right? The whole world ought to get right behind you, and it should be easy right? And aren't we supposed to be doing that kind of stuff? Didn't a carpenter turned prophet talk about doing that kind of thing?

^{Matthew 25:34} “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Yeah, that's it. So since we are supposed to do it, everyone will jump in and be supportive right? Shake yourself awake. Welcome back to planet earth filled with SUVs, crowded WalMarts, and traffic jams.

Saturday we were invited to hold a food drive at the local fairgrounds in conjunction with a huge Easter egg hunt. So, we got up early, got out to the fairground, set up a canopy, table, and chairs, and we set down to wait for the can goods to begin arriving. We noticed right behind our spot was a field littered in plastic Easter eggs, and we quickly surmised it was not going to be an Easter egg "hunt" but more of an Easter egg "gather". If you walked across the field, you literally could not take a step without stepping on five plastic eggs.

As it approached 11am, the crowds began arriving, you know the SUVs and minivans with two parents, four or five kids and the stick family decals on the back window. Yeah, those crowds. When the firetruck blew the airhorn for the first "gather", parents came running to the edge of the field to witness this incredible experience. In their haste to witness this once in a lifetime encounter, they failed to notice they were pushing into our canopy or spreading out on our table that had our brochures and can good collection on it. When we politely asked if they might relinquish the table we were using for food collection, one gentleman replied, "I see y'all ain't very busy."

Seriously? I swallowed hard while suppressing my gut reaction, and I could hear it...
^{Matthew 5:43} “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor^[a] and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Yeah, I know. I cannot lash out. This is not about me. This is about what we are trying to do - to help those in our community struggling with hunger. But this guy is being obnoxious and needs to learn some manners and basic respect. OK, not my job to teach him what his parents left out. OK, I get it.

Soon the first round of egg gathering was complete and the field was as clean as a bowling ball. City workers appeared with boxes of plastic eggs and began to pour them all over the field to prepare for round two. And before we knew it, here came another wave of pushing and shoving parents oblivious to what was going on under the canopy. Once wave two was gone, one of the volunteers magically appeared with a web strap to limit access into the canopy from three sides. The final round of egg gathering should go a little easier I surmised. Go ahead. Laugh. You know you want to laugh.

My wife and one of the volunteers walked out to the midway to get something to eat. While they were buying food, people slowly began assembling around us to watch their children and grandchildren's shining moment gathering eggs. One woman looks over under the canopy and asked if she could "steal" (her words) one of our chairs. I said sorry but no, my wife was getting something to eat and would need to be able to sit down to eat. The woman was not happy with my answer and began trying to argue me out of the chair. I held my ground and said no, sorry a few more times. She finally dropped the subject and gave me an ugly glare.

Another guy walks up, sees the banner "Feed the Hungry" and wants to be funny. "Hey, I am hungry. Are you gonna feed me?" He asks. I take a look at him. He has a plump belly that indicates he has not missed a meal in many years. His clothing indicates he has not slept outside. He just wants to me a comedian. But it falls flat on those of us under the canopy. We all think the same thing, 16,740 people in our community - 11,020 of them children have missed many meals. They do not know where their next meal is coming from and in fact, they do not know that there is going to be a next meal. As kind as possible, I hear my wife respond, "No, I am afraid not. We are collecting food for hungry people. We would be happy to accept a financial contribution." He says he will check us out later and walks off.

I was quickly losing my hope in humanity. In the midst of all of the confusion, I see a man and a couple small children stop in front of our canopy. The father squats down to talk to the smallest child, but I cannot make out the discussion from the noise around me. They sit there for several minutes. They stand, my wife speaks with them. They smile and leave. She tells me that the parts of their conversation went along these lines, "You remember when sometimes at dinner we talk about we have a lot to eat and some people do not have anything to eat? That is what this table is for. These folks are collecting food for the people that do not have anything to eat. Of all the tables we have looked at today, this is the most important one." The father then asked his young son if he wanted to go home and get some of the money he had set a side for giving or if he wanted to go home and get some food. The little boy quietly said he wanted to go home and get some food to bring back.

BAM! My faith in humanity restored on the spot by one quiet and gentle father and his young son. All of the rudeness, shoving, and narcissism did not matter any more. These were little pot holes in the road to doing what needed to be done. If this was the biggest shot we had to endure to make a positive difference in the world, a little disrespect and attitude was small potatoes, right?

At the conclusion of the event, we talked with the food vendors and our mission was warmly received. One vendor provided 23 pizzas and 17 salads. Then came a pan full of ribs, pulled BBQ, salmon patties...before it was all over, we had approximately 150 pounds of leftover food donated by the event vendors. We delivered to four different ministries which fed well over 100 people that night with the food we collected.

Yeah, suck it up. Not everyone is on your team. It is not going to always be easy, but it is still important.

Ever Wished Your Insurance Agent Would Just Freaking Listen to You?

Ever wished your insurance agent would just freaking listen to you? I sat and had a conversation with Van Baird at Van Baird State Farm Agency several weeks ago after having applied for insurance for our nonprofit. It was an enjoyable conversation and I could tell that he was genuinely interested in supporting our cause.

Van Baird (photo: Van Baird)
Van Baird State Farm Agency

Little did I know how well he was paying attention. The underwriters contacted him and said they were not going to be able to write the policy. When he inquired why, the explained that Feed the Hungry Forsyth, Inc. transported food and they were concerned about the liabilities if someone got sick from eating some of the food. Because Van had paid attention during our conversation, he knew that the Bill Emerson federal Good Samaritan Food Donation law and State of Georgia Good Samaritan Food Donation laws protect us from these kinds of liabilities (as they also protect restaurants donating food). Without even calling me, he was able to resolve the situation and point the underwriters to what they needed to research.

Was he just trying to save his commission? No. I don't think so at all. I believe he genuinely wants to help and listens to his customers carefully. THAT is a good neighbor!

Kids Keep You Humble

Several years ago while living on 11 acres on a dirt road in rural South Georgia, I served on a volunteer Fire Department. We received the gamut of calls ranging from house fires, car fires, automobile accidents, attempted suicides, and flooding to name a few. One rainy night, our department was dispatched to assist a neighbor whose home was being threatened with flooding by a large highway drainage ditch which was rapidly overflowing. I walked into the utility room of our farm house and began pulling on my bright yellow rain gear complete with jacket and hood with a built-in bill like a baseball cap.

Sterns raincoat image courtesy of stage.sportsmansguide.com



I began thinking how miserable it was going to be out working in this torrential downpour. I pulled up the hood on the rain jacket and walked out of the utility room towards the backdoor of the house where I met our 3 yr old daughter. I could feel some pride rise in my chest that my young daughter was seeing her father preparing to go out in miserable weather to help someone. For a mere moment, I thought I would earn some admiration and respect for my civic duty. She looked me head to toe, paused for a moment, and said, "Daddy, You look like a duck!"

I quickly realized she was right and was brought back to reality. There was no need to feel sorry for myself. Someone was faced with their home being flooded and that was worse than being out in the rain to run a pump. With my ego in check, I crawled into my pickup and headed to the scene. Along the way, I glanced in the rear view mirror at myself and the yellow billed hood of my rain gear, chuckled, and did my best Donald Duck impression.

Christmas in Dixie, it is not Snowing in the Pines

Merry Christmas everyone!

I am still breathing. I am way behind on posting due to demands of school and working with our
nonprofit. I wanted to be sure to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. And if by some odd chance of matters you have been wondering what a moose has to do with Christmas, I am happy to share the whole story: The Legend of the Christmas Moose

Behind the Scenes

Brad Keselowski

2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion

(Photo Courtesy Penske Racing Photos- Facebook)

As the confetti fell and Miller Beer sprayed in the air, Brad Keselowski and Roger Penske celebrated their first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship. Indeed, it was Penske's first NASCAR Cup Series Championship since he began fielding cars in NASCAR's premier series in 1972. While the TV audience got a glimpse of the car owner, crew chief, driver, and crew, what they did not see was the amount of men and women that work full time 12 months a year at the company headquarters and shop in Mooresville, NC. These men and women are responsible for building 55 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars, 11 NASCAR Nationwide Series cars, and 7 IndyCar Series cars.

Michael Lott

NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Chassis Fabricator

(Photo courtesy Leah Lott Photography)

Sitting at home with his wife and two boys watching the final race of the season wind down at Homestead-Miami and watching his driver win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship was Michael Lott, chassis fabricator. Michael started his racing career at 19 years old, He had dropped out of college after the first day deciding it was not the path for him. He had instead elected to work in his father's automotive repair shop.

I met Michael early in my dirt track racing career at a time when I had been responsible for maintaining and driving my own car. I quickly learned he had a passion for automobiles and racing and had a intense desire to perform quality work in everything he was involved. When I met him, his mechanical knowledge was amazing. The best way I could describe him was someone who could disassemble your street car, reassemble it blindfolded, and it would run better.

He dove head first into learning race car suspension and tuning. Together we took a car that had been finishing laps down and created a car that began logging top-10 finishes. I distinctly remember explaining concepts of jacking wedge, moving static weight, unsprung vs. sprung weight, effects of reciprocal weight on drivetrain, and other fundamentals involved in stock car racing to him. He was attentive and a quick study. He would ask a few questions to ensure he had a full understanding of what I was explaining and then it was committed to memory.

Within a month of Michael working with me, he had assumed the complete maintenance of my race car. In fact, he made it very clear that he did not want me wrenching on the car, "Go do your driver thing", he would tell me once the car was unloaded at the race track.

After my daughter was born, I resigned my day job and launched a computer consulting business. The business start up eliminated the budget to race, so I sold out my inventory of racing equipment and poured myself into the business. Michael felt lost without racing and after a few months, he set out to Charlotte, NC to attend a one week Racing Suspension class and to circulate his resume. Before the week was over, he had secured a job with a small NASCAR Cup team sweeping the floor, picking up tools, and serving as a general gofer. But his knowledge of race cars and mechanical ability was soon recognized and before long he was on the road crew and the over the wall pit crew.

I still remember him calling me from the garage of the Michigan International Speedway on his first road trip as a crew member. I am not sure he slept the entire four days he was there. He was rubbing shoulders with all of the guys he had watched on TV for years and now he was apart of them. His skills continued to improve. When I had met him he could arc weld. I had helped him master MIG welding. He took it upon himself to learn TIG welding which is in much demand among the big league race teams.

His skills continued to be noticed and appreciated. He made a few team changes and continued to receive promotions. He went from a general mechanic to a fabricator. On one trip to NC, I admired the work he had been performing shaping sheet metal into fenders, hoods, quarter panels deck lids, and roofs. Eventually, he moved to the chassis shop where he works with a team of skilled individuals work build the entire chassis (frame and rollcages) for Penske Racing's NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series cars.

So as I sat and watched Brad Keselowski celebrate winning the Sprint Cup, I smiled as I thought about my friend who has labored behind the scenes for the last 15 years that is apart of a team of people who's hard work and determination just won the championship.

Congratulations Brad Keselowski, Roger Penske, Penske Racing, and Michael Lott on a job well down.

Being the Church to the Community Around Us

For years the Church has gotten a bad rap for building a grandiose cathedral and expecting the lost and hurting to come to them. When the lost and hurting does not respond, committees are formed to try to figure out why. And when the Church contemplated service, they looked overseas – raised money, bought plane tickets and travelled thousands of miles away completely overlooking the hurting in the community that surrounded them.

I am guest writing at The Assembling of the Church, the weblog of Alan Knox. You can read this rest of this post there. Read More...

Wine Country North Georgia

Between work, school, and our nonprofit, it has been really busy this year and several mornings I have awoken tired. The lesson I have learned over the years is that at times like these, it is very important to find a respite however brief to remove my mind from current events - a temporary distraction from deadlines and responsibilities and an opportunity to refocus. While sleep is important, it is also important to take sometime to relieve my mind of all of the details, spend sometime with my wife, and simply enjoy the handy work of the Creator.

Photo by the Author

Saturday we awoke to overcast skies and predictions of rain. This seemed like as good of a chance as any to take a day off and unwind. I have lived in North Georgia for 12 years and have ventured out to some of the points of interest, winding roads built with motorcycles in mind and quaint little towns built during the gold rush. For longer than I can recall, I have been aware that there were vineyards in North Georgia, but I never knew how many. This day, we elected to visit a couple. Apparently there are a dozen vineyards surrounding Dahlonega, Georgia a short drive from our home.

Photo by the Author



The low clouds and North Georgia Mountains captured my attention. The longer I stood and gazed on the horizon, the more relaxed and peaceful I felt. Acres and acres of rolling hills covered in grapevines cover the area. Lush green grass and grape leaves against a grey sky and a blue mountain range. One would think you would have to travel to California to see scenery like this, but it is right here in North Georgia begging to be explored.

Photos by the Author

One of these vineyards covers 18 acres of an 184 acre farm - pretty impressive. All of these vineyards operate a tasting room open to the public usually Thursday through Saturday (some even Sunday).

After a few hours of taking in the scenery and the impressive selections of wine that each winery produces, we ambled down to Amicalola Falls State Park and Lodge, paid the $5 parking fee and drove to the top of the 729 feet tall falls and to the Lodge for the buffet lunch.

Amicalola Falls Lodge

(Photo Courtesy: www.gastateparks.org )

Amicalola Falls Lodge

(Photo Courtesy: www.gastateparks.org )

As always, we requested a seat by the window so we could enjoy the mountain view over lunch. On a clear day, the view is like the picture above. But on this particular day a fog was rolling in shrouding the mountains from view. Before long, a tree twenty feet away almost disappeared from sight into the fog.



The low key morning and filling lunch in the North Georgia Mountains was just what I needed to rest my mind and relax. I believe an occasional day like this is good for the soul. 



A few North Georgia Vineyards worth checking out:

Three Sisters Vineyards

Cavender Creek Vineyards and Winery

Frogtown Cellars

Montaluce Winery & Estates

Wolf Mountain Vineyards

Adventures in Firefighting

Photo - The Author

I was rudely awakened at 4am one morning by the tones of the paging system of our local volunteer fire department. Blurry eyed and trying to shake myself into consciousness, I heard the address of a reported brush fire. As I crawled over the side-rail of the waterbed, all I could think was “how in the world does a brush fire get started at 4am?” The majority of the brush fires I had responded to had been caused by someone burning trash and letting the fire get away from them. Who in their right mind would be burning trash at 4am?

Photo Source: longforestry.com 

I stumbled my way down the hallway to the utility room and stepped into my bunker gear pants and boots, pulled the pants up, and threw the suspenders over my shoulders. I pulled on my bunker coat, grabbed my helmet, and stumbled out to my pickup. As I drove down the driveway, I was still fixated on the cause of this blaze. I picked up my radio and called our department volunteers and cautioned them to check carefully for downed power lines. The last thing we needed was a volunteer firefighter getting killed stepping out of a vehicle trying to extinguish a brush fire.

Photo Source: county10.com



I flipped on the red strobe lightbar, flashing headlights, and siren, and quickly made my way to the fire scene. I made no apologies to my sleeping neighbors I passed for all the noise. Abiding by state law, no siren would make me liable for any possible accidents enroute, and I was not opening myself up on that one.

Arriving at the fire scene, I saw four of our volunteers already working with hand tools to extinguish the fire. I took out my flashlight and began carefully inspecting the overhead power lines. Everything was intact - no down power lines. What could have started this fire? Content the scene was safe, I stepped out of the truck, retrieved a fire flap out of one of the tool boxes, and began fighting the fire.

Once we had the fire completely knocked out, as the senior officer on scene, I knew my next responsibility was to determine the cause and write the report. So, I began walking and observing the burn pattern. A couple other volunteers joined me walking and observing. We quickly noted that there was a very apparent “V” pattern which pointed to a point of origination. At the base of the “V” was a severely burned carcass that I would estimate at 7 to 8 lbs. Looking at the remainder of the carcass gave me pause as I attempted to identify the animal. A group of firefighters circled the carcass and a heated discussion ensued.

“It looks like a possum”, one guy noted.

“Nah, I think it’s a raccoon”, another quickly disagreed.

The possum vs. coon discussion went back and forth for several minutes. Those who were steadfast in their beliefs that it was a possum were basing their conclusion solely on the diameter of the tail. I tried to interject that the tail was probably much thicker before it had been burned, but they were hearing none of it.

Those on the other side of the argument countered that raccoons climbed trees and phone poles and possums did not.  Unable to arrive at a consensus, I steered the conversation away from what kind of animal it was to constructing a hypothesis of what had happened. I suggested that this animal had climbed the utility pole which was 5 feet from where the carcass was lying, and somehow had gotten across both terminals on the transformer which blew it off the transformer and set its fur on fire. When it hit the ground, the burning carcass had set the broom straw field on fire.
Everyone present seemed content with accepting my hypothesis as plausible. So, we were back to the argument of identifying the animal. One of my good friends had remained silent up to this point of the discussion. He spit a large amount of tobacco juice on the ground, pulled on the suspenders of his bunker pants, and said, “It’s obvious it’s a coon.” Everyone stopped the conversations mid-sentence and looked at my friend. “OK, why is that?” one asked. “That’s simple”, he replied, “If it was a possum, there would be sweet taters.”

(For the curious, possum and sweet potato recipes can be found here: Southern Cuisine: Baked Possum with Apples and Sweet Potatoes)

No one seemed to have any further arguments. I wrote the report noting a raccoon had apparently crawled across both terminals of the transformer, setting its fur on fire and blowing it off the pole into a broom straw field setting it ablaze. I have always thought it would have been an amazing sight to have been driving down that county two lane road in the middle of the night and to have seen a flaming raccoon flying through the air.