This morning I woke up bright and early to go to the food bank. I woke up early enough so that I could walk the dogs before I left, because I decided to take Felix with me for the first time.
I didn’t have time to do anything else but walk the dogs before leaving, so I know I looked a mess! Oh well.
We got to the food bank at 8AM. They open at 8:30. I had been told last time I was there that Tuesdays are the best days to go as they have fresh deliveries Tuesday morning so you get better stuff. The line waiting outside to get in was in accordance with that. At 8AM I was already probably 20 deep in line. They only serve 30 families a day.
I brought my wheelchair to sit in, as there aren’t any chairs or anything like that. Felix did a good job just chilling in my lap while we waited. At first he was a little antsy and climbing around on my lap a bit. But then he calmed down and laid down and rested.
Unfortunately a man who got in line at the end of the line, about 5 people behind me, decided he needed to spray his cologne all over himself. So I started to get nauseous from the strong smell of the cologne. I already had my mask on, so there wasn’t anything else I could do.
While I was waiting in line, the man who takes ID cards when you enter came to talk with me. Last time I was there, my wheelchair had a hard time fitting through the main door. There was like total 1 inch clearance, which means a half an inch on either side of my wheelchair. It took me a few tries to make it through the door. So the man said that when it was my turn to come in, I should holler out from outside the door and then go around to a side door that is wider and he’d let me in. I thought this was super nice that he remembered me and my difficulties, and that he had a solution for them!
Eventually it became 8:30 and the line started moving. The next thing I know, the man who takes IDs came to get me. It turns out that they decided I should go in first so that no one had to get up in the middle of the process and go open a side door for me. I was really happily surprised! I’m not sure how the others in line felt, though. Honestly if the cologne man wasn’t there, I probably would have insisted that I wait my turn. But I was really ready to be away from cologne man!
I got checked in, and they offered to assist me in picking items from the home goods section. It’s not really wheelchair accessible, so I don’t usually get anything from there. But I saw toilet paper in there, and some unscented free and clear Tide detergent! So since they offered to get whatever I wanted, I asked for those things. They will both come in very handy! How lucky am I that they had unscented laundry detergent!
Felix was great in the building. He just chilled out in my lap.
Then I had to head back out to my car. The one wheelchair van accessible spot was already taken when I arrived, so I had to park way at the end of the lot where my ramp could go out on the sidewalk. So I had to zoom past the people waiting to load stuff in my car to get to my car and the drive over there. Luckily I didn’t take too long and was able to get my food before the next person pulled up behind me.
When I got home, I was very excited to see what we got! We got a lot of fresh produce! We got strawberries, blueberries, and muscadine grapes (Brad’s favorite!). We got some fresh veggies and a variety of frozen meats (not as wonderful meats as last time, but these are just fine!). I will be able to make a great soup with what we got! And have several other meals, including some really tasty looking sausage. We got some juice that I’m really excited about, too. And cucumbers and lots of salad greens. We got both spinach and bib lettuce, so I think the spinach will go in the soup and the lettuce will be for salads. Plus lots of canned food, and a few little treats.
I’ll have to do a Walmart order soon to get ingredients for dog food, and I’ll probably just have to get a few little extra things for us to complete recipes for the meats that we got. Thank goodness for the food pantry, it’s really helping us out with the reduction in food stamps!
I got a selfie of me with Felix outside the food pantry. It’s not a great one because I tried to take it without everyone noticing! I’m wearing a green dress and a rainbow mask with my hair all a mess, and Felix is a sable and white Japanese Chin looking off to the side.
