This morning Felix and I headed to our old food bank. We tried getting accepted to a new one that said they would accommodate Brad’s dietary needs, but we were rejected because his needs were too complicated. So back to the old food bank we went.
Every single time I’ve gone to this food bank, I’ve had an issue with them accepting service dogs. Sometimes I’ve been yelled at, but many times my dog has been disrespected and the organizers pet without asking, which with the power imbalance leaves me feeling gross.
So I headed out this morning at 7:30AM with trepidation. When I arrived, the one van accessible spot wasn’t taken, yay! Usually I have to park in the lower lot and put my ramp out onto the sidewalk as the van accessible spot is full. But today I got there and was able to park up close.
I was the 12th person in line, and I got there about an hour before they opened. If you get there earlier you get better food, so I always try to show up an hour ahead of time. I’m usually about 10 people back. They used to serve only 30 families a day, but I saw a new sign that says they serve up to 50 families a day now, so that’s good.
I was next to a nice woman who has a dachshund at home. We talked a lot about dogs and anxiety, and became quite friendly. It was a fun way to pass the time, to talk with her. Normally I’m just playing on my phone for an hour. We also talked with a man a few people back in line from us.
There was a really pretty orange-leaved Oak tree, and we were taking pictures of it, so I asked for my new friend to take a picture of us in front of the tree.
By the time 8:30 rolled around, there were easily over 30 people in line, so I’m glad they raised the limit to 50 people per day!
Normally when I go to this food bank, they come around and let me in a side door because it’s difficult to get my wheelchair through the main door. There’s like an inch of clearance total. But they didn’t, so I had to squeeze through. Luckily I didn’t run into anything! I threaded that needle!
I got checked in and they gave me some rolls of toilet paper, then I headed out back to get my food. They load it up into the trunk for you, so you don’t know what you’re getting until you get home.
When I got home, Brad was already awake (he’s waking up early now!) so he came out to the kitchen to watch me unload and see what all we got. I think we got a pretty good haul.
We got a giant head of cabbage and three GIANT sweet potatoes. Really, each sweet potato is bigger than a guinea pig! We got two things of salad (luckily I recently bought dressing!), two dozen eggs, two blocks of cheese, a taco kit, grits, canned veggies, granola bars, a huge pack of 52 mini rice krispie treats, a pack of lucky charms treats, chicken breast, ground meat shaped into hamburgers, a giant thing of frozen carrots, fresh dill, fresh oregano, lots of rice, pistachios, honey roasted peanuts, peanut butter, jelly, and a few other things that I’m not remembering right now. We also got this very strange large can of “sweet and sour mix” for drinks. It’s just pineapple and lemon juice from concentrate, and I guess you’re supposed to mix it with seltzer water (which we got) or something?
Very few things have gluten or dairy in them (just some bread, mac and cheese, spaghetti, chicken noodle soup, the cheese, and the lucky charms treats), so Brad can eat almost everything we got! I plan to give away the spaghetti and soup. I have Brad friendly mac and cheese in the cabinet, and it’s easy to make both mac and cheeses at the same time so we each eat our own.
So we are feeling good with a house full of food right now!
When I got home, I made grits for the first time and scrambled us some eggs with dill. It was a good breakfast!
Below is the picture of Felix and me that my new friend took. Felix is in my lap, and I’m in my wheelchair, and we are in front of a beautiful orange-leaved Oak tree.
