Best By Apr 2005

Thanksgiving spread at the pantry.

Dear everyone in my homeroom in my high school during the late 90s:

I liked food drives, and they were my favorite part of being your homeroom representative my junior year. There were two reasons, however, that I'd make a very large point of asking you to check your food dates and go out and get a few new items - maybe one can each, ones that you might like - rather than getting your parents to clean out the cupboard during our various collections. First, regardless of faith or philosophy, the "do unto others" thing is a central tenant in most of them and, as a Catholic school, this concept was never far from our eyes and ears. Beyond that, I've always believed one should treat others with respect and dignity - waitresses, cashiers, janitors - because it could be you or someone you care about in that situation someday.

(What you didn't know is that, before the boxes went to local pantries or families, I sorted every box that year, pulling out the expired things and using my own money to supplement all the sad cans of near-expired green beans with new stuff.)

Funny how things work out in life.

Anyway, much of pantry food is expired or rotting and there is an element to plucking around the inedibles - even for someone that doesn't have my food issues. Today's picture was particularly shocking example of expiration, and I'd wager that this is a gamble that even the hardest "dates don't matter" folk would not take.

...and, since I spent most of my life actively on the other side of the donation box, I can't help but wonder dow deep and dark that pantry was and what suburban mother felt that this was truly better than nothing for someone else's children.