Over the weekend our youth group participated in World Renew's FASTForward program. Along with fasting for 30 hours, we went around town doing a food drive for our local food bank. After doing the food drive three years in a row, I've noticed a couple of things.
First, lots of people are willing to participate in the food drive. I would say most of the people who answer the door go back into their house and dig up some food to donate, even if they had no idea we were coming. That's the kind of thing that makes you feel pretty good about your neighbors.
Second, lots of people seem to use the food drive as a way to get rid of food that they're never going to eat. Some people will mention that they don't like some item of food that they're donating. Others hand over things that just give the impression they've been sitting on the shelf for a while. That's the kind of thing that makes you feel less good about your neighbors.
What are you going to do? We humans tend to be a mixed bag. Giving away something you don't really like seems better to me than not giving anything away, even if giving away something you really enjoy seems much nobler yet. In the end, we do also collect a lot of food that is broadly appealing. And who knows, maybe those "reject" items will find their way into the hands of someone who genuinely would enjoy eating them. I hope so at least.
Grace and peace,
BMH
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