One thing that’s different from volunteering at the Food Bank during the day like I did in the summer and now in the evening during the holiday season is the number of children scurrying about.
Parents getting off of work and hurrying to the only evening service the Food Bank has bring their kids in tow. Baby Björns or towel slings, Cadillac model strollers and others with barely aligned wheels, and vows to hold hands the entire time make these kids the Food Bank’s second client base.
“Are you going to help your Mommy pick out the food?” one of the check-in volunteers who verifies families’ income status asked what looked to be a 5-year-old. She was sitting on her mother’s lap.
“Yes,” she smiled shyly.
“Good, or she might make a mistake,” the volunteer said.
The client laughed and hugged her daughter tight, planting three kisses on her curl-ringed brown head.
From Sesame Street to ConAgra Foods, the latest estimate is nearly 17 million, or almost 1 in 4, American children are at risk of hunger. But when kids come to the Food Bank, the ordeal seems not to be any understanding of the sad statistic they fall into, but one of patience while their parents wait for their numbers to be called to get food. A range of actions and emotions take place during this wait – scolding, doting, laughter, tears, mistaken gender identity.
“Hi sweet girl,” said the Program Manager to a pink puffy-vested, hat-clad toddler who stumbled by.
“He’s a boy,” said the parent.
There are also accidents. A Play Corner for kids, probably no bigger than 5 by 5 feet, is set off by a foam rug. It’s stocked with books, toys with wheels, puzzles and other gizmos I can’t categorize accurately because I am not a parent myself.
One is a three-dimensional standing puzzle that kind of looks like a hamster house. Kids can arrange mini-blocks and discs to make designs, practice counting, and generally make a small but satisfying amount of noise. One little girl was being encouraged to sort the mini-blocks into like colors by her mother when her exuberance caused the puzzle to move two inches off the rug and crash into an oncoming food cart.
Falling parts, a shriek.
Some volunteers are in tune that some children are hungry when they come in. For that, they get a banana. But even though these children are less fortunate than the volunteers’ own, discipline is doled out accordingly.
For example, there are a lot of announcements during the holidays – rules on Safeway cash cards, turkey give-aways, Toys-For-Tots registration. Children are oblivious, happy to be free from their parents who have to focus or miss a perk. But when their cumulative enthusiasm drowns out the Program Manager’s voice, all volunteers have to do is glance over to kids, shoot a certain look, and they are shushed.
Besides emitting a lot of noise, kids play many roles at the Food Bank. Teens help translate the complexity of staying activated in the Food Bank’s system, preteens let parents know how many items they can have on the produce line, and elementary-school aged ones decide between blueberry or strawberry flavored yogurt.
Knowing the statistics, it’s hard for me not to look at these kids with sympathy. But instead, there are adorable distractions that make me focus on their other characteristics, such as how they try to commandeer food carts or wear the latest fashions. I see black toe nail polish showing bare through flip-flops or faux Ugg boots paired with leggings or boot-cut jeans studded with rhinestones. I also find myself impressed with their smarts.
The 5-year-old who promised to help her mother pick out food wanted to expedite the check-in process.
“I want to read the computer, Mommy!” she said.
“That’s her job,” the client said. “When you can read more, you can read a computer at your job.”
Not to be dissuaded, the child overheard the volunteer counting under her breath and landing on the number 16.
“Then it’s 17, then 18, then 19, 20……” the child recited.
“Oh you are so smart,” the mother said squeezing her child tight around her stomach.
“I want to still be with you when I am 20”
“No you won’t. But I will miss you.”
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