BOXING FOR JESUS!

            On an unseasonably warm Friday morning in December, I traveled with ten others from First Presbyterian Church of Clarks Summit to the Monsignor Andrew J. McGowan Center for Healthy Living in Jenkins Township to put in a three hour shift at the Commission on Economic Opportunity’s  Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank.  In the far end of a massive warehouse, together with two strapping young Mormon Missionaries, we lined up on either side of a series of rollers.  A very helpful Food Bank employee gave us our instructions.  From a towering pile at the far end 24 empty boxes at a time were placed on the conveyor.  Two people worked at building boxes and putting in a paper from CEO. Behind us were pallets piled with boxes of various food items to be added to every box. Each of us assumed responsibility for one or two items.  I handled 2 boxes of spaghetti and 1 bag of powdered milk per box.  Beside me someone was responsible for peanut butter and bottles of juice. Across from us was a gentleman who had charge of bags of instant potatoes.  Down the line people picked from pallets of cans to add soup, vegetables & fruits, and condensed milk.  There were boxes of cereal and packages of mixes to make chili and something else.  When all the ingredients were in place, the two Mormons taped the boxes shut, affixed labels to them, and piled them on a series of pallets that when filled, were hauled away by someone with a forklift.

            For the first few minutes filling the boxes was chaotic, with people bumping into one another while trying to get our items in each box.  There was lots of rearranging to move smaller pieces to make room larger items.  Then, by time the first 24 boxes were being taped and stacked and were replaced by empties, we gradually found a rhythm and developed a system for putting things in the boxes in an orderly fashion, with the heavier and bulkier things on the bottom and to the side, and the softer, pliable packages tossed in on top.  Before long we were working like a well-oiled machine.  Conversations took place, help was offered opening well-glued boxes, laughter was heard.  When all was said and done we had filled 371 boxes of food destined to be distributed to senior citizens throughout the region.  There was a mild celebration of the fact that our crew had out-boxed ten others from the church who piled up 285 cases two days earlier. But we have to concede that our two new Mormon friends helped put us over the top!  Three hours of effort, less a short break for water, left us tired, and maybe stiff and sore, with a sense of accomplishment and the knowledge that we had done a little something to address the food insecurity of our neighbors. 

“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of these who are members of my family,

you did it to me.”

Matthew 25.40