60 volunteers!

The title refers to how many people volunteered at the Community Food Pantry on Friday. When we attended the First Baptist Church last Sunday they talked about the monthly food pantry that the community puts on. First Baptist does the major part of the work and it is held in their parking lot but the pantry is worked by people from the community and welcomes recipients from the broader community as well. We were invited to help so our whole team, except the one with the broken arm, went and worked from 9-12 Friday morning. When we got there the line was already long even though the actual giving did not start until 10. Some people had stood in line over an hour already waiting for some food. We wondered why people came so early when the basket would contain the same food for those that came at 11 or later but the answer was that some were hungry and were anxious to eat. It is hard to imagine that was the case but the visual of seeing long lines waiting was a humbling experience and really hit us that we have so much to be thankful for and are so blessed. Working at that food pantry was a blessing to all of us and we would do it again in a second. It topped any tour we could have thought of going on.

The distribution was very well organized. A sign up was required but it was on the honor system, nobody was going to police who got or didn't get food. One lady told me that God had not appointed her to be a judge in who should or should not get food so all that came were treated equally and received equal amounts.

Dad was working somewhere in the middle of the whole operation. Behind him people had put cabbages in bags, grapefruit in bags, 4 bags of rice and 2 navy beans in bags, carrots and other fresh vegetables in bags and many more things. Just ahead of him some put canned goods in a bag, 2 pounds of hamburger and several pounds of chicken in bags toothpaste samples, and, again, more canned goods in bags. We think every household would have mandarin oranges for while. Toward the end of the line the boxes were filled with 4 or 5 loaves of bread, tortillas or other bread products. Then they all got a package off the sweets tables which contained decorated cakes, doughnuts, sweet breads, cookies, pastries and other goodies which are pictured with the lady/ladies in the red shirts. The third picture shows the boxes on the right of the picture which contained bread products which had been taken from "huger" boxes where the bread had all been dumped in . They were added on top of the boxes just before handing out. The next picture shows the size of the plastic tubs or boxes that the people got. They were so huge that volunteers used grocery carts to help the people haul their boxes to the car or whatever mode of transportation that had come with.

This is the line of all-ready boxes waiting to be picked up. You can see the line of people waiting at the church door waiting to register in order to be eligible for the food. As you can tell we were so excited to be involved in helping people out in this way.

But really, we only helped in one aspect of the pantry. The planning and organizing had all been done by Friday. Stores donate, food is bought (for a dime a pound) from the food bank in Austin, trucks pick up the food and bring it in, estimates are arrived at as to how many people will come, items accumulated must meet the health requirements, the system must be laid out for convenient and efficiency, etc. This Friday and for an hour Saturday morning 420 people received food, that in a town of 5050 people. That was the biggest number of recipients ever. But still more people were coming and some had to be turned away with less. That was hard!! The whole system is being ramped up for next month. Sixty people helped on Friday and Saturday from RVICS, Sunday school classes, inmates from a detention center, scouts, families, etc. And of course their were a few people who maintained the system that had been working for several years by "directing traffic". The different products I mentioned were all put in different color plastic bags so the end "inspector" could see at a glance if the boxes were all complete. We went away from church totally happy with it all. I know many of you have worked at such projects in the past but it was the first time we had such first-hand experience. Wonderful.

Then Saturday we drove to Johnson City where there is a small museum of Johnson in a National Park. we then drove beyond the Park to visit the ranch, farm home, parents home, school, Texas White House and church of Lyndon Johnson. I told you about Lady Bird's museum last week but now we got a still bigger picture of the president's life and accomplishments. It was a long ride but well worth it. Interestingly, you probably remember, in 1973 we were vacationing in this vicinity and the radio kept telling about the funeral that would be held for Johnson that morning. Being inquisitive and bold we rode to the area. Since we had a small baby with us I stayed in the car but Dad went out and stood very near to the actual grave, to Billie Graham who gave the message and to Anita Bryant who sang. The picture is small but you can see the tallest gravestone is that of President Johnson. To the left of Johnson's stone in the picture of the cemetery is where his wife is buried but they don't have a headstone on the grave yet. It was a somber reminder for Dad of how he had been there for such an auspicious occasion. The ride around the ranch was again great for seeing how the land and environment shaped Johnson's legislation. We did not hear specifically about his biggest challenges but they mentioned often the emotion toll the presidency took on his life. That probably attributed to his life style which included working almost day and night and drinking heavily. He had his third and final heart attack when he was 64 years old. He had served most of his life as a public servant and never forgot his roots and came back to the Ranch often for respite in some small way.

Back at Camp Tejas we are doing about the same work all week. Dad and the guys are doing more revamping of buildings and gals are still painting boards and still having fun moving them from place to place. It isn't nearly as mundane as it sounds. We have a good time

Love you all and hope you are all doing well. The week ahead promises to be a heavy one and one that will take total dependence on the Lord for strength and love. He is faithful!

Mom and Dad Marilyn and Wilmer