Volunteer Newsletter

Summer 2009

:Sanskrit:

Sarve bhavantu sukhina, Sarve santu niramaya,
Sarve bhadrani pashyantu, Ma kaschid dukh bhagbhavet.
:english version:
May all be happy, May all be healthy,
May all prosper, May none suffer. By Shilpa

It Was Great!

The Volunteer Appreciation party on June 20^th was wonderful!  It was held at the Saybrook Point Pavilion and wine & Hors d’oeuvre were provided. For all of you who were unable to come – we missed you!  Hope we get an even bigger crowd next year.  It is a relaxed and casual event where everyone can stop in to chat for a while.  It’s a great chance to meet others who are involved in different groups in the SSKP.  Thank you Patty Dowling our Executive Director and Pastor Les Swenson our Chairman of the Board of Trustees for such genuinely sincere and special thanks to all.   *

Where Is Help?

211 info line.  211 is a free community service administered by the United Way of Connecticut. It is supported by the State of Connecticut and Connecticut United Ways. You can call 211 to get information, or to seek help in a crisis. They are available 24/7. Simply dial 211.  There is also an online database of community services. This database contains information for approximately 4,600 health and human service providers and 48,000 service-sites. http://www.infoline.org   *

Did You Know?

The danger zone for food is 40 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.  It is a great practice to use a food thermometer and make sure that hot food is hot above 140 degrees and cold food is cold below 40 degrees.  *

Neglect not to visit and treat the poor; there is no nobler work.

Israeli, Manhig HaRofim

 The Clinton Garden

The Clinton Soup Kitchen Garden is starting the heavy harvesting season with a bang!  They have expanded the garden this year and so far are having wonderful success with the crops.  They have brought on more volunteers this season which has helped the small group of devote gardeners with much of the work.  The Clinton Soup Kitchen Garden was originally started 5 years ago by a few members of St. Mary’s Church in Clinton.  The garden is on land donated by a St. Mary’s church member and is a beautiful piece of land near the water.  This garden provides produce for the Clinton Pantry every Wednesday during the growing season.  It is a young addition to our SSKP group of supports but as news spreads it is expanding.  This year a local grammer school donated some of the tiny plants the children had grown from seed.  *

The Old Saybrook Garden

Snapping turtles, cabbage moths, chipmunks, cutworms and a turkey and her four children are just some of the denizens plaguing the Old Saybrook Soup Kitchen Garden so far this season.

 Nonetheless, we’re having our best year yet in the seven years we’ve maintained the garden – mainly due to more wintertime planning and a great crew of volunteers.

 We’ve been delivering copious crops to the pantries since early May – mainly spinach and lettuce but peas, turnips and chard are coming in and broccoli should be ready soon.  Turnips are new this year so any recipes our guests might enjoy and make easily at home would be appreciated. Email them to me: claudiavannes@aol.com.

 We’ve built a shed thanks to the generosity of the Essex Garden Club and Mike Desnoyers, a Chester builder and good guy and it’s made a big difference. Other changes this year include an immense clearing operation by next-door neighbor Bill Marsten and the US Navy submariners that allowed for a winter squash planting of some magnitude. We moved the compost bins and made way for a blueberry patch . We plucked the flowers off to give the bushes more strength for the long run so we don’t have to worry about a bird attack this year but we do need to figure out how to cover the “orchard.’’

 We also started a driver pool to collect leftover produce from fruit and vegetable stands and we’re stepping up our effort to get more people to bring us their extra harvest from their gardens to add to the larder.

We’re planning on delivering produce to the new pantry in Niantic which adds Thursday afternoons to our gardening days which have always been Tuesday and Saturday mornings. So join us any of these days and/or bring us your extra vegetables.

Thanks, Claudia Van Nes  *

Very minor sins have led to great catastrophes, and for very minor good deeds, some met with enormous rewards. -Seder Eliyahu Rabbah

 Food For Thought

“Food for Thought” Is a column where volunteers can share their views on hunger and poverty. 

            The following is an anonymous response from survey questions on our website. It is a very disturbing situation.  We are not equipped to help other than to offer food, even if we did know who this person was.  BUT, inspired by the recent economy woes, some of our towns are gathering volunteers to respond to such situations.  Old Lyme and Old Saybrook for example, have both started wonderful programs to help in these events. Hopefully this article will inspire more people to get their towns to help in similar ways.

Approximately how long have you been financially stressed?
    This is new to us.   My husband works for the DOD at the Sub base.   He's a master electrician, working for the government and although we don't have a whole lot extra we have been fine, but a month ago.   Cancer reoccurred.  We've gone through savings, advanced leave etc.   Suddenly we've gone from middle class to poverty and are scrambling.   I can't find work.

What programs or assistance help you the most?

    Assistance for the 3-4 months that he'll be in chemo (would help).   Rent, utilities, some food.

When first in financial trouble, what could have fixed the situation?
    Enough money to make it through chemo.

What would you need for no assistance anymore?
    A job for me isn't a possibility at this time, as we have no family, no support system what so ever.  A cushion for 4 months, so I'm not staying up until midnight and getting up at 4 am trying to find money to fill the gap.  I have NO ONE.  We lost all our family about 8 years ago, or the last of
them.   Moved to CT for the Govt job, we don't know anyone in the area, other than "hi"  NO SUPPORT SYSTEMS of any kind.

Is there something you want more information on?
    ???????????  I have a 20 page list of agencies.   
I really need some help with paying my rent.

What is your biggest problem or need?
    Transportation from Mystic to the VA Hospital.   Money for rent, food, utilities.   Survival stuff.   The stuff that are basic. 

What would help you into a better situation?
     Some help with these basic needs, a few months.   I'm spending 14 hours a day
scrambling.   If I had these, I could be putting out some freelance proposals that would lead to good contracts. but that takes time.   I first need to secure basics. 

What is suppose to help, but doesn’t?
    I don't know.   I'm so blurry eyed from filling out forms, making appointments, hoping praying.   Scraping.   We went from middle class to poverty in a snap.  *

A Jewish ecology…[is] not based on the assumption that we are no different from other living creatures. It [begins] with the opposite idea: We have a special responsibility precisely because we are different, because we know what we are doing.

- Rabbi Harold Kushner, "To Life!"

~ Colors ~  
Once upon a time the colors of the world started to quarrel; all claimed that they were the best, the most
important, the most useful, the favorite.

GREEN said, "Clearly I am the most important. I am the sign of life and of hope. I was chosen for grass, trees, leaves...without me, all animals would die. Look over the countryside and you will see that I am in the majority."

BLUE interrupted. "You only think about the earth, but consider the sky and the sea. It is the water that is the basis of life and drawn up by the clouds from the deep sea. The sky gives space and peace and serenity. Without my
peace, you would all be nothing."

YELLOW chuckled, "You are all so serious. I bring laughter, gaiety, and warmth into the world. The sun is yellow, the moon is yellow, the stars are yellow.  Every time you look at a sunflower, the whole world starts to smile. Without me there would be no fun."

ORANGE started next to blow her trumpet. "I am the color of health and strength. I may be scarce, but I am precious...for I serve the needs of human life. I carry the most important vitamins. Think of carrots, pumpkins, oranges, mangoes, and pawpaws.  I don't hang around all the time, but when I fill the sky at sunrise or sunset, my beauty is so striking that no one gives another thought to any of you!"

RED could stand it no longer. He shouted out,
"I am the ruler of all of you - I am blood - life's blood! I am the color of danger and of bravery. I am willing to fight for a cause. I bring fire into the blood. Without me, the earth would be as empty as the moon. I am the color of passion and of love, the red rose, the poinsettia and the poppy."

PURPLE rose up to his full height. He was very tall and spoke with great pomp. "I am the color of royalty and power. Kings, chiefs, and bishops have always chosen me for I am the sign of authority and wisdom. People do not question me - they listen and obey."

Finally, INDIGO spoke, much more quietly than all the others, but with just as much determination: "Think of me. I am the color of silence. You hardly notice me, but without me you all become superficial. I represent thought and reflection, twilight and deep water. You need me for
balance and contrast, and inner peace."

And so the colors went on boasting, each convinced of his or her own superiority. Their quarreling became louder and louder.

Suddenly there was a startling flash
of bright lightening - thunder rolled and boomed. Rain started to pour down relentlessly The colors crouched down in fear, drawing close to one another for comfort.

In the midst of the clamor, rain began to speak:
"You foolish colors, fighting amongst yourselves, each trying to dominate the rest.  Don't you know that you were each made for a special purpose, unique and different?

Join hands with one another and come to me!"

Doing as they were told, the colors united and joined hands.

The rain continued: "From now on, when it rains,
each of you will stretch across the sky in a great bow of color as a reminder that you can all live in peace.  The rainbow is a sign of hope for tomorrow."

And so, whenever a good rain washes the world,
and a rainbow appears in the sky, let us remember
to appreciate one another.

- a Native American story

The Oyster

There once was an oyster
Whose story I tell
Who found that some sand
Had got into his shell.

It was only a grain
but it gave him great pain.
For oysters have feelings
Although they're so plain.

Now, did he berate
the harsh workings of fate
that had brought him
To such a deplorable state?

Did he curse at the government
Cry for election
And claim that the sea should
Have given him protection?

'No,' he said to himself
As he lay on a shell
Since I cannot remove it
I shall try to improve it.

Now the years have rolled around
As the years always do
And he came to his ultimate
Destiny ­ stew.

And the small grain of sand
That had bothered him so
Was a beautiful pearl
All richly aglow.

Now the tale has a moral
for isn't it grand
What an oyster can do
With a morsel of sand?

What couldn't we do
If we'd only begin
With some of the things
That get under our skin.

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