I have not committed to a candidate for U.S. president. That did not stop me from standing in the long line to get into the Anderson Wigwam to see Hillary Clinton. The line itself was inspirational. So many young people. So many women. “Pantsuits are Awesome,” read a sign in the crowd.
I took my grandson Nathan. I wanted him to know that the little girls in his kindergarten class could grow up to be president. He knew about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. I wanted him to know that a Hillary had the same opportunity. I told him about Barack Obama and said that children of color could be president when they grew up. I mentioned that John McCain was a candidate. Little white boys could grow up to be president too.
Being one in a crowd of 6,000, with time on my hands once Nathan stopped wiggling and before Hillary appeared, gave me opportunity to think about this cross section of our community. True that most were there because they agreed with party politics, it was also true that many differences were represented.
There wasn’t any way Hillary or any other candidate could speak to all the concerns we had. Jobs, education, bureaucracy issues, poverty, taxes — the list was unending. But we waited with interest to hear what it was she would promise. We waited and cheered her words of hope.
You might think it a stretch to compare that experience with the one I had on Saturday. I stood outside the Pay Less Super Market at Cross Street to remind shoppers that We Can Care. It was the day the Madison County Highway Department picked to do their part in the countywide food drive. The event was to help Second Harvest Food Bank stock the shelves of area pantries. I was there on that very cold day to support the effort.
The similarity was in the cross section of the community. True, people came for food, not politics. But they too responded to promises and hope. We promised to feed their neighbors in need and, with their help, to serve up hope with that food. We brought to their attention the fact that as a community, we can care for our own.
Not everyone needed reminded. Along with highway department employees Ivan and Gerrald and Zachary’s grandpa, we had volunteers from the Chesterfield Community Food Pantry and House of Hope at our location. I had people stop to stuff money in our Prairie Farms milk jug who worked at other human service agencies. We had people sign their names on the big green snow plow who have been longtime donors to Second Harvest and others who simply wanted to be known as people who care.
Every donation, food or funds, was heartfelt. Some gave out of their abundance and others sacrificially. A woman living in a shelter with her children dropped a box of treats into the collection box. A man stuffed a dollar in the jug. After he left I heard he was unemployed. His comment was that someone might need it worse than he.
On this sunny afternoon with the rhubarb and daffodils pushing through the warming sod, I am grateful for hope. I saw it last week in a crowd of people, eyes bright in anticipation of political promise. I saw it again in the response from shoppers who cared enough to take a positive action for neighbors in need of a helping hand. It was how that hope expressed by individuals became a community effort that was so powerful. It was clear to me that together we have tremendous impact for good.
Lois Rockhill is executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana. She can be reached at lrockhill@curehunger.org.
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LOIS ROCKHILL: Reflecting on politics and food
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