Box of hungry

Apr 27, 2008

A family in my neighborhood sometimes sends their daughter to our home to borrow milk, or to use the phone, or to ask help in some other way. Sometimes, we ask the girl to stay for dinner, or to go with us to the park. Recently, we heard, the family was on even tougher times.

Other neighbors, friends of ours, have mentioned that they receive a weekly box of produce, part of a community-supported farm subscription. (Here’s an example CSA for Durham.)

A box of food is a welcome gift, I know. When my family lived in the Virgin Islands, we befriended a priest from the other end of the island. Whenever this man visited our home, he would bring a box filled with frozen meat, cans of vegetables, fresh bread and other nourishment for our family of five active sons. I didn’t consider our family poor, but I recognized the importance of the extra food.

That’s one of the reasons that the reading at my wedding was from the Gospel of Matthew: “For I was hungry and you fed me.”

While I consider putting together a box of food for the neighbors, Erin, for her part, has begun to visit a man on death row.

“I was in jail and you visited me.”

Anton Zuiker ☄