Food day

We drove into Syracuse yesterday morning to Saint Lucy's Church where we worked in the food pantry. Aidan's Cub Scout pack volunteers for several shifts throughout November and December, and two other families joined us yesterday. The food pantry is available to those who live in the immediate area around the church and, when possible, the clients are able to make choices among the food items available.

While some of us prepared shopping bags, the Scouts assisted the clients by pushing the carts and helping them select food items from the shelves:



Although there was quite a crowd at the beginning, we were impressed with both the staff and the clients; the staff members were pleasant and treated the clients with respect, the line moved quickly, and the clients were patient. James and I spent some time talking with several of the staff members to learn more about how their pantry is supplied and their needs. We agreed as a family that we enjoyed helping out and would like to do so more frequently, with or without the Cub Scout pack.

I suppose it is somewhat ironic that we left the food pantry and went to eat lunch. We chose Alto Cinco, a quirky Mexican restaurant in the Westcott neighborhood. The restaurant is tiny and we had to wait for an available table but it was well worth the wait. James had soft jerk chicken tacos, which were made even more delicious with mango salsa and chipotle mayo, Aidan chose chicken quesadillas, and I had the excellent California burrito. Yum! While we love living in Baldwinsville, we don't exactly have many interesting restaurant choices in the village so we take every chance we can get to try new-to-us restaurants in Syracuse.

We stopped at the Baldwinsville Library's used book sale on the way home. Aidan got "the best deal of my life!" by spending $6 of allowance money on 11 books. It seems our entire day was built around food: food for others, food for our stomachs and food for our brains.