Wouldn’t you know that I picked the ‘week’ for the challenge when there are many food festivals going on…should be one of ‘Murphy’s Laws.’ And yesterday was such a glorious day temperature-wise…the few in St. Louis so you have to grab them when you can.
Not that I am a glutton for punishment, but I did venture to the Taste of St. Louis—certainly not to eat anything since I couldn’t afford anything with my stash at home. But great music, and people watching while strolling through the food booths—however briefly since this wasn’t a ‘funnel cake and corn dog event’—would have turned those down anyway—and the smells were making my mouth water.
For those of you, not in the know…this is a ‘tasting’ event where you can sample specialties from some of the top-notch restaurants. During my stroll, I noticed an unbelievable amount of food that was half-eaten or just thrown away, and these were just ‘samples!’ It was amazing to me how cavalier some people were, and had not only visions of children in India starving, but people in our own fair city. Maybe I was more sensitive since I was having a few hunger pangs. Do me a favor, walk but a public garbage can sometime to see what I mean.
We do have several homeless clients, who may have known to do MORE than just walk by garbage cans before becoming clients. A sister agency which addresses the homeless HIV-positive community, Positive Directions, brings their clients to our congregate lunch every Monday. There they have a 3-course lunch served restaurant-style at tables draped with white linens. We started the lunch to target people who are truly disenfranchised because of HIV disease, and who may not have any other reason to get up out of bed and go somewhere.
So tomorrow, I will be reminded again how our services treat client with dignity. And since there is no such thing as a free lunch, I plan to nosh on canned tuna, crackers and the penultimate apple…a good thing, since only two more days with the challenge.
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