WHAT A DAY...

...to have to queue outside in the rain!  When I arrived at the Community Fridge this morning, there were already lots of people waiting in the queue.  It had been raining slightly, but at 10.30 the heavens opened and the rain lashed down.  

We can’t let people in early because there was still lots of food to be sorted out and checks to be done on fridges and freezers to ensure that all was in order, so our lovely customers had to queue in the pouring rain.  Despite that, however, when they came in, most of them were still smiling and we were able to chat and also commiserate with them.

There weren’t that many vegetables this morning, although Mr. HCB did up some bags of spinach from our garden, and Alistair brought in some rather large courgettes, which he said “got away from him”!  I noticed that it wasn’t long before they went, which is great - and saved our surplus from being wasted.  

You might think that the apples and bananas don’t look that good, but if you have nothing, and can’t afford to buy these sort of things, then even over-ripe fruit has its uses.

There were lots of very large packs of chilli powder, crushed red chillies and mild Madras curry powder, but unfortunately, someone must have split one of the packs of chilli powder, so I set to and cleaned it up - sneezing lots in the process!

You might be wondering why there are candles in my collage - well, it was Debs’ birthday, so Vicki put a candle in a cup cake and then we all sang Happy Birthday to her - she was rather coy about telling us how old she was - 21 was mentioned - but I rather think it was more than the second time around!

A few weeks ago, I brought home a very sickly looking fuchsia, upon which Mr. HCB lavished lots of TLC and you can see the result of this in the middle shot of my collage.  It has been absolutely beautiful, so when I found the quote, I thought that summed up what we do at the Community Fridge and what Mr. HCB did with the sickly fuchsia plant.  

When you show people love, especially those who come to the Community Fridge, they might be a bit wary at first, but then they realise that we ask nothing of them but are just seeking to show them the love of God by what we give them and by our actions towards them.  Little by little, we hope that this transforms their world - and makes life easier for them.

I would like to pay tribute to several of the men who come to the Community Fridge.  They tend to congregate around one table, then when it’s time to close the café - and many of them help by finishing up the coffee, which has already been brewed to save us throwing it down the sink - they, in turn, help us by cleaning the tables and then putting them and all the chairs away.  I like to think that it is “one good turn deserves another” - they do it so willingly and we always thank them.  

So, another good morning at the Community Fridge - there weren’t that many volunteers there today, but we all got on really well and there was a lot of banter between us.  It is such a privilege to be able to do this work for the good of the community and we, in turn, are grateful to the various supermarkets throughout the town, who donate much of their waste produce so that we can help those less fortunate and of course, that in turn, saves it all going into landfill - so win/win!

I went to the optician after my stint at the Community Fridge today and was pleased to know that my right eye is not infected, although it has been very sore, but I was advised to use my heat bag 3 or 4 times a day to ensure that that remains the case.  Any excuse to put my feet up for at least 40 minutes a day is a good idea!