Grumpa Joe's Place

The temperature outside is minus six, the wind chill brings it to a cozy minus thirty three. I drove six miles through open farm country with a thirty five mile wind blowing powder snow across the road making  it slippery as heck. Why then was it such a feel good day?  I joined  twenty of my fellow  Frankfort  Lions  at Lion Al’s wilderness place south of Frankfort to pick up food baskets. We then delivered them to needy families. This is a primary project of the Frankfort Lions every year at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.  What made today special was the way it was done, and the brutal weather of course.  In the past, we met at a grocery store to pick up the baskets(actually bags.) The  grocer picked the food and packed the bags, The Lions paid the bill and then delivered. We’ve done it the same way for over twenty years. This year we changed the process. We eliminated the middle man, the grocer. Three of our members did the shopping then packed the bags. The rest of us delivered. 

 Why was it necessary to make this change?  We’re not going to waste time by analyzing what went wrong, it is water over the dam. All that is important is to know that by doing the work ourselves we tripled the amount of food we were able to give to families in need.

For what ever reason, the times have changed, and we were running along complacently accepting the norm. Eventually, we began asking questions about the quantity and quality of food being delivered. An inventory of the basket contents and a pricing revealed that we could probably do better on our  own. We did.  This striking improvement has made me re-aware of the necessity to challenge a process even when it is deemed not broken.

In spite of the bone chilling minus thirty three, there was camaraderie, and a spirit of service this morning that warmed our souls.  After ranting during the election for so many days, and speaking against the evil of the government redistributing our wealth, I witnessed a redistribution of wealth performed by the Lions as they have been doing all around the world for many years. Truly an inspiring and warm feeling in spite of the cold.

Filed under: Election, family, Funk, Government, Lions Club, Manufacturing, Memories, Motivation, Uncategorized, Warm and Fuzzy, Writer | Tagged: Christmas, Complacency, Easter, Families in Need, Food Basket, Lions, Redistribution of wealth, Service, Thanksgiving | 1 Comment »