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Small anecdote regarding Food Rescue in our town.

We have a bakery that we've started working with. They bake fresh each day and at night they would have to throw away anything they didn't sell.

So we partner with them every evening and pick up the baked goods that they would normally throw away and either take it to another org that makes hot food for folks or to the free fridges in town for people to pick up on their own.

They call us each evening before close to let us know if they have any food for pickup. If they don't call, it's generally because they sold out that day (yay for them!).

An interesting pattern emerged though. We would get regular calls on some days and other days were completely silent. We would never receive calls on those evenings. Week after week.

So I asked about it one time when doing a pickup and the baker told us that those days were staffed by a woman who had experienced a lot of trauma. She specifically would not call even if they had food to pick up because she never wanted to be in a position where she was alone with a man after close.

That seemed very prudent, reasonable, and safe of her given her circumstances and experience.

We took the time to learn about our neighbors and worked with the woman to meet her needs for safety and comfort. We found out that she was much more comfortable with another woman or femme presenting person doing the pick up. We found a couple of gleaners that were willing to do the pickup and they went over during business hours when it was slow and just got to know the baker.

They built trust and established safety guidelines and now we have regular calls during these evenings as well.

The lady was very very very happy that she could help feed people and was very happy that we were willing to work with her to find a solution that brought her comfort, peace of mind, and actual safety.

I thought y'all might like to hear that. We'll find a way to take care of everyone.