Article provided by Geoffrey Lougheed, Founder of the Sudbury Food Bank
The season is in high gear and everyone is busy sending greetings, buying gifts and decorating. It is a time of reflection, care and good will.
What are the lessons we learn from this special season? Giving is happiness.
As a child I remember the joy of putting up a Christmas Tree with the sparkle of lights and the beautiful mess of tinsel. Waiting for Christmas morning to see the “best” present and immediately playing with it. In our house that would be table top hockey game, filling hours of fun for my brother and I, fulfilling a destiny of greatness for our teams of little metal players.
The highlight of Christmas was always food and especially dinner. My mother would start cooking our turkey in the wee hours of the morning to get it perfectly done. She was an absolutely wonderful cook. I never had a chance at being skinny! Like most mothers, she was happiest when her family surrounded the table together and enjoyed her culinary skills. I have been blessed to travel the world and partake in many outstanding meals but I can honestly say, her food was the best.
That is a simple truth for many of us, our mother’s food is special because it is given with love. We remember the heavenly aromas, the sweet tastes and the laughter around the table. We really are remembering the love shared.
What made our Christmas dinners unique was my parent’s tradition of including anyone who had no place to share their Christmas.
When mom and dad moved to Sudbury in 1952 they did not know a single person, their first Christmas they were invited by a neighbor to join in for dinner. They never forgot this lesson of kindness and inclusion. They paid forward the idea by inviting staff, clergy, neighbors and others dealing with loneliness during the holidays.
I remember as a kid, my brother and I would help our parents serve at the Salvation Army Christmas Feast. A special gathering where all were welcome to a traditional holiday dinner, music and of course Santa. My dad and mom had open arms for everyone, they were just as comfortable with serving those in need as dealing with the privileged. I am sure over the years people wonder why we call Sudburians family, that is the lesson our parents gave us, all people you touch are part of your family. When you help someone you make the world better.
Another holiday memory is of our longest serving funeral director, Bill McLaughlin.
Many years ago he was covering a night shift at the funeral home, when at 2am he heard a burglar breaking in. He caught him red handed. Instead of calling the police, he asked the man why he was doing the crime. The man said he was hungry. Now this was years before the was a soup kitchen or mission. Bill went to our little kitchenette, made him some sandwiches and coffee and sent him on his way. Bill is a man of great faith and he put the biblical words, “when I was hungry you gave me food”, into a lesson of action and positive change.
Four decades ago, Father Brian McKee, who ran Catholic Charities and I, who was the Chair of the Salvation Army Board, got together and founded the Sudbury Food Bank. Back then, we were the main food providers to the hungry. Our problem then was we kept running out of food. We had great people volunteering to distribute food, the Sudbury Food Bank had only one reason to exist, raise food to ensure the shelves never go bare.
I am very proud to say, every dollar donated goes 100% for food since the day we opened. Christmas is the time of the year that people celebrate giving, it is the highlight of the calendar for food banks. Brian and I never thought we would see a day in Sudbury that the food bank would be supporting 44 local agencies dedicated to feeding the hungry or a monthly need of 17,000 requests for food.
The lesson here is the season’s generosity has allowed the Sudbury Food Bank to continue to meet the needs of the hungry. That is businesses, unions, service clubs, legions and individual Sudburians stepping up, not to give a hand out but rather a hand up.
We live in a time when it is fashionable to be right and being right does not necessarily mean the facts support the position. Rather we find support with clicks on the internet, clicks based on identifying the truth as we see it. I recall turning on the news to find out what was going on in the world, now I can choose the news that will reflect my bias. However the truth remains the truth.
This Christmas let us see the truth and put our lessons to good use. We all know there are bad people in the world but they are vastly out numbered by the good people. The person who volunteers sorting food at the food bank, the neighbor who surprises you shoveling your driveway, the person who pays for the car behind them at Tim Hortons, the kid who brings a can to the food drive, the nurse who slips in after shift to check on a patient, these are the types of acts of kindness that define the season and more importantly define “us”.
The greatest lesson is about love, that is why Christmas giving makes us strong. When people want to explain to you about how others could do better, remember you do not control others and honestly it is not about others. It is about you and what you choose to do with the power of your love. Do something special this year during the holidays that reflects on the good person you are. It may be a can of food or a donation to a worthy cause, a teaching act of helping your child put some change in the Salvation Army kettle, a smile for a coworker or a hug for a family member.
I love the food bank, it captures that good in the human spirit. It reminds me of a community kitchen where we all can gather around the table and share our food in a place no one is left out. I can see my mother’s smile radiating around that table and feel her love. Thank you for all you do, thank you for your gift of giving, it brings happiness to those who give and those who receive, a tangible sign of the lesson of Christmas, love.
Learn more about how to get involved with the Banque d'aliments Sudbury Food Bank online here.
Geoffrey Lougheed is a Funeral Director at Lougheed Funeral Homes and one of the Founders of the Banque d'aliments Sudbury Food Bank.
