Turn Likely Waste Into A Saving Grace

Your personal bunker against the fizzled Y2K crisis may not have included lemons, but now’s the perfect time to make lemonade out of a potentially sour situation.

In the weeks prior to Dec. 31, it was hard to completely ignore the predictions of doom. Yet, due to much hard work and foresight, civilization failed to vaporize on Jan. 1. As a result, nobody had to drag out the camp stove to prepare a meal of lentils and rice, tuna sandwiches and powdered milk, by candlelight. For not a moment did anyone have to huddle inside a pile of blankets for warmth. No one, that is, who wasn’t already doing so because of poverty or homelessness.

But we were prepared, weren’t we? Most of us threw at least an extra bag of rice or a can of tuna into the shopping cart, “just in case.”

Now what? If your idea of a meal crisis typically means resorting to takeout or a call for home delivery, any amount of food hoarding may result in eventual food spoilage. Not to mention the embarrassment when someone discovers that pallet-load of canned soup in your basement.

All right, so the panic was unnecessary. It’s time to move on. Let’s seize this opportunity, as a community, to climb out of that I’ve-got-myself-covered mentality and think beyond ourselves.

We are equipped. Unlike the occasional food drive that hits us empty-handed, most of us have something extra on hand now. There’s no better time to help those who struggle with survival on a daily basis.

Donate your extra provisions to a food bank or a shelter for the homeless. Any extra food you might have stockpiled is exactly what they’re always looking for: dry foods (peas, beans, lentils, rice and pasta); canned goods; high-protein foods (tuna, peanut butter, chili); powdered beverages - anything nonperishable. The food bank will also accept your bottled water and batteries, for the Red Cross to distribute in disaster relief efforts.

If you stocked anything in preparation for Y2K, you probably expected any food shortages, darkness and cold to be temporary, right? Please remember that for some, this is a daily reality.

While you’re on a roll, stop by the blood bank and donate there, too. Earlier this week, the region’s blood bank shortage was described as “critical.”

For all these months we’ve privately been preparing for a fictitious crisis. Now, we can help alleviate the true crises that many have been facing all along.