The Big Shop at IRIS

 

When I was a child, my mother told me that food is love. I grew up appreciating food—and meals shared with family and friends—as something that offers safety, comfort, and peace. For refugees—displaced people, many of whom are war victims—eating good, fresh food in peace means...a lot.

 

Perhaps that’s why the recent “Big Shop” at IRIS was so personally satisfying for me. It wasn’t just about food; it was about offering our refugee and immigrant clients the same feelings of love and security that I’ve experienced all my life through food.

 

The Big Shop, which I coordinated with the help of IRIS volunteers, used N2N dollars to increase the offerings of our Food Pantry. We had two goals for the Big Shop: (1) to shore up our pantry with non-perishable items to serve a higher number of shoppers, and (2) to provide more culturally appropriate foods for clients, most of whom come from Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. 

 

We went to bargain grocery stores because the CT Food Bank, where we usually shop, doesn’t often stock the ingredients refugees and other immigrants like best. This was one of the only—and by far the biggest—shopping trip IRIS has done outside the CT Food Bank. It was very satisfying for our clients.

 

We bought rice, lentils, black beans, kidney beans, and chickpeas; corn flour, olives, corn tortillas, vegetable oil, salt, lots of canned tomatoes and halal chicken. For the next trip, I plan to become better informed about foods our African clients will appreciate so I can choose items specifically for their satisfaction. 

 

After the shop, we transported forty grocery bags and fifteen boxes of food in my Jeep Cherokee. It took two trips. We drove to IRIS, unloaded the boxes and bags, and organized the items on the shelves and in the refrigerator and freezer.

 

My six-year-old daughter helped with the Big Shop. It was great to see her participate. She was so enthusiastic and later told me she wants the same job as me when she grows up...helping people.

 

It was thrilling when, on Wednesday morning, our clients came to the Food Pantry and found so many familiar food items. The halal chicken was especially popular. I loved seeing the smiles and hearing the laughter of our clients that day. I imagined their feelings of comfort, safety, peace, and love as they later enjoyed meals with their families and the friends they have made thus far in the United States.

 

After all they’ve been through, I know that for them, a good meal is more than just a meal.

 

--Keeley Forrestel, IRIS Housing, Food Pantry, and Donations Coordinator