Are you a new supporter and interested in learning more about how the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank works and impacts your community? One of our newest colleagues, Leigh Kirchner, has volunteered to share insight into her journey. This is the first in a series of blog entries from Leigh. She’ll continue to share stories and reflections on what it takes to make sure everyone has enough to eat. If her story inspires you to tell us yours, we’d love to hear from you!
You’ve no doubt heard the expression “Life’s a journey.” But did you know that’s just the beginning of a longer quote? Life is a journey that must be traveled, no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.
I joined the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank family in late July 2020, and the road leading me to the Food Bank was especially rough. Really bad, actually—it’s been the worst year of my journey so far. Allow me to explain.
Back in February, before any of us knew what the rest of the year would have in store, I got the kind of phone call no one wants to get. It was a Saturday evening. My husband and I were in the middle of a game of Hot Shots Golf. He paused the game, freeing up my attention enough to notice the light emitting from my silenced cell phone on the cushion beside me. It was my brother’s girlfriend. I answered the phone excitedly: “Hey! What’s going on?!” But what she managed to utter through her sobbing turned my excitement into pure horror.
We had lost my little brother, Joey, at the age of 24.
My life is now divided into two parts. There’s the period before I lost my brother and the period after.
In this part of my life—the period after—nearly everything has been called into question. When my sweet brother left me here on Earth without him, it changed me. It transformed me in ways I’m only beginning to discover, but it immediately gave me a new reference point for answering the age-old question, “What’s the worst that could happen?”
Well, as it turned out, horrible things continued to happen in the months that followed. The COVID-19 pandemic hit and brought with it the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Stories about high unemployment rates, millions of households not having enough food, and people not being able to make rent payments punctuated my days. I began to question my contributions to the world. It soon became clear that I needed to do something new: something that would challenge me to do better, be better—and help me move through the sodden landscape of grief.
Almost as if someone was helping me along on my journey, an advertisement for a position at the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank appeared in my email inbox. Eventually, I applied. What’s the worst that could happen, right?
“When my sweet brother left me here on Earth,…it transformed me in ways I’m only beginning to discover.” (Pictured: Leigh; her husband, Jon; her brother, Joey; and Joey’s girlfriend, Thristian.)
Ultimately, I was offered the job. And I took a leap of faith. I was leaving an amazing group of colleagues and dear friends to join a new organization filled with people I’d never met at an office I’d never seen.
Like many of you who are reading my story, the Food Bank is a new stop on my journey. You and I are not alone, though. Since the pandemic began in March, almost one out of every five visits to pantries in our network has been made by someone who hasn’t had to ask for this kind of help before. Our neighbors show up at our food pantry partners’ doors and our distributions, they swallow their pride, and they ask for something basic and necessary: food for themselves and their families.
As heartbreaking as that is, you can take comfort knowing each of those visitors is treated with grace and humility by the people working hard to carry out the Food Bank’s mission.
I want to tell you about the courageous people who seek our help. And I want to tell you about my wonderful colleagues, our committed partners, and the generous volunteers and donors who give their time, talents, and resources to make this work possible.
It’s no mistake we’ve been brought together; we are called to serve.
Every day, I’m making new discoveries about what it takes to make sure everyone has enough to eat. Every day, I’m finding meaning in my work. I hope you’ll join me as I continue exploring and sharing my journey. I want you to see how, together, we are making a difference for our neighbors in need.
With gratitude,
