…leaving the dinner table hungry.  I am sure there were times as a child we left hungry because we refused to eat our spinach or liver, but that was by choice.  Imagine leaving hungry because there was no food.  Imagine as a parent not being able to provide enough food to fill up hungry stomachs.  Imagine never standing in front of a  cabinet for a snack or a treat and trying to decide between a cookie,  a pretzel or a candy.  Imagine having no fruit; no apples, no bananas, no oranges.  I personally can’t imagine it, although I have seen it.  Many years ago I was a Director of a Haven for Homeless Families, which also had a Food Pantry.  The Haven was founded by an individual that had become aware that there were homeless families living on the banks of the Passaic River in New Jersey.   They hid their homelessness because they did not want to be broken up.  There were only shelters for men and shelters for woman, none for couples.  The Haven had three homes that  offered transitional housing for families and a family would stay any where from six months to one year, or in some caases even longer.  I can’t get into the details of the Homes or the Pantry, as my blog would be too long, but I have never forgotten the expressions of appreciation and of hope on the faces of the recipients, as you handed them the keys to a house or a bag of food.  We may not have a Haven here, but we do have food pantries and  The Villages Golf Division is in the midst of its annual food drive to benefit the Wildwood Soup Kitchen, Wildwood Food Pantry and Lady Lake’s Christian Food Pantry.  The drop-off points are at all the Country Club golf starter buildings, and also at the Glenview Tennis and Country Club administration.  There will also be pre-addressed envelopes in the event some one would like to make a monetary donations, which are tax deductible.  The pantry’s most needed items are canned vegetables, fruit and meat; barbecue and spagetti sauce; canned beans; rice and pasta.   In 2012 the pantry distributed more than 206,000 pounds of food.  The Wildwood Soup Kitchen’s volunteers prepare and serve 250 hot, nutritious lunches daily, six days a week.  About half the guests are walk-ins while another 140 receive home delivery.  So many of us talk about cutting down on what we eat, and going on diets, and yet if you look in our cupboards they are most often brimming with food.  If all of us would just pick three or four items, pop them in a bag and drop them off at a Country Club starter building, what a difference it would make in someones life.  They will be accepting food through Monday, so on your way to have some fun this week-end, if you could take a few minutes and make a delivery of your own, it will be greatly appreciated.  In the event you are not sure where to drop it off, stop in at the Pro Shop and I’m sure they can point you in the right direction.