Email: Sarah Parsons

Dear Friends of McDonough Presbyterian Church,

Again I want to thank you all for your kindness and support. All your words of encouragement, your thoughts, your prayers (via email, phone, and letter) have been very much appreciated by yours truly. I reiterate to you my profound gratitude of you all. I could not be here in Tucson without you. Please know it is from the bottom of this little heart that I say these things.

Much has happened since we last communicated. When I last shared with you, I had just returned home (to Tucson) from my Borderlinks travels down to Mexico. Not too long after that profound experience, I set about starting my work at the food bank. I went through an intensive cross-training orientation that allowed me to familiarize myself with all the different parts of the Tucson food systems network. I learned about the governmental aid programs that serve the hungry and low-income families of the U.S – WIC (the aid program that serves women, infants, and children), Food Plus (the aid program that serves those families with children too old for WIC; Food Plus also services many elderly), and TFAP (The Food Assistance Program, which provides emergency food boxes to hundreds of families a day).

It is never easy looking hunger in the face, but I am grateful to help, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to help. I am learning a great deal about food insecurity, and I am feeling a greater Christian and human obligation to help alleviate this thing we call hunger. I want to be patient with myself in this learning process, however, so that I may learn the best and most effective ways in which to address such a huge social issue. I have faith that little by little I will, and I look forward to taking you all along with me in this learning process through these monthly updates.  (Note: Great books to read about food systems and creating a more food secure food system: Closing the Food Gap by Mark Winne and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.)

I have also been assigned my project at the Tucson Community Food Bank. For the next couple of months I will be working with the farmers’ markets, promoting the consignment food program. The consignment food program collects food from people in the community and sells their food at the farmers' market. The weeks are variable, depending on what people decide to grow in their backyards during that time of year. Last week we received an unworldly amount of pomegranates, which I guess is not the most terrible fruit to receive. Personally, I am quite a fan. There is a great deal of knowledge I am gaining working at the farmers' market. I am learning what fruits and vegetables look like before they are processed and prepared. I was proud of myself today when I familiarized myself with winter squash. Sometimes I get the cucumbers and squash confused. You would be surprised all the shapes and sizes squashes and cucumbers can come in! Well, I am sure many of you already know, but for me it is quite a new and wonderful experience.

House life has also been interesting, with eight different personalities under one roof. Upon my arrival in Tucson I did not anticipate house life being such a priority. Living in a faith community, however, can take a great amount out of you emotionally and mentally. Yet one of the other amazing realities about living in community is that it can also feed you in profound and amazing ways. You learn not only about others in the house, but you also learn about yourself. I am having a beautiful and fulfilling living experience that I know will stay with me throughout life, and I am profoundly grateful for it.

I would like to conclude with an account of two experiences that have blessed my life this month.  One was a retreat at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. If you have not yet visited Ghost Ranch (a popular Presbyterian conference and retreat center and where Georgia O'Keeffe lived for 50 years), then I highly recommend a visit.  There are approximately 35 Young Adult Volunteers located at national sites throughout the United States. Two times during their year of service they get the opportunity to meet one another (at the very beginning of their year of service, as well as at the very end). We had the first of these encounters a couple of weeks ago. It was an empowering experience to meet young people with aspirations similar to mine. In the setting of beautiful sunset-colored plateaus we all dreamed together and shared stories about our service work and spiritual community life. It was as much a spiritual experience, as an empowering one.

I also took a trip to Albuquerque. Last weekend, some of my housemates and I went to the International Hot Air Balloon Festival there. We are able to go on mini-weekend get-aways and borrow the community car, if we can justify that the trip will be “soul-fulfilling” in some way.  (Note: We are not able to have cars here in Tucson.  We are only able to get around via bicycle.  We must put in special requests, therefore, for the community car.)  My parents lived in Albuquerque years ago, and they told me stories about the hot air balloon festival there. I was fascinated, and made it a goal to see the festival some day. God blessed me, because He allowed me to go last weekend. It was a soul-full experience of color, laughter, and community. I never knew so many hot air balloons existed on this planet. It was quite spectacular!

I look forward to writing you all again soon. Thank you again for all you are and all you do! I miss all of you, but I hope that the beautiful Georgia fall is bringing you much colorful peace.

With my love and prayers como siempre (as always),