By MICHAEL PRATT

This past Saturday I spent four hours at Smith’s Marketplace in Los Alamos.

No, I was not at the bar. I was one of the many adult volunteers at the store entrance with the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts asking you for your donations of non-perishable items to support LA Cares and to stock the shelves of our local food bank.

I’d like to share a couple of quick stories that reminded me why we were there.

First, there was the older gentlemen who filled two grocery carts full with more than 300 canned goods. With the help of two Smith’s employees, he wheeled the carts to us and asked, “Where should we put these?” This gentleman shared with the Scouts that he’d “…grown up pretty poor, and knew what it was like.”

He wasn’t the only one. On several occasions, shoppers generously handed over multiple bags full of donations, several saying they’d previously been to LA Cares to accept food donations, and now they were giving back.

The most impactful event of the day however was a young man who came through the entrance with his dog. He asked if we were collecting for the homeless and told us that he was homeless. He told us that he had only been in Los Alamos for three days. We talked about LA Cares and places he could go for help. Then he reached into his pocket and gave us all the spare change he had as a donation.

As we gather with friends and family this week to give thanks, on behalf of the Scouts, the Letter Carriers and LA Cares, I’d like to thank you for your generosity this past Saturday. 

Your donations make a difference in the lives of many in this community.