To the Editor:

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank everyone who donated to our little Halloween Helps Food Drive and fed Jack! It was quite a success. We filled four boxes. Not small boxes, mind you. “Jack” was created using a box that a furnace comes in. He’s a big boy!

I did some research and found a local pantry that is struggling a bit more than others right now. On Nov. 4, we met with the coordinator to drop off the enormous donation we received, pictured below. This will help many families and make a difference.

As I posted on Facebook, this isn’t a pat on our own backs — it’s a pat on yours. They knew if they cut off SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program], it would be devastating for families. What they didn’t count on was communities stepping in, stepping up, and coming together for the greater good.

This isn’t thank us, it’s thank you! All we did was put out a box. Everyone who donated is to be recognized because you made a large donation happen. You helped your friends and neighbors. Even when/if SNAP is reinstated, I encourage everyone to continue being generous and donate. It will take time for food pantries and families to recover. The need will exist for some time to come.

We are living in very difficult times. Politics have spread like disease and infected many aspects of our lives. It’s divided us and turned friends, families, and neighbors against one another.

I’ve often found myself feeling frustrated and angry at what has unfolded both online and in real life. I have been frustrated because I have felt helpless. How can I possibly combat all this vitriol? How does this get better?

Then I remembered the wise words of my late and beloved grandfather: “During hard times in life, you just need to find how you can help just one person to make a difference in this world.”

This is how we fight back. We just help each other. It’s that simple. Because we all need help sometimes. We do what’s right, even if it goes against whatever propaganda we’re being fed.

The fact is that every one of us average folk — non-millionaires — is one medical crisis, car accident, layoff, illness, fire, or natural disaster away from poverty, hunger, and being unhoused. That’s how it starts. That’s how you get in line at the food pantry or for welfare, Section 8, food stamps, disability or any of the other programs that some are calling to end.

At any time, it could be any of us who needs help, and it should be there if we do. On Halloween night, when I witnessed our community come out in droves to help, politics aside, I felt reinvigorated. If it were Christmas, I would compare myself to The Grinch. Particularly when his heart grew three sizes bigger on Christmas morning.

I’m now seeing more people organizing drives for Thanksgiving and even looking ahead to Christmas, with already large responses! Do you see what we can achieve when we stop attacking each other and just help each other instead? It’s a lot!

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” — Fred Rogers

Altamont, thank you for helping.

Jim and Tresa Matulewicz

Altamont