Let not the hand of the giver be empty

Let not the hand of the giver be empty
Sometimes, to truly feel the pulse of New York City, you don't need to venture into Manhattan's business district. Simply be among those who, at the end of the workday, don't go home but stay—to help others.
On the eve of Passover, I was among the volunteers at the Community First Republican Club, led by Ari Kagan, a former city council member. They spent many hours after work and in their free time distributing food to everyone who came. No questions asked. No distinctions made between "us" and "them," no questions asked about religion or ethnicity.
And there were a lot of people. A lot. Every time you see a line like that, you can't help but wonder: how is it that in one of the world's richest cities, people need the most basic thing—food? But perhaps a more correct question is: what would have happened if there hadn't been those willing to help?
It's times like these that make you realize the importance of organizations like Masbia. Once upon a time, it was just one soup kitchen. Today, it's a lifeline for thousands. They don't ask for anything extra. They simply feed you.
One thought stuck in my mind: Masbia is called "a restaurant without a cashier." And that's probably the whole point. Where the question "How much does it cost?" usually rings out, here you hear silence and simple human concern.
The day before the holiday, I went to the store myself. I bought a little, but paid what I thought was a lot—$99. And that was the moment when a number on the receipt suddenly stops being just a number. Because you understand: for some people, that's too much.
And then it becomes even clearer how important every box of groceries, every hot meal, every outstretched hand is.
I looked at the people receiving food and those distributing it. And I thought there wasn't much of a difference between them. Today you help, but tomorrow you might need help.
This is probably the main lesson of these days: we are all much closer to each other than it sometimes seems.
I want to thank everyone who was there: Ari Kagan, Faina Vasilevskaya, Anna Shpilkovskaya, Artur Rotshteyn (an employee of Assemblyman Mikhail Novakhov's office), Karen L. LichtBraun, and many others. They stayed until late in the evening, helping people take home not just food, but the feeling that they had not been forgotten.
New York is often called the city of opportunity. And as long as there are people willing to share, it's truly a great city.
Thank you to the Community First Republican Club for the donation to the Masbia Kitchen and to all the kind people who donate to this holiday.
Marina Lagunova