Poor People Drink Wine Too--Don't They?

Our confirmation class collected food at the grocery store for a food pantry in Patterson, NJ. Late in the day, a man came out with a 12 pack of Heineken and a 12 pack of another fine looking beer. He also had one bag of food, which he dropped off in our cart. I was impressed, that he had come out on a beer run but took the time to pick up some non-perishables for us. Without thinking, I joked that the people at the food pantry like beer, pointing to the only two items left in his cart. He proceeded to join in the fun by mimicking a drunk coming to the pantry and asking for beer instead of food (ooh, that hit me wrong). I was kicking myself inside for accidentally playing into the stereotype that people in poverty are drunks.

Not ten minutes later, another guy came out of the store and handed us a bag of groceries. We noticed a nice bottle of wine included in a bag full of canned and boxed food. The lady with me at the time grabbed the bottle and said to the man--oh, did your wine end up in the wrong bag; he looked at us astonished and said, "What? Poor people drink wine too, don't they?"

Well, I guess some do!