Posted on 11/23/2009 2:35:09 PM PST by FromLori
Forget buying a ton of gifts. A week before Thanksgiving, the holidays are shaping up as a season of no frills.
And for some, the joy of family time and gift-giving has been replaced this year by a quest for basic necessities as more jobs are lost and unemployment benefits start to expire.
Michigan, with one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation at 14.8 percent in September, has a food crisis going into the holiday season.
"We have people coming to the food bank who said they were donating to us last year, but who are now out of work and in need themselves," said Alison Bono, who coordinates marketing for the Mid-Michigan Food Bank in Lansing.
She said that close to 1,000 people stand in line for produce handouts each week as they seek to supplement food stamps with fresh fruits and vegetables.
A little more than week before Thanksgiving, food bank supplies that used to be enough to last for six to eight weeks are now down to 10 days, said Ms. Bono, who calls the current seasonal needs extreme.
Some corporations and businesses, she said, are canceling holiday celebrations and donating the money used for parties to help charity groups.
They are running ads in the local newspapers' holiday supplement on Sunday with envelopes for donations as the situation turns ever more dire.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
ping
When you give away something that people normally buy, you will get a whole range of people that show up for free stuff, no matter their personal circumstances.
Maybe I’ll put my charity donations to good use this
year and throw a party, might be my last.
How many people could eat on what it will cost the taxpayers for the Kenyans Turkey Day schmooze on the White House lawn this week?
bookmark
Excellent point.
Now you just gave me an ear worm and probably everyone else who goes through this post lol
The food bank in Sonoma county was bone dry, too.
Imagine the media’s response to the growing need for foodbank giveaways if Bush remained in office.
And how about what the news would say about the homes being rented back I think they should start using the term obamavilles or obamahoods.
I simply have to take issue with the media for reporting this so grossly inaccurately - and their fact-checkers and and copy editors.
They reported that Michigan has 14.8% unemployment.
The Democrats control Michigan and all the big cities there. How they can print such lies just shows some in the press will do anything to slam the liberals. We all know when the Democrats run cities and states that they are socialist utopias where everyone is equal and experiences equal outcomes and nobody ever says anything mean or gets robbed or goes hungry. How this got past all of those unbiased, vote-for-dems-over-90%-of-the-time media folks is beyond me.
In case I have to say it for you, /sarc
Second of all, that 14.8% figure in reality is probably lower than the real unemployment figure not including people who are off the benefit rolls nad any who have given up trying to find work.
Since no one has said so, I’ll have to ask “How’s that hope and change workin’ out for ya?”
But seriously, this reminds me of what the economic forecaster, Gerald Celente, has written. He said that by the Christmas of 2012, people will not be looking for traditional gifts under the tree, they’ll be seeking food.
In other words, December 2009 is but a preview of what is likely to come. Definitely will come if the idiots in Washington continue their economic policies.
let them starve!
no more social programs and handouts, it is time to thin the herd dramatically.
ping for later
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