Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Homeless shelters serve up Starbucks: 'It's a dignity thing'
Chicago Tribune ^ | 6/26/2017 | Samantha Bomkamp

Posted on 06/27/2017 5:21:20 AM PDT by simpson96

Three of Chicago's largest homeless shelters have banished bologna in favor of seared steak, za'atar chicken and perhaps, an extra helping of dignity.

The shelters, which traditionally serve a hot sit-down dinner and breakfast, often handed a peanut butter sandwich or other brown-bag lunch fare to visitors as they left each morning. But now, a partnership with Starbucks through Feeding America and the Greater Chicago Food Depository means that homeless Chicagoans get an upgrade to that critical daytime meal. The partnership potentially will expand to other U.S. cities as Starbucks' lunch offerings grow.

Unsold sandwiches and salads from Starbucks' Mercato lunch menu, currently only available in Chicago, are now directed to the three shelters nightly: Franciscan House in East Garfield Park, the shelter run by Olive Branch Mission in West Pullman and Pacific Garden Mission on the near West Side. Shelter managers say that the packaged meals, which range from a Cuban sandwich to green goddess avocado salads, have given those who stay at the shelters a much-requested break from the traditional PB&J they would leave with in the morning, reduced food waste, and freed up hours of sandwich-making traditionally handled by volunteers.

They're also giving the temporary shelter residents something less tangible but even more important, shelter officials say.

"There's something respectful about giving out good, quality food," said Ed Jacob, executive director of Franciscan Outreach, which runs Franciscan House. "It's a dignity thing. It's not like putting bologna between two slices of bread."

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-51 next last

1 posted on 06/27/2017 5:21:20 AM PDT by simpson96
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: simpson96

SO middle class and lower working stiffs - who cannot afford to eat at Starbucks even if they wanted to pay higher taxes on their earnings so the welfare class can dine on Starbucks fare - no wonder Illinois is on the brink of bankruptcy.


2 posted on 06/27/2017 5:25:15 AM PDT by ISTHISONETAKEN
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: simpson96

As a straight white taxpayer who eats bologna sandwiches and drinks Hills Brothers coffee I feel a loss of dignity.


3 posted on 06/27/2017 5:25:40 AM PDT by Senator_Blutarski
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: simpson96

Meanwhile, I know some middle class families where both parents are working and struggling, eating peanut butter sandwiches and paying $8,000 deductible on their health care insurance. They can’t afford Starbucks.


4 posted on 06/27/2017 5:25:55 AM PDT by HarleyD
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: simpson96

If Starbucks is donating the unsold food for free, that’s fine.


5 posted on 06/27/2017 5:26:12 AM PDT by grania (Deplorable and Proud of It!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: grania

There’s that darn FREE word again!


6 posted on 06/27/2017 5:29:05 AM PDT by Tac Double Tap (I'd rather die standing than on my knees begging.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: simpson96
"There's something respectful about giving out good, quality food," said Ed Jacob, executive director of Franciscan Outreach, which runs Franciscan House. "It's a dignity thing. It's not like putting bologna between two slices of bread."

Ah, charity mission creep.

Ed needs to rethink that statement. It is a good thing for commercial eateries to donate food that they would otherwise throw away. But there is also nothing wrong with bologna between two slices of bread if that's what you have.

We'll probably get to the point before long at which the next Obama will go to homeless shelters to complain about the price of arugula.

7 posted on 06/27/2017 5:29:29 AM PDT by sphinx
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: simpson96

Starbucks...dignity...because it’s not miserable enough being homeless, you’re given frothy rabbit pee called coffee too!


8 posted on 06/27/2017 5:31:37 AM PDT by ClearBlueSky (ISLAM is the problem. ISLAM is the enemy of civilization.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: simpson96
Here are the homeless shelter 'guests' as they are referred to in the article. See all the poor women and children, and the old and feeble population that they serve? Me neither.
9 posted on 06/27/2017 5:32:37 AM PDT by ISTHISONETAKEN
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Senator_Blutarski

“As a straight white taxpayer who eats bologna sandwiches and drinks Hills Brothers coffee I feel a loss of dignity.”

^^^THIS^^^

Another unspoken yet perfectly sound reason Trump won.


10 posted on 06/27/2017 5:33:43 AM PDT by RepRivFarm ("During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -George Orwell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Tac Double Tap
There's that darn FREE word again

Yeah. I'm not a fan of Starbucks donating food for free. They're a business that strives to make a profit. But if they want to give their food away for free, who am I to complain? (unless I were a stockholder)

What I'm saying is that I would object to the homeless shelter paying for Starbucks food, even at a reduced cost.

11 posted on 06/27/2017 5:33:54 AM PDT by grania (Deplorable and Proud of It!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: ISTHISONETAKEN

Maybe they’ll talk about race.


12 posted on 06/27/2017 5:34:06 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: simpson96

How much is the state of Illinois in debt?

But hey, let’s just keep spending like drunken sailors.


13 posted on 06/27/2017 5:34:08 AM PDT by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: simpson96

if they truly were over made amounts on occasion ok, but I can see how starbucks could easily make extra on purpose and have a bigger write off to “donations” while also bumping up cost to paying customers to cover their actual cost for the donated stuff.

Ridiculous the amount of over baking and making that goes on in all these pre made sorts of foods whether pre cut fruits and veggies packaged up in grocery stores or bakery cafes or convenience stores or whatever. convenience cost more than people actually planning ahead for themselves. Heck I just saw store made bottled water “Infused” with fruit. like a 10 ounce bottle of who nows where it came from water with a few pieces of cut up fruit selling for $2.50!!! crazy! It had no real details of what was in it or how/where it was made could be tap water from the janitor’s closet and fruit that was spoiled on opposite end of pieces put in jar.

Homeless should be making plans to not continually need a hand out. Yes I have been homeless briefly and it made me realize I need to live within my means and have plans, so that’s why I wrote what I did.


14 posted on 06/27/2017 5:36:46 AM PDT by b4me (If Jesus came to set us free, why are so many professed Believers still in chains?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ISTHISONETAKEN

I approve of private individuals/companies giving food to the hungry. A Jewish carpenter I hold in high regard approved too, and I try to listen to him. However, I don’t see it as a dignity thing. We need to find less dignity in dependence on charity and more in rising out of the need for charity. It’s just compassion to use your own resources to feed those in need, whether that is bologna on two slices of bread or Starbucks. In return, those who receive the food have a responsibility to improve their situation so they no longer need that charity.


15 posted on 06/27/2017 5:37:23 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: simpson96

It a suck up moment.


16 posted on 06/27/2017 5:37:56 AM PDT by bmwcyle (People who do not study history are destine to believe really ignorant statements.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: simpson96

God knows we don’t want hobos, tramps and bums to be without dignity.


17 posted on 06/27/2017 5:39:44 AM PDT by ggboss
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HarleyD

I’ll take a fried bologna sandwich over some ridiculous Starbuck’s salad.

- Lightly pan fry slices of bologna with butter.

- Take out the bologna, add more butter and lightly fry one side each of two slices of bread.

- Assemble the sandwich toasted side in and add a few slices of American cheese.

- Add more butter to the pan and lightly brown each side of the sandwich.

Now enjoy.


18 posted on 06/27/2017 5:40:24 AM PDT by Flick Lives
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: simpson96

It’s all well-and-good until somebody gets a sandwich that makes them sick, or they have a food allergy and something in the salad or sandwich sets it off; then, boy-howdy, the lawsuits that will fly at Starbucks will wallpaper their headquarters ...


19 posted on 06/27/2017 5:40:56 AM PDT by BlueLancer (Ex Scientia Tridens)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: simpson96
Something else just struck me --- it seems that it wasn't too long ago that "homeless advocates" were complaining that "forcing" the homeless to eat left-overs was demeaning and destructive to their fragile psyches.

Does this now mean that food that is more expensive is less demeaning than that coming, say, from a grocery store, where some assembly is required to prepare the food for the homeless?

20 posted on 06/27/2017 5:44:39 AM PDT by BlueLancer (Ex Scientia Tridens)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-51 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson