I’d like to see a breakdown of who food banks are feeding. I suspect that there are the actual, American needy, a small percentage, and the ‘if you build it they will come’ needy.
Wealthy areas in NJ have food banks; who can’t buy groceries but pays $17,000 in property taxes on a home?
While they serve a noble purpose, genuinely-needed food banks obscure the fact that something is very wrong. The French and Russian revolutions were powered by starving people, and while the change brought by them was horrific the status quo wouldn’t remain.
Church down the road from me has a “food bank” every Thursday.
Those late model Lexus’s, Expeditions, and Highlanders make me wonder what the heck these people are doing with their money.
Around here I think they must have restricted the big food bank (next to my favorite thrift store) to people unemployed due to covid because the clientele for the food bank is considerably more well-heeled than the thrift store, lots of shiny new SUVs.
In Ohio, income eligibility for assistance is determined by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. Any household living at 200% of the federal poverty level or less is eligible to visit the Food Pantries.
Basically a family of 4 making less than $60,000 per year qualifies. More people in the household...higher your income level can be. So...a savvy budgeter would be dumb to not take advantage of the Food Banks.
My neighbor does this and has for the last 3 years. Any surplus goes into their SHTF supply. Cannot blame them one bit. They do qualify and waste not, not want.