Ms. Rosales
Posted on 12/10/2008 7:18:36 AM PST by reaganaut1
MADISON, Wis. — Vanessa Rosales comes to the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry here rather than others for one reason: She can choose what food she brings home, rather than being handed a bag filled with random groceries.
The pantry, which looks like a small grocery store, is indicative of broad changes going on at the nation’s food banks and food pantries.
No longer simply the domain of canned corn and peanut butter, food banks are preparing ready-to-eat meals, opening their own farms and partnering with institutions as varied as local supermarkets and state prisons to help gather and process food. They are also handling much more fresh produce, which requires overhauling the way they store and distribute food.
Pantries, which distribute the food donated to food banks, are also acting as social service clearinghouses. Many are handing out information about screenings for breast and cervical cancer and sending volunteers out to sign up people for food stamps.
And as demand continues to rise, food banks are trying to feed more people with less food.
“It’s not just handing out a box here or there anymore,” said Peggy Grimes, executive director of the Montana Food Bank Network, which covers the state. “A lot of effort goes into thinking outside the box. It’s becoming the focus of food banking.” In Madison, thinking of new ways to dispense food was a necessity. The pantry used to pack and distribute food, only to find the bags of groceries discarded at a bus stop around the corner.
“It’s not that they were ungrateful,” said Ralph Middlecamp, the pantry’s director. “They just knew they wouldn’t eat it.”
Many who left the food were recent immigrants who “don’t relate to canned food,” Mr. Middlecamp said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Beggars can’t be choosers.
Does this mean those who discarded food weren’t really that needy after all?
Sort of like the Irish peasants during the Famine who were given maize (what we call corn) and had no idea how to cook it or eat it. Called it "Peel's Brimstone" after Lord Robert Peel (PM at the time).
Relying on charity is no longer the stigma it used to be, which is too bad because it stimulated some people to do everything they could to get off charity. Now people see it as a viable lifestyle choice. I remember reading about a family who decided to go cashless for a month, just to check it out. Part of their strategy was to visit food banks.
I knew another woman who moved herself and her son to another state in order to get higher welfare benefits.
Another family has avoided work for a couple of years now, relying on charity and “working the system”. The wife has been ill but rather than accept help from friends and congregation members, she insists her husband stay home with her and he hasn’t the you-know-what to be a man and tell her to gut it up and let him support the family.
About three years ago I worked with a family who regularly relied on charity. They were both high school dropouts, with six children age 12 and under. They believed they were entitled to live in a nice suburban home in an upscale neighborhood in California. As part of the program with my church in providing charity, I met with the wife to do food orders at our specialized food bank. We would plan a two-week menu based on the slightly-limited choices in the food bank. I was amazed at their wants for food. No cereal and soup and sandwiches for this crew. They wanted pancakes and bacon for breakfast, homemade enchiladas for lunch and a roast for dinner. This family of eight, with only three that were “adult-sized” wanted to order 68 pounds of meat alone. When the family finally had to leave their expensive rental home, we helped them move out. They had an incredible collection of toys for adults and kids, computers, guns, pets (not permitted by the landlord), ATV, nice barbecue, motorcycle, pool table, electronics. And they had trashed the house. I was embarrassed to be associated with them, and especially to have apparently enabled them. A year or so after they had moved out, I ran into them at the food pantry (which serves a lot of congregations in the region), still getting their twice-monthly groceries which probably cost at least $500 each time had it not been charity.
I think of all the damage done by the Sixties Generation, the welfare entitlement mentality will be its most lasting legacy. And now we see its progeny in the business bailout mentality.
I know food banks provide for many people but they are just another step in the process of generating increased reliance on socialist collectives and less on individual self reliance and responsibility.
It sounds like I belong to the same organization you do-—a wonderful church that generously helps its members in need. I agree with everything you said and am stunned and dismayed by people’s sense of entitlement, especially when members of our organization have been taught over and over again how important it is to be self-reliant.
A local leader of our church told my husband once that people don’t understand that such a program is meant to sustain a life, not a lifestyle. I thought that was very interesting.
Perhaps we do. It is an unusual program. What probably galls me is the program relies on private donations from families in the congregation. This welfare family wanted to eat better than ninety percent of those families who were donating to the program. Too many people come to the local pastor and ask for help with credit card payments, boat payments, mortgage payments when they have clearly overspent their resources and are now in too deep. I would have enjoyed that cruise, that trip to Walt Disney World, that big-screen tv, that late-model SUV, that latest whizbang technology but when we do indulge, we make sure to pay in cash without jeopardizing our only debt, which is our mortgage. Then these people want me to contribute to support their unrealistic lifestyle choices. The problem is only going to get worse before it gets better but some church leaders are becoming more aggressive about making people sacrifices their toys in exchange for help on basics.
Total BS from the NY Times, get ready for their bankruptcy, Pinch.
Total BS from the NY Times, get ready for their bankruptcy, Pinch.
Then they weren't very hungry!
It sounds like they were ungrateful and wanted something better! So, they gave it to them!!!
In other words recent ILLEGALS who want a better life than most of us who WORK for living!
“I’ve been to pantries before where they give you things you don’t need,” said Ms. Rosales, who was recently laid off from her job as a preschool teacher. “This way you can pick what you’re going to use, rather than saying, ‘What am I going to do with this?’ ”
“I’ve been to pantries before where they give you things you don’t need,” said Ms. Rosales, who was recently laid off from her job as a preschool teacher. “This way you can pick what you’re going to use, rather than saying, ‘What am I going to do with this?’ ”
IOW, this woman can’t cook and doesn’t have a clue.
Typical teacher.
“I’ve been to pantries before where they give you things you don’t need,” said Ms. Rosales, who was recently laid off from her job as a preschool teacher. “This way you can pick what you’re going to use, rather than saying, ‘What am I going to do with this?’ ”
IOW, this woman can’t cook and doesn’t have a clue.
Typical teacher.
Anybody else notice this double posting BS on FR is still going on.
My mouse doesn’t bounce anywhere else.
Anybody else notice this double posting BS on FR is still going on.
My mouse doesn’t bounce anywhere else.
Ms. Rosales
Who cares about a photo op? Read what she said.
Who cares about a photo op? Read what she said.
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