Feeding America

[filkertom]

Happy Hallmark Wants Your Money Day! Rather than giving chocolate or flowers, though, you might want to consider Feeding America. (Or, as has been pointed out, your local food bank. If you don't know the number, your local grocery likely has some way for you to kick in.)

It's more important than you think. Across the country, food banks are empty.

Have you ever been really hungry? I mean, seriously in desperate need of food? I've been sick a couple of times bad enough to not eat for a few days, but I don't think that counts -- the food was there, if only I could've held it down....

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I never have, though I've known people who were. That's why I support World Hunger Year.

And a Happy Chicago Massacre Day to you, too :-)

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

Beware The Ides of February!

Actually, it was my Dad who had Valentine's fever. He proposed to mom 62 years ago today.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every 14th of February.

We have a food bank in our town that could probably use a donation or two.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[jblaque.livejournal.com]

Just made a donation. Thank you for jump-starting my conscience between Whitman bites.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

Even better, if you can, donate straight to your local food bank. You'll cut down on a lot of red tape, not to mention potentially cutting down on transportation costs--good for the food bank as well as the environment--but also administrative costs. If you can't spare the cash, maybe you can spare a couple boxes and cans from your stash in the pantry. =)

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've been that hungry. I went through a period of time where I lived on ramen soup and peanut butter crackers.

To this day I cannot put those things in my mouth.

And when I think about those days, and where I am now- sixteen long years later- it's amazing how far I've come.

I'll donate to our Rice Depot.

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

I've lived on Ramen soup and Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup mixed in with rice. Water and sometimes one tea bag in a huge jar of sun tea, left steeping and bitter for something other than water. I wasn't precisely starving, but I never felt full or satisfied.

But I paid my rent, afforded gas for the beater mobile to get to my minimum wage secretarial job, and survived. Looking back, I probably qualified for food stamps, but I was too proud. I've never been as skinny as I was since then, either.

[batyatoon]

I've never been hungry in that way, no.

I fast a couple of times annually for religious reasons -- that's 25 hours without food or water. I don't think that counts for much the same reason that your being-sick example counts; the food is there, and I know as soon as the fast is over I'll go home and eat and then I won't be hungry anymore.

[rmeidaking.livejournal.com]

I went through one summer with $12 left every week for food. I ate a lot of rice, ramen, and fresh vegetables from the farmer's market. This was when I found the miracle of Happy Hours at bars. Being at the time a 20-something girl, it wasn't hard to milk these places for food. I also knew where the soup kitchens were, but they were dicey because of the other, not-quite-sane, clientele. Was I ever truly hungry? I don't know; I thought so at the time.

I have mixed emotions about food banks and other charity, and I've blogged about it: When are you helping, and when are you enabling unsustainable life choices? It's hard to tell, sometimes. I don't necessarily want anyone to starve, but if if takes being hungry to get folks off the couch and out looking for how they can actively survive as a productive member of society instead of a parasite, there really isn't much I can do.

I do admire my mom's cousins, who work in this field year-round, devoting their lives to making sure that no one starves that they can reach. I'm afraid I don't feel their level of devotion to the cause.

[lariss.livejournal.com]

I've worked with the mentally ill and developmentally delayed populations a looong time, and in that time, I've done my time at soup kitchens and other feederies. What I found was that the majority (lets define that as "about 8 in 10 people")of the people served at food distribution centers were either
1) too acutely mentally ill to work (and often so wracked by psychosis-induced paranoia that they could not possibly accept help)
2) actually mildly to moderately mentally retarded, and needing more support to be able to work, but somehow having fallen through the cracks in the system
or - and this was the worst
3)working, but still unable to feed themselves or their families (more the latter in food pantries) due to cognitive complications from one or both of the above or due to sub-subsistence wages or a lack of work.
Very few were coasting on the kindness of others - I'm not saying they weren't there, they were, but not nearly in the numbers we often imagine them to be.

Now, I do have some pretty intense issues with charities and food support and certain types of medical interference in the human lifespan(which have mostly to do with artificially supporting an over-sized population), and I think everyone should be left well enough alone to decide what they want to do charity-wise; but having worked with these populations so long, I do feel driven to address certain misconceptions when they pop up.

[rmeidaking.livejournal.com]

A person who is able to be diagnosed with a mental illness is definitely in need of some level of support. That's not even a question.

The question arises with the able-bodied, intelligent individual who chooses to rely on public resources rather than getting out and doing something to improve their position, and similarly able-bodied, intelligent individuals who make choices that make themselves unemployable (e.g. drug abuse, food abuse, failure to engage in self-maintenance, etc.). With certain friends and relatives, I finally reached a point of, "If you can't or won't help yourself, I can't or won't help you, either."

[sophia9847.livejournal.com]

I've been fortunate enough in life that I've never been hungry in the sense you mean (and I worked for a time as a food stamp caseworker, so i know just how much of that was luck vs. my alleged work ethic and IQ). I'm doing my first real veggie garden this year, and I intend to take anything beyond what we need over to the local food bank. As it grows in the next few years, I hope to eventually earmark a raised bed or two specifically for helping folks who need it more than us.

[catlin.livejournal.com]

I grew up in abject poverty, until I was around 12. Yeah, I have been that hungry. You hit a point that even living in the city, squirell looks good. I would not eat it when I was in the Disney age because I was wierd, and starving was better then eating wild animals, but yeah. When your only groceries are coming from food banks and commodities, it is pretty bad. (back then, in my state, you had to buy food stamps. They were cheap, but sometimes they still were more then we had)

[fionn320.livejournal.com]

Thankfully, I have never been truly hungry. I've been broke and eating free food from the food bank, but I've never gone a day without food because I didn't have any available.

That's one of the reasons I always work the day of the Postal food drive ( http://www.helpstampouthunger.com/thankyou.aspx ). I collect donations from my customers and deliver them to a local food bank the Saturday before Mother's Day. May 9th this year. Even a single can of peas or a package of ramen helps someone. Food banks see increased demand during the summer because kids aren't in school getting free lunches.

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have. Not for many years, thank goodness. But I remember what it was like, and I remember being down to a bag of dried kidney beans at one time. Which is why I make sure to buy in bulk and keep enough food in the pantry/freezer to last a good, long time if a catastrophe happens.

It's also why I have to be careful at Costco...I could go nuts there, happily. But, you know, paying the rent and the electricity bill is important too. :)

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

I've been to wear I had to resort to the food bank, and to where I had to go to the neighbours and ask for a sandwich, but I always GOT food. Oh, and there was the six weeks right after we moved, where we hadn't found jobs yet, and lived off sample-sized Luna bars for a month and a half. They're good for you, but it's really not the same as actual meals.

[sciffy-circo.livejournal.com]

I've been broke, I've been homeless, I've done the shelters and food banks, and all that. Right now, if I didn't have friends helping me out, I'd still be homeless and starving.

Last time I was looking at local food banks, I saw signs all over saying "expired food-- take at your own risk!" and "NO MORE RAMEN NOODLES PLEASE!!! We already have 52 cases of Ramen noodles, and need a variety of other nutritious foods.". Also in the mix was government food, because most people think it tastes pretty horrible, and they'll give it away.

It REALLY pisses me off to find rich people who think they're helping by donating stuff like ramen noodles. Apparently, it never occurs to them that that's all we were able to afford in the first place. We go to the food banks BECAUSE we want something BESIDES ramen noodles!

Also, it's not just food that is needed. Personal supplies, hygiene items, diapers, and that sort of thing are also desperately needed by people who can't afford it. Gone also are the days when people could sell food stamps for cash, or buy the 5 cent Kool Aid and get 95 cents in change. Nope, it's all on a debit card type thing now. No cash for you! They SAY it's so people can't use the extra for drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes, but they forget the people who do it just to feed and clothe themselves, their kids, and do laundry.

Those of us who have a little bit of money but still not enough food can look into stuff like this:
http://www.angelfoodministries.com/