Improvise, Adapt, Overcome
Yesterday, I was in a vegetable field "gleaning" through rifts of vegetables. At least 80% of the vegetables were frozen or soft, rotten and smelly and otherwise not usable. My guide was a "procurement specialist" named "F" who volunteers for one of our local food-banks.
"F" informed me that in 2022 several of our local (Eaton County) food-banks were cut-off from "grants". Specifically, grants from the Greater Lansing Food Bank.
It was a great surprise to them and baffling. Attempts to get clarification on the reasons for being cut-off were deflected. Two years later, they still do not know what they did to be de-funded.
The grants from the GLFB had been an income-stream that was as reliable as the rains and the food-banks had come to depend on them. A large part of those grants went back to the GLFB to pay for various foods warehoused by the GLFB that originated through USDA programs (basically free to the GLFB) and through bulk, warehouse buys.
No reasons were given for the grants being stopped.
Ambivalence
It is easy to be ambivalent about food banks. We have all heard stories of fraud.
In general, food-banks are assistance oriented. They exist for when the paycheck cannot quite stretch until the end of the month. Foods are strongly tilted to staples like boxed macaroni-and-cheese, spaghetti, bread, peanut butter and canned soup.
The concern is that we get more of what we subsidize. Do we want to subsidize financial mismanagement at the family level?
It is a tough balancing act. How much pain are you willing to let a family endure as a consequence for sub-optimal decisions? How much are you willing to let the kids endure? How about an elderly couple?
I don't think there are any easy, pat answers. My preference is to error on the side of slightly more generous rather than less generous and let God sort it out on the other end.
Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity
Being a bit more internet savvy than the typical old-geezer, I promised "F" I would dig into GLFB's cyber-presence to see if there were any clues that might suggest why "F's" charity got stiffed.
It turns out that Greater Lansing Food Bank is a subsidiary of an umbrella charity called "Feeding America".
Drilling into Feeding America's website, one finds many examples of buzz-word stew. The following is just ONE example:
In addition to food, we can apply pressure and influence on existing systems that withhold resources from people in underserved and marginalized communities.
Grounded in equity and social justice, the Food Security Equity Impact Fund...awarded over $20 million…
To drive systemic change and increase equitable food access for families, partners, fund supporters...long-term impact can be achieved. “Our spirit in trust-based philanthropy is that we trust folks most proximate to the work to tell us what they believe is important.”
Through unrestricted funding, we foster diverse collaborations and projects, promoting agility and efficiency in our mission to effectively support people facing hunger." Link
That paragraph could have come out of a Kurt Schlichter book of our future.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I would not be surprised if this were accurate, the DIE people have shown they are more concerned about virtue signaling than lives...
ReplyDeleteJ
The food banks were cut off from resources because the source has become infected and infested with "KILL WHITEY" liberals.
ReplyDeleteI keep saying that whilst everybody knows 'they' use Orwell and Huxley as "How to" manuals, I have included Heinlein (specifically "Farnham's Freehold") to that list for decades.
ReplyDeleteYet another example of 'them' doing just that?
noticed; those food staples are heavy carb based. not nutritious. shelf stable, one would argue, however the result is fat poor people and the population in general because if you aren't a peasant working physical labor to survive, carbs are just fuel for inflammation.
ReplyDeleteYou nailed it Joe. Its what Dan said. This is why there are going to be mountains of corpse.. errr, I mean uncomposted fertilizer in the upcoming festivities.
ReplyDeleteThey literally want us dead, and I'd love to start killing them. It's not going to be pretty....
The beauty is, in their deranged world, nothing they plan is going to actually work out. So there's no need to be an active participant, just stand back and watch. They'll do most of the work themselves.
Got gardens, chickens and rabbits? Or friends you support that DO?
ReplyDeleteMalnutrition is slow mo genocide.
I work a two Feeding America food days in our county. One run by the county parks department and one by a black Baptist church. To be perfectly honest, they screw both equally well. The drivers are great but any management above them seems questionable.
ReplyDeleteBoth groups order and pay for some of the items and get other foodstuffs gratis. Every month both groups get charged for food they don't get. Why this is I don't know..
During Covid, it was if you showed up, you got food for as many families as you claimed. I would say 10% gamed the system.
Now there is paperwork to fill out and you can't bring food to the old lady next door unless you have her information and permission on file. We are down 30% in the post Covid days and IMHO there are people now not getting food they could use. Many of the elderly don't or can't drive to the pick up spots and they make up the majority of the crowd. A unfortunately large group is grandparents raising grandkids on a pension and or SS.
I quit giving money to Feeding America and just write a check to the Baptist church instead. Your mileage may vary.
Yep.
DeleteThe Baptist Church at the end of the road runs a food pantry every Tuesday (the blessing box is always open). Parking lot keeps getting more full every week.
That's where my donations go. No overhead, no middle man, they take my cash and buy food and hand it out to whomever comes in.
This confirms what I've thought I've been seeing. If you want some money from me come paint my fence. ---ken
ReplyDeleteI remember reading one time that you can't help the children of the irresponsible in a way that doesn't subsidize the irresponsibility. For instance, if you feed the kids of a drug addict who can't make ends meet because drugs cost money, you're ultimately allowing the addict to spend more on drugs AND sparing them the guilt of watching their children starve because they spent that money on drugs.
ReplyDelete