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Your check bounces at the food bank

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Contributed by: David Isaacs on 11/29/2007

I was driving home this afternoon and heard yet another advertisement about the County Food Bank on the radio.

If you have never been down on your luck, the only thing you will likely know about the food bank is what you hear on the news. Especially during the holiday season, the public is asked to donate food and money to help. Then you will hear about the record amounts of food so generously donated to help people in need.

Try to imagine that you have been out of work for quite some time and have run out of money. There is nothing to eat and you have a family. You do what you can, some day labor, have a garage sale & sell your stuff, borrow from friends and family. You finally break down and go to the food bank.

When you arrive you see plenty of new cars in the parking lot. Some even have temporary plates. You enter and are interviewed. The food bank administers two programs, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and the emergency food box.

"The Commodity Supplemental Food Program is established to provide an opportunity for low-income persons that are especially vulnerable to malnutrition (women during and for 12 months after pregnancy, children under six years of age, and elderly persons age 60 or over) to receive specified nutritional foods that will provide them with a more adequate diet necessary to assure good health."

" Emergency Food Boxes -A nutritious food box, following a set menu,..."

Hmmm, lets see pregnant, no; over 60, no; young kids,no; too bad you can't qualify for the real food available through the CSFP.

Okay let's assume you have qualified for the "Emergency Food Box" after explaining how you are paying your bills and rent and where you are getting your money to do so.

There are two doors to the back areas of the food bank, one for the CSFP and the other for the emergency food box. You give your form to the attendant in the back. He directs you to a shopping cart with a sealed box and four cans of evaporated milk in it. He enters a walkin cooler and gives you a dozen eggs.

In this room there may be addtional food items. Large totes filled with vegetables, half of them rotten or nearly all of them so close to spoiled that if you don't use them that night you will end up throwing them away. Left over day old bread and sometimes other food products. You will be limited to one or two each of these extra items. There is no gaurentee that any additional food will be available.

On this day there are yellow & orange peppers (limit 1 bag full), small bags of broccoli (limit one), and only a few bread items (limit 3). You pick through the peppers and fill a bag, grab three loaves of bread and a bag of broccoli and head out the door with your cart. You rush to your car and eagerly open the large box to view it's bounty. You can almost taste the nutritious meals that can be created from the "set menu"? described in the literature.

Above is a photo of the contents of the less than half filled box.
From left to right:
In the back row; lg can of apple juice, box of rice crispies cereal, 10# bag of potatoes.
Middle row; condensed vegetable soup, applesauce, cha cha beans?, unpitted plums, kidney beans, cut green beans, peanut butter, 4 cans of condensed milk.
Front row; lg can of tuna, can of turkey, bag of macaroni, bag of split pinto beans, and the one dozen eggs.

The second photo shows a few of the peppers, the bag of broccoli and the bread. Unfortunately the bread is so hard you need power tools to cut it.

I for one would love to see this "set menu" or at least the recipes and meal plans this represents. Oh yeah, I forgot. This is all you get for up to four people!

You are confused, other people are pushing full to overflowing shopping carts out to those brand new cars. You begin to see a pattern, the ones with the broken down old cars have the emergency food box. You ask about that nasty old government cheese you have heard so much about over the years. "You don't qualify for that". How about a bag of rice, like they drop from airplanes all over the world? nope. Can you get more beans? forget it. This is what you get and you can only come in 4 times during a 6 month period.

As you drive away you see the attendant from the back room carry food out to his jeep and drive away. Welcome to the County Food Bank your donation check is always welcome.

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Showing 1-3 of 3 comments

Submitted By: Charmaine Robledo

posted on 12/3/2007 @ 10:10:24 AM

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It is too bad there are abusers to the system and kindness is taken advantage of. But I'm glad these programs exist for the people who do need them. Maybe the food isn't first-rate, but I bet for some of the homeless and lower-income out there, it's a welcome meal.

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Submitted By: Tracey Fanning

posted on 12/2/2007 @ 9:18:01 AM

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I know a whole family that even though they don't need it and can afford food easily,hit the food banks regularly. Their Golden Ticket is a Social Security Disability card. They are not even disabled. They have the latest computers and big screen TV's,every new DVD that comes out. They hit Leap up to pay their heating bills,social services for food stamps and work the system like a well oiled machine.This whole family from the grandmother to the grandchildren,aunts,uncles and cousins are very good at this.These people are why I stopped donating to food banks.I know people are in need but there are a lot of users of the system.

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Submitted By: Michael Rule

posted on 12/2/2007 @ 8:05:28 AM

Rated Blog Entry

But I like rice krispies! just kidding. Good article David. Hope somebody from the Food Bank reads it.

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Showing 1-3 of 3 comments

CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

David Isaacs

New Raymer , CO

David Isaacs has posted 5 blog entries and 9 comments since joining on 11/5/2007. David Isaacs's average blog rating is 5.

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