Some refried beans...

Each year, youngsters from area schools donate canned and non-perishable foods to the South Plains Food Bank through the U-Can Share Food Drive. It is an exciting and fun time of the year to see the kids get involved with different ways to collect food.

Out of the hundreds of thousands of cans we received this December, one caught the eye of a volunteer at the U-Can Share site. It was a can of refried beans with a message:"I hope this makes you better."

That sums up the work of the South Plains Food Bank, especially this time of the year. As we take this can and combine it with others to make our food boxes, there is the message for the people we serve. It is this, "we hope the box of food you receive from us -- whether a child, a senior citizen, or a out of work family -- makes you better. Better by feeding your body but also better by feeding your spirit. People on the South Plains care about you."

I never new canned refried beans could taste so good.

Missing meals...

I, too, - like SPFB CEO David Weaver - am taking the Texas "SNAP" (formerly known as food stamps) Challenge. It has been a challenge that has brought back LOTS of feelings and emotions...

Just this past July, I ended 18 months of myself and my son relying on SNAP benefits. I am not that far off from the panic and anxiety that I lived with day in and day out - worrying that my son was going to have enough to eat. That kind of fear and worry does something to you... no one should have to live on that kind of emotional roller coaster.

So here I am again, living on a food stamp budget... and again - we are doing with out lots.

When I first shopped, I didn't include my 2 1/2 year-old son in my budget - but my housemate jumped on board.

Then after much discussion we decided to include Connor because we face a reality that many on SNAP probably face...(more on that in a moment) and so we went back to the drawing board and "reshopped!"

So now, we are not only dealing with a very limited budget for two adults and a toddler - but also have to budget for the special dietary needs for Connor, my toddler son, who is a type 1 diabetic.

Now a whole new ball game, but most likely a reality that some SNAP families face!

With $62.70 - cash and not a penny more - we headed to the stores...

We shopped for Connor first; making sure we had the specialty items we felt he should and has to have for these five days... a little bit of real juice to treat low sugars; then a no sugar flavored drink for everyday drinking. Then his snacks, because he has to have snacks between meals and before bed to keep his sugars stable. Next breakfast... we had to go with his usual TLC breakfast bars instead of less expensive off-brands because the TLC bars have no added high fructose corn syrup, which drives his sugars up along with other breakfast foods for him. Anyway, the list goes on...

We figured about half of our budget would go for Connor's special needs. We paid for all of that first and then took it to the car so that we would know exactly to the penny how much we had left for the two of us...

$21.77 - for two adults for five days.

But then we decided to stash $10 - just in case Connor ran out of something or we needed something for him in an emergency.

$11.77 - for two adults for five days.

Bottom line...

We are missing meals.

Not eating what I want but probably what I need on the Texas Food Stamp Challenge

I've taken up the Texas Food Stamp Challenge to see if I can make it five days eating on the average daily “benefit” of someone receiving food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. For the first three days, I have a daily budget of $4.50/day. Because Congress is considering cutting the benefit when they reconvene after the election, my “benefit” reduces to $3.70/day for the last two days. 

After consulting numerous experts – my wife,Keren, who loves to cook, and Jerry, my friend who makes a habit of eating strange things (he's fanatic Irishman, a running fanatic, a fanatic mathematician, and a vegetarian) – about good nutrition on a limited budget, I headed to the grocery store Sunday and purchased the following items spending a mere $15.26 of my $20.90 budget for the week.

Organic Soy Milk (½ gal) $1.98

Peter Pan Peanut Butter (1 lb.) $1.58 (cheaper than the store brand!)

100% Whole Wheat Bread $1.48

Cabbage Head (2.6 lb.) $1.41

Cilantro (a bunch) $0.48

3 Bananas (1.25 lb.) $0.49 (on sale!)

1 Pound bulk rice $0.78

1 Pound Lentils $0.98

1 Pound Pinto Beans $0.68

1 Pound Garden Rotini $1.00

Oatmeal (18 oz) $1.18

Dozen Eggs $0.94

Coffee (11 oz. Grnd) $2.28

At Jerry's suggestion, I spent another $2.78 to buy broccoli, zucchini, some limes and a couple of apples. Apparently he thought a steady diet of beans, rice, and oatmeal might get a little boring.

So far, so good. The biggest problem has been my daughter, Grace, poaching off my plate. Breakfast and lunch have been pretty easy. Either oatmeal and banana (only a half though) or scrambled eggs and dry toast (Keren made some Mixed Berry Jam that I keep eying though.) Lunch has been a peanut butter and banana sandwich. (Today I made a fried egg sandwich... yum.) Add a little coffee and maybe some soy milk, and my meal cost for breakfast and lunch has been less than a dollar a day. Not bad.

Dinners have been fun. First day was lentils and rice topped with sauteed cabbage and onions. Sounds gross but it was actually pretty good. Grace said I should have done more cabbage. (Keren had a different opinion.) Last night was pasta with sauteed broccoli, zucchini and onions topped with some lime juice and some beans. (Is this the same as Cincinnati Chili?)

Someone asked me if I have been eating what I wanted on the Texas Food Stamp Challenge. I replied I had been getting everything I needed but not necessarily what I wanted. Since I'm preparing my meals at home, I'm probably eating a more balanced and healthier diet than I normally do. (Potato chips in my mind fit in nicely with a vegetarian diet, but I can't afford them on the challenge.) I've also cut out between meal snacks and desserts. Extravagances I want but can't afford. Maybe what I want really isn't what I need. I 'm feeling pretty good.

This evening it was beans and rice garnished with cilantro and a side dish of sweet and sour cabbage wedges. My after dinner snack was 8 oz of Soy Milk. I need the calories and protein. 

Grace and Keren decided to go to Thai Pepper (my favorite Thai food place in Lubbock) and bring their meal back so we could eat as a family. Their real motivation I suspect was to see if they could tempt me to cheat by eating off their plates. I offered them some of my cabbage instead.

David Weaver

South Plains Food Bank

Taking the Texas Food Bank Challenge

Vangelia Perryman, our SPFB e-communicator, called me today with an innocent question: “Hey David, I have a question...  Are you going to do the ‘Texas Food Bank Challenge?’” I said sure... what is it? 

The idea of the challenge is feed yourself for five days using the average daily amount available to people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps). The current benefit is $4.50 per day.

Of course there is a twist. Congress is currently considering cutting SNAP benefits to “pay” for the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Bill and some Medicaid funding.( I guess the idea is that hungry people won’t mind going a little hungerier to feed the poor.) So for two days, the benefit is reduced to $3.70  a day to reflect the impact of the Congressional Cuts. It didn’t take me long to realize that I would have $20.90 for food for five days.

“OK,” I thought. I can do that. Seventy-five percent of the people we serve at the South Plains Food Bank also receive SNAP benefits. I thought of the resources they tap into ranging from food boxes from our agencies, meals at soup kitchens, produce we give away from our farm and orchard. It shouldn’t be too hard.

Then Vangelia hit me with the “rules.” I can’t accept “charity” from friends, family, or even kind strangers. And I can only use food I purchase with my food stamp “allocation.” The real rules for people receiving food stamps are 1) you earn less than 130% of the federal poverty guidelines,  2) you have very limited assets, 3) you have been a U. S. citizen or legal immigrant for a least five years.

I protested that if charity is available to help food stamp recipients it should be available to me as well! Then she pointed out that I only qualify to receive food stamps on one point, I’ve been a US citizen for more than five years! “Use up your retirement account ,” she said,”sell your car get rid of your house and we can talk. Oh, and expect a pay cut!” Give me a break.

So now I’m planning my menu for the challenge. The reality of my spur of the moment decision is starting to sink in.  I won’t be stopping by Starbucks for a cup of Pikes Place this week. That’s nearly half my daily allocation. I might stop by McDonald’s because they give me the senior coffee special. (It’s irritating that they just assume I qualify... but that’s another story.) When the Congressional cuts come into play, I won’t even be able to do that. I may be pretty cranky by the end of the week.

I love to hear your thoughts and ideas on how I should plan for the challenge. I’m a vegetarian, I love chocolate (I even like chocolate drizzled on vegetables), and I like to run. If you were in my running shoes, how should I be planning to make it through the week on my Food Stamp Diet?

David Weaver

South Plains Food Bank

One in Six

Feeding America projects that one in six Americans are food insecure and may need assistance from Food Banks this year. That’s an incredible number… one that surely has to be wrong until I think about the increase in the number of people we have been serving in the past couple of years. Then I wonder if one in six is too conservative.
Recently I met a young professional volunteering at the food bank. Looking at him you would never think Mike had ever had a problem in his life. Handsome, confident, married with two beautiful young children. We talked about this and that and then I asked him why he was volunteering at the food bank. He got quiet… and began to tell his story.
 Mike’s parents divorced when he was in grade school. Although child support payments were few and far between, he never realized he was growing up “poor.” Mike told me he knew he had the “best” Mom in the world. She would let him and his brother eat oatmeal at dinner and sometimes popcorn for breakfast.
He didn’t understand that was all they had in their pantry.  He never noticed that his Mom didn't eat the oatmeal or popcorn. Later he would find out that his Mom would go two or three days skipping meals to make sure her children ate. He wished there had been a food bank to help when he was growing up.
One in six is unbelievable until you start talking with your neighbors who have been one of the “ones.”

This Guy

Officially, Denise is our Social Services Outreach Liaison for the South Plains Food Bank. What that means is she helps people navigate the “system” to get other kinds of food assistance for people beyond what we can provide through the Food Bank. Each month, Denise logs a bunch of miles as she reaches out to people in all the counties we serve. And as you know, in some parts of the South Plains we have miles and miles of miles and miles before the next town.

Toward the end of last month, Denise was contacted by a case worker for Lubbock MHMR asking if she would meet with one of their clients, a young man named Roy who recently moved to Lubbock to be close to his family.  Denise set up an appointment to meet with Roy. Here is her story about meeting “This Guy”:

When I arrived for our appointment I met “this guy.” He is the sweetest young man with nicest manner you could ask for. He had just moved here from New York. His mother had remarried a man from Lubbock. His MHMR worker was helping him with transition. Even with help from MHMR, it has been a difficult adjustment.

On one of his visits, Roy case worker from MHMR could tell that Roy wasn’t eating right. Most of the fixed income he receives was going to help pay rent and purchase medicines with precious little left over for food.

I helped him fill out an application for food-stamps. He kept repeating over and over, “Mam, are you sure? Are you sure this is ok? If someone else needs it, I don’t have to get it.” I reassured him it was ok and that he deserved it too.

To make a long story short, Roy qualified for food stamps.  After his first trip to the grocery store, he called me and said, “Thank you! I got to eat today!”

And… well, even though the days are sometimes long and the miles go on and on, I totally forget about all of that. I am thankful for the Lord placing me here to help people like “This Guy!”

 

 According to the Feeding America Hunger Study released earlier this year, the South Plains Food Bank and our network of partner agencies will touch 84,000 people in some form or fashion this year. Knowing “This Guy” is one of them keeps our work real.

Hope

Monday I visited with a boy at a local Boys and Girls Club here in Lubbock. We are currently working on a video project for the Food Bank, so there was another staff member with me as well as our camera man.

As this young man and I continued to visit he really began to open up about what a difficult time his mother has been having since she lost her job. And then I heard him say something that I just couldn't believe.

"I didn't eat yesterday," he said as if talking about the weather. "I didn't eat at all yesterday until I came here for breakfast."

He hadn't eaten because it had been Sunday and the Summer Feeding Program at the Boys and Girls Club where he attends during the week had been closed for the weekend.

This video project has opened my eyes to a whole new world - a family of seven living in a three bedroom 700 sq.ft. house; having to make choices EVERYDAY between food and gas in the car to go look for a job - between food and rent - between food and activities for the kids - between food and school supplies. This project has introduced me to grandparents and parents who sacrifice themselves; go to bed hungry; do whatever it takes so their little ones have a roof over their heads, clothes on their backs, and food in their bellies.

I have found some who are not able to provide even the basics. I have sat in households where two meals a day is considered a treat and water is not just used to hydrate the kids as they play, but also a cheap way to trick their tummies into thinking they are full.

Today I sat down a cried because I have so little to give. But when I explain services to them and they realize we have a school supply drive coming up, and there are places were they can get some school clothes for their children, and that there is help available I know I am able to give them something.

The only thing I can give them is hope. I can only give that to them because of the kindness of everyone of you who gives food, gives money, gives time, and gives your voice to the South Plains Food Bank and our more than 220 agencies.

Free Food

The Lubbock Avalanche Journal published an article about the Summer Food Service Program provided by the South Plains Food Bank. It provides summer meals for children in need at sites like Boys and Girls Clubs, YWCA, and day camps in low income neighborhoods.

Funding for the program comes through the Texas Department of Agriculture and USDA.  Below the online version of the article one person wrote a comment called “Free Food: I sure hope none of their parents have cell phones, cable TV, laptops, brand new cars, drink beer or smoke.” Those aren’t questions we ask of the kids when they come to the sites. All we know is that we want to provide nutritious meals for kids who would do without regardless of what their parents or grandparents have or don’t have.

The term “Free Food” caught my attention. Food Banks and our agencies don’t distribute “free food.” There really is not a free lunch. But there is food freely given.

Roughly 40% of the food we distribute comes through federal programs such as TEFAP. Those programs assist low income children, seniors, homeless, and working families. Like most federal nutrition programs, they reflect our nation’s values that we provide a safety net for the most vulnerable and also support our nation’s farmers to insure food security at a reasonable price for all of us.

But 60% of the food we distribute comes from private donations from individuals, grocers in our community, and national food manufacturers who give through Feeding America. It is food that helps people in our communities —people on the cusp of food security. This food fills the hunger gap when the pantry is empty. Sometimes it’s enough. Sometimes it’s not.

The reasons people are hungry and food and insecure are myriad. Economic forces are at work over which they have no control. People make poor life choices which are totally within their control. There are physical and mental challenges that leave people unable to provide for themselves for a while… or for a life time. We can’t ever solve all the situations that create food insecurity and hunger for our friends and neighbors. But here’s what I know:  if people are hungry, they don’t have the strength to overcome the forces at work on them, robbing them of dignity, hope and the ability to change their lives if they can. You and I can do something to change that.

People give food to the hungry for many reasons, reflecting a range of values. No one makes them do it. It is food freely given much like grace. I’m pretty sure I don’t understand grace… or why people give food to feed their neighbors. But both are freely given and I am grateful.

Providing 40 Meals Is As Easy As . . . CAKE!

According to our friends at CAKE, an anonymous donor has purchased 6 DOZEN "Tasty Hasty" Charity Cupcakes from CAKE. The Charity Cupcakes benefit the South Plains Food Bank's Kids Cafe Program; which provides a free hot nutritious to children after school.

The CAKE ladies were asked to deliver the 6 dozen Charity Cupcakes to the teachers of Whiteside Elementary School located on Albany Ave. just off Slide Road in Lubbock.

This very generous person was listening to Chad Hasty on KFYO radio when he was talking about the recent Lubbock DJ who took money for a fake charity. This person decided something should be done for a DJ and a small business (CAKE cupcakery) who are serious about helping children in need!

This compassionate person is a fan of the Chad Hasty Show, CAKE cupcakery, and the Tasty Hasty cupcakes. So, the decision was made to help feed the hungry children of the South Plains.

So one very deranged DJ has unwittingly set the kind hearted of Lubbock into action - ending hunger one child at a time!

Since 100 percent of the sale of the Tasty Hasty ( and Saturday's Charity Cupcakes, too) goes to Kids Cafe - this donor has provided 40 hot meals for children after school.

Take a Walk in My Shoes

I realized something this past weekend.

Before I faced financial hardships in my life - it really was the little stuff I took for granted.

Stopping at Taco Villa for a medium coke - and not having to check to see if it was happy hour!

Pulling into the gas station and just fillin' her up - instead of just putting in $5, $10, or whatever change I could did up.

Shopping at the grocery store and being able to purchase the garlic-parmesan cheese bread from the bakery - instead of the 'regular' bread on the bread aisle or worse, the bakery thrift store.

Poverty was difficult to swallow. Hunger was even worse.

Although those times are behind me, I want to share with you - give you an inside glimpse into Hunger and Poverty. I want to spend several of my next blogs introducing you to my old friends. You see, I have discovered that even here - in our Food Banking world - we often talk about these two as subjects or causes to rally rally around. They are not. For many of our clients they are their first thought of the day as they hear their child's tummy growl as they send them to school without breakfast and no dinner the night before. Some of our clients take Hunger and Poverty to their pharmacy as they are forced to make choices about medication or meals.

Hunger and Poverty were my secret. Like most of our clients, I didn't want people to see how bad things were for me. I didn't want people to know I was seven moths pregnant and sleeping on the floor of my one bedroom apartment because I had sold all my stuff to pay rent. No one knew the night I came home and flipped the light switch and nothing happened. No lights, no heat and there I found myself in a dark, cold apartment as the snow began to fall outside.

The things I went through really don't even hold a candle to some of the obstacles our clients face. I really can't even begin to imagine how they feel, but I want you to take a journey with me. See just a peek of what they go through. Please, come take a walk in my shoes.

Stories

I spent yesterday out of the office with people, Erin and Bob, from the organization that produces our hard-copy (or paper copy) newsletter. They come in about once a year and gather all the stories and photos they need then head back to California where they write, Photoshop, and lay everything out for us.

I enjoyed meeting both Bob and Erin and feel like we are already old friends. They both touched my life and made a hectic day loads of fun.

But they are not the only people who touched my life yesterday. As we made our way around several agencies that work with the South Plains Food Bank, I met many people whose faces are still with me today.

Irma and her son who were able to get food from the food pantry at Trinity Outreach. He was holding on to a box of cereal - clutching it to his chest as though it was a prized possession. I feel certain it was to him.

Bobby, who has been looking for a job since being released from prison. He is working temp jobs as he can find them to get by until he can find full-time employment.

Sharee, in the last stages of AIDS and a recovering addict. She kept talking about her dog being her only friend and told us about the birthday she spent alone without friends, family, gifts, or cake to celebrate her life.

There were so many stories yesterday that moved me and I found myself exhausted last night as I crawled into bed. But as I laid there in bed, under the warmth of covers and a nice soft mattress, I was again thankful for those who have reached out to help Connor and I so that we are not homeless or hungry.

Thank you to all of our agencies who assist us in alleviating hunger and giving hope to the hungry.

Let them eat CAKE. . .

Well cupcakes that is - from a bakery that specializes in cupcakes (which I guess makes it a cupcakery!) CAKE by distinctive details is located at 8201 Quaker Avenue in the Kingsgate Center - kind of tucked in the corner by Banana Republic. This cozy little cupcakery is home to the sweetest cupcakes in town. These delicious treats are made from scratch every morning using owner Linda Kay's famous - award winning - wedding cake recipes.

This artist and Texas Tech graduate has taken cupcakes to a distinctive new level. She creates a new menu every week, which she posts to her blog, and is open Tuesday thru Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. or until she is sold out, which happens!

While I could talk for days about the lucious coconut cupcakes, or the chocolate peanut butter heavenly cupcake I enjoyed by the fire Monday evening with a cup of coffee, or the birthday surprise cupcake I reluctantly shared with my dad on his birthday last Saturday I will stop boring you with those mouth watering details.

What I will tell you is that Linda Kay also bakes cupcakes to end hunger! That's right - every Friday and Saturday Linda Kay and her amazing staff labor over batter and frosting to help feed children across the South Plains. She calls these special cupcakes her charity cupcakes and 100% of the money - not profits - but all the money from the sale of these tasty treats goes to support our Kids Cafe program. It is a creative way to make a difference in the lives of kids, who otherwise would probably go home after school and go to bed hungry because their families do not have the money to provide an evening meal.

Every Friday and Saturday you can make a difference in the lives of hungry children by treating yourself or a friend to a charity cupcake. On Friday the cupcakes are the famous Tasty Hasty - named after KFYO morning talk show guru Chad Hasty. They are a moist snickerdoodle cake with a chocolate bourbon frosting and lightly dusted with little red sprinkles. On Saturday the charity cakes are a surprise - pretty much what ever Linda Kay and her staff feel like making. Last week it was a buttery yellow cake with either a smiley face or sunflower designed with her creamy buttercream frosting.

Stop by every Friday and Saturday to help Kids Cafe, but really you can't go wrong ever just popping in and visiting Linda Kay. Treat yourself anytime - she also makes some of her goodies in smaller sizes so you get all the taste with room to sample more flavors!

See ya later today at CAKE!

SOMEHOW IT GETS TO BE TOMORROW

Andy Wilkerson sent me a copy of Michael Ventura's article that appeared in the Austin Chronicle on Feb. 26, 2010. Michael is a friend of the South Plains Food Bank and gave me permission to pass on his article.


MICHAEL VENTURA
LETTERS AT 3AM –
SOMEHOW IT GETS TO BE TOMORROW
Austin Chronicle – February 26, 2010

    That headline is the title of a 1963 Stirling Silliphant Route 66 script shot in Corpus Christi, Texas. There was a Ten Commandments plaque in front of City Hall and no one objected. A gas station advertised premium for 23 cents a gallon and regular for 20 cents. But the story remains contemporary: two homeless kids on the run. And it ended poignantly: It’s night; the kids are still on the run; by morning they will certainly be hungry.
   What people who haven’t been poor don’t get about poverty is that for the poor, crisis is continual and becomes usual – a tempo of crises that on the one hand make you tense as hell and on the other hand is almost dull in its constancy. You go from day to night to day and if it’s not one thing it’s another – like a supper for five of mayonnaise sandwiches on cheap bread the evening that the electricity is cut because an absent father didn’t pay. That kind of thing. Over and over. If you’re a kid, you watch your mother ache at your deprivation, and you try to protect her. If you’re the parent, the caring parent, the shame and guilt damn near kill you – you feel it’s your fault even when you’re caught in an economic storm not remotely of your making. Kid or adult, the feeling of “somehow it gets to be tomorrow” is all that gets you to tomorrow.
    Those mayonnaise sandwiches are a rotten memory. So my stomach clenches, literally, when I pick my town’s paper, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (Feb. 3), and read on the front page how “84,000 people in the Lubbock area are receiving food assistance.” I don’t live in one of the better parts of town. Whatever word is opposite of “gentrification,” that’s my neighborhood. That front-page story is, inevitably, about some of my neighbors. (“Neighbor” is a word we’ll get to later.) And my monthly contributions to the South Plains Food Bank don’t make me feel any better.
    Lubbock County, in the 2000 census, had a population of 242,628 (Wikepedia). There must be at least 25,000 more now. So 84,000 seeking food assistance is roughly one out of three. Thirty-five percent of households served have children under age 18, and “57 percent… report having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities.” The Avalanche-Journal’s killer statistic: “45 percent of the households include at least one employed adult.” For many Americans a job isn’t enough anymore. Not enough to eat enough.
    In the Chronicle on Feb. 5 (see “Point Austin,” News), Michael King reported that in the 21 counties of Central Texas “one in three food bank clients is a child.” My God, one in three. “[A]lmost half (43%) of the families needing emergency food aid have at least one working adult at home. …One in five families experienced the physical pain of hunger… Texas was among 20 states with food hardship rates of 20% or higher” – 20 states! – “and 27.2% of Texas families reported difficulty affording food.” More than one in four. 
    Hunger wasn’t mentioned in the president’s State of the Union address nor in the Republicans’ response. But hunger has become a national crisis.
    The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles reports that “more than 1 million people… go hungry each day in Los Angeles” (Los Angeles Daily News online, Nov. 23, 2009). That report notes that in the San Fernando Valley “families seeking [food] assistance increased 60 percent in October over the last year, and 80 percent for the same month in 2007.” At the largest Valley food bank, “86 percent of the 30,000 hungry served each month are children.” More than 26,000 kids.
    In New York City “an estimated 1.3 [million] New Yorkers now rely on soup kitchens (which provide hot meals) and food pantries (which give away food). The number of people having trouble paying for food has increased 60% to 3.3 [million], since 2003… More than half of New York City’s households with children have difficulty affording enough food. A staggering one in five of the city’s children, 397,000 small people, rely on soup kitchens” (The Economist, Jan. 14, p.35). And, in that article: “The Food Bank’s main office is just steps away from some of the firms who were given federal bail-outs.”
    “[A]bout 280,000 Long Islanders needed [food assistance] last year… Thirty-nine percent were children under 18” (The New York Times, Feb. 10, p.24). That’s roughly 109,000 Long Island kids.
   The hardship is national. One in eight Americans. One in eight – 37 million – “got food assistance over the course of a year, an increase of 46% (The New York Times, Feb. 3, p.19).” “Nearly one in five Americans said they lacked the money to buy food at some point last year (The New York Times, Jan. 27, p.16).” One in five.
    Unemployment is running at 9% or 10%. But, as Bob Herbert reported (The New York Times, Feb. 9, p.27), those figures don’t tell the real story. “The unemployment rate of the lowest [income] group, [with] annual household incomes of $12,499 or less… was a staggering 30.8 percent. That’s more than five points higher than the overall jobless rate at the height of the Depression. The next lowest group, with incomes of $12,500 to $20,000, had an unemployment rate of 19.1 percent.” Middle-income families “had a jobless rate of 9 percent.” “[T]he largest and fastest-growing population of poor people in the U.S. is in the suburbs” (The New York Times, Jan. 23, p.21).” 
    Meanwhile, “1 in 5 lost health insurance in the past year (Reuters online, Dec. 16, 2009).” As for the jobs outlook: “one in four executives said they planned to cut jobs this year” (The Week, Feb. 12, p.37). And “one in 50 Americans now lives in a household with a reported income that consists of nothing but a food-stamp card” (The New York Times, Jan. 3, p.1).” States across the country are in budget crises, forced to cut services drastically. “Nearly 88,000 people had their homes repossessed in January… [and] more than four million homes [are in the foreclosure process] (The New York Times, Feb. 15, p.20).” The Republicans respond with, among other things, a determined effort to gut Medicare (The New York Times, Feb.12, p.31). 
    And on and on and on – I could fill pages with this stuff -- while we are fight two expensive wars and fight them lavishly. In Afghanistan, “American commanders… have at their disposal a slush fund, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, known as Commanders Emergency Response Programme (CERP). This can be used for any number of schemes – from roads to clinics and schools – that help win local support (The Economist, May 24, 2008, p.37).” Incredibly, at such a moment of national want, this president “is spending more on defence than his predecessors” (The Economist, Feb. 6, p.34).
    In the Oval Office there is an inability, since last year’s Recovery Act, to accomplish much of anything domestically. In Congress, we see little but selfishness, cowardice, and fanaticism. Both parties share a grandiosity in foreign policy, which we can in no way afford. Our leaders seem to believe they’re governing some other country, some fiction of America. Political critique is beside the point in a political atmosphere that deserves – indeed, cries out for -- analysis by psychotherapists.
    And here, in the Texas Panhandle, in a county of less than 300,000, 84,000 of my neighbors need the donations of their neighbors to feed themselves. On Long Island, 230,000. In Los Angeles and New York, millions. In Texas as a whole, more than 1 in 4 families. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of children. Ignored, not seen, in the State of the Union. Not seen by either party. Not one national figure speaks for them. 
    As for neighbors – if you’re eating three squares, you have neighbors who are not. Their government has forgotten them. We can’t afford to. If we do, we’re not who we say we are.
    It does get to be tomorrow. Somehow. If somebody gives a damn.

There are starving kids in...

Because of my position as e-communications manager here at the South Plains Food Bank, I am always finding new websites that deal with the hunger issue. Many of the organizations deal with hunger on a more global scale.

I have been there. I have served as a volunteer on the mission field in very poor parts of Africa and other countries around the world. I know that there is a need there and I commend those whose hearts are being poured out for people around the world. While I was in South Africa serving, I lost so much weight, because there was just not enough food and when there was - I felt guilty for eating while those I was there to serve had nothing to eat for days. It was difficult.

I came home and experienced culture shock. I had an extremely hard time adjusting to our waste of food and other issues after all that I had seen. On one occasion, my mother had taken myself, my grandmother and another friend of my grandmother's to an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. I tried to fill my plate without thinking of the children and families I had left behind, who would not eat that day or maybe for two or three days at a time. But as I returned to the table with very little on my plate, I began to cry. Tears streamed down my face and then I could not hold back my sobs. My mother was mortified and leaned over to ask what was wrong. I said, "There are starving children in Africa - and now I know their names!"

I tell you this because our hunger here, in America - and especially in Lubbock and around the South Plains, looks different than hunger you see on the nightly news and when you surf the web. Here we don't usually see children without shoes, in mismatched torn ragged clothes, bellies distended from routinely going days on end without food.

One face of hunger we see is in our own neighborhoods. It is families in nice houses, with nice cars, who attend nice churches, but we don't realize our neighbor has lost his job and she took a pay cut to keep her job. They have traded down their cars, disconnected cable/satellite, and never go out to eat anymore. Everything for them is now a struggle. This face of hunger is actually in my neighborhood. I know this family. We don't think about this face very often, but this economy has brought hunger next door.

So as you cruise out of your subdivision each morning - look around. There are hungry people here - and I bet you know their names.

Erin B.

Recently I recalled the scene in the movie Erin Brockovich where there is little food in the cabinet and a roach crawls over her foot and she drops the can she was opening (with a hand held opener the best I can remember). So she takes her kids out to lunch and lets them order whatever they want, but she only orders coffee. I guess I thought about it because working here and passing by our distribution dock throughout the day - I wonder about the lives of our clients.

I know right now I have a cousin who should and would qualify to get food from us, but can't afford to take off work to go get a voucher and redeem it. She is doing the best she can to provide for her 3 year-old son. I am sure she either misses meals so he can eat, or they go to her parents' house a couple of times a week to eat. I just wonder how many of our clients are skipping meals so their kids can have food. And how many other people could use food assistance, but since about 49% of our families have someone working in the household - maybe they can't afford to take off from work to get the help they so desperately need.

I think this is an area we need to look at and address - the number of people who are unable to get assistance because of the office hours we keep. Maybe this year we can help address this growing problem so our clients can still work, but also get help so no one has to skip meals.

One in Eight in Lubbock

Feeding America released its national hunger study this month. In 2009, thirty-six million Americans received food assistance from a food bank or food bank agency. That translates into one in eight Americans, one in eight Texans, one in eight of my neighbors.


One in eight rings true when I see people I know coming to the food bank for themselves or for friends or family members who are struggling because of wages not keeping up with food prices or losing jobs.

Ron, a childhood friend of mine was in the office this week. My daughter and his son had been in the same first grade class. From my office, I could see him in the lobby. Friends of mine stop by all the time to volunteer or drop off food donations. Expecting the same from Ron, I stepped out to say hello and quickly realized he was uncomfortable seeing me.

Ron had lost his job before Christmas and needed help. It was awkward for him. It was awkward for me because Ron was not supposed to be one in eight... but he was.

Seeing Ron was an eye opening moment. Each day at the South Plains Food Bank, people from all walks of life pass through the food bank. Some I know, some I don’t. But what I realized when I saw Ron was that whether or not I know them… they are someone’s neighbor or mother or father or child. They are someone’s one in eight.
Keep your eyes open.

(Here is local information about Hunger on the South Plains.)

Hidden Treasure

Earlier this week the aromas coming from Sheila's kitchen were so delicious that I found myself tip-toeing into her kitchen to see the mouth watering concoctions she and her staff were making. There on the stainless-steel table I found a buffet of culinary wonders! Beautifully made bread sticks, succulent lasagna, a gorgeous side salad, and some heavenly looking parfait. Of course I was completely jealous of the bridge group who had wisely chosen to move their event to our cozy Wall of Honor room and ask Sheila to cater for them. They were in for a special treat. I know what you're saying to yourself, "I had no idea the Food Bank catered or had a room we could use for an small meeting or event!" Yes, we do! So if you are trying to find a new meeting place, don't want to pay a fortune, want to help a great cause, and but of course - want to sample savory dishes then give us a call. We would love to help you host your next gathering. Contact Sheila at 763-3003.

Giving Food . . . Giving Hearts

My office mate, Al Solis ~ who is head of food resourcing ~ just finished giving an interview to an intern. I guess she is going around interviewing everyone about their jobs here at the food bank. I found myself laughing out loud several times because Al was trying to politely tell her ~ none of us are here for the money! While it did give me a chuckle, it has made me stop and think. Al is right. Many here could be working somewhere else making far greater sums of cash, but as Al explained, no one here thinks about the money. Because of the giving hearts here ~ I find co-workers standing out at the distribution dock in freezing weather or dirt storms handing out food boxes, they stay in the freezer room all day packing our freezer/cold boxes, many stand on their feet long hours neatly organizing cans and other food in our dry boxes, and then I see our 'bean counters' and administration who refuse excessive salaries because they know every $1 really does provide 7 meals. So yes, we are giving food here at the South Plains Food Bank, but all of my co-workers are also giving hearts in their labor!

Panic

Panic, true panic, has visited me few times in my 36 years of life. But this past Sunday was one of those times. I watched my 22 month-old son deteriorate in front of my eyes. Fortunately, we were able to get him emergency medical care. We have since discovered his has diabetes. Throughout my son's short life he has had several difficult health issues for which we have received excellent medical attention. So as things were progressively getting worse Sunday and I started to panic I knew my son's pediatrician was just a phone call away. After being here a few days and things having calmed down a bit I was reflecting on that feeling of panic and fear I had Sunday. I remembered another time when I felt panic, true panic. It was on a Monday when I was having coffee and looking at my budget for the next two weeks. There was no more money (I was unemployed), I had already used all our food stamps, and we had no food. I really did not know what to do. Panic set in! I remembered seeing a poster at the Texas Health and Human Services office about 2-1-1. So I called. I called everyday hoping that I wouldn't have to get a food voucher. But no money came in. So on Thursday I went for a voucher. Everyone was so wonderful and I couldn't believe all the food. In thinking about these two most recent times when panic was an unwelcome guest, I found myself realizing that just knowing I had someone who could help me was a huge relief. So if panic is knocking on your door - just know that you are not alone and that we are here for you.

A Whole New World

So I woke today to a whole new world. . . insulin shots, glucose monitors, and learning the reality of the the words, "My son is a diabetic." It is a different world. I found myself thinking all sorts of thoughts. I mean what color is that cause? I know the red ribbon is AIDS awareness. The pink ribbon is breast cancer awareness. But what color and symbol represent diabetes? I still have no idea. I also discovered today that there is a walk every September. Again, clueless, because diabetes has not really been in my world personally. I mean sure, I know relatives who have it, but I never really thought about it much. I mean, I guess since it is not usually life threatening, like the cancer that runs rampant in my family, it has not been a focus. So not only do I find out about this walk, but that Jenifer and our G.R.U.B. kids had a team last year. Well , Jen, sign me up! In just what little I have managed to process in the past hours of this diagnosis - diet is so important. So another thought that travels through my brain. . . some of our clients are diabetic. Wow. It is so very important they have food that is right for a diabetic. It is vital that they not skip meals and snacks. My mind raced to our diabetic food boxes; thankful that we have them for a population that depends on food for medical reasons. It is indeed whole new world.

Simple Food

You know I have come to realize that I come from the country even though I grew up only three blocks South of FM 1585 and Interstate 27 right here in Lubbock! In talking to my housemate over the holidays I figured out that my family are simple people who enjoy simple food. Over the her Christmas vacation we managed to introduce her to snow ice cream, Martha Washington candy, homemade cactus jelly, and homemade pancakes (not from a box) with chocolate syrup! We have others, too, that we plan to subject her to in 2010! While I say we like simple food, we also like good food. My mother calls Burger King "The Burger King" and has never had a Taco Bell burrito! She is a great cook, like her parents, so while my family has perfected a simple fare like red beans in a crock pot my mother doesn't care for "fast food" much. She will slave over canning fresh black eyed peas, which I shell every year because I am the fastest sheller in my family, rather than purchase store cans of the little peas! She would rather shuck fresh corn and freeze it than to buy the little ears already in the frozen section of a supermarket! So while we are a simple people who enjoy simple food, there is nothing simple in the old fashioned arts of canning, shelling, and shucking!