Hunger Is Not a Disease

Writers’ Boot Camp Inspiration

DSCN0184-163x300

I’ve been inspired by the Writers’ Boot Camp experience to knuckle down and finish the reflexology book…AT LAST!

So, I’ll be posting on the hunger/food pantry blog every other week for the next few weeks.  I hope you are not inconvenienced by this.

Thank you for your patience and your support.

Thank you for reading this blog.

Please refer this article to your preferred social media network.

Don’t forget to join the email list.

Thurman

http://www.reflexologyforthespirit.com

http://www.goodmorningwoodstock.com

http://www.sugarsecurity.com

 

Today’s post…

 

aloe verais not happening.  I’m at writers’ boot camp all week.

Thurman Greco

If Only….

Lutheran Church

Janet Poppendieck  wrote a book entitled “Sweet Charity” about hunger in America.  I found a quote of hers on the internet which inspired this post.

There’s all this food out there.  Most people who know about hunger agree that there’s enough food for everyone.  If we can stop the push back on this concept, and just feed the people, our lives (everyone’s lives in the whole country) will be very different.  Imagine a world without hungry children and grandmothers.

Just for a moment, let’s think of all the ways we can benefit our many people and institutions by using this food.

For starters, think of pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, halfway houses as our tax dollars at work.  Much of the emergency food effort is manned by volunteers diverting food headed for the landfill.  For my $$$, this recycling effort works primarily to keep people from starving in the streets.

Now, consider the United States Department of Agriculture.  As our country accumulates agricultural surpluses, instead of being embarrassed by the food, life will be better when the USDA proudly distributes the surplus to those in need.  After all, surplus food is an uptown problem.  It’s almost impossible to produce only exactly what we need.  Farms just don’t work that way.  Weather doesn’t always cooperate.  Droughts don’t come by request.  Floods have minds of their own.  It’s better to produce too much than too little.

Businesses can and should ship excess food to pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, halfway houses.  This is a responsible way to dispose of unwanted excess food products.  When businesses donate to food banks, they avoid excessive dump fees and accrue tax savings.  They reduce dumpster diving.

Universities, hospitals, caterers, restaurants, bakers, schools, can use the food banks to absorb leftovers.  In metropolitan areas, the surplus food can go directly to soup kitchens, pantries.  This is both a civic responsibility and community outreach.

Community colleges and Universities can recognize that there are impoverished students in their ranks.  Pantries and soup kitchens on campus will make it easier for these students to stay in school.

Elementary, Middle, and High Schools will do well to recognize the poverty among the students and staff.  Food pantries have a definite place in schools.  Backpack programs belong in every school to ensure that students have enough food to eat over the weekends and holidays.

Churches, synagogues, and other religious institutions have opportunities to express concern for their fellow man as they include the poor at the table.  Congregations refer to their feeding efforts as outreach.  These necessary hunger prevention programs help feed people who otherwise would not have enough to eat and they give the congregations a local outlet for their charity and outreach programs.

Courts and penal institutions can use this concept by having people work service hours at pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, etc. to avoid or lessen incarceration.

Working at a pantry, soup kitchen or shelter provides service opportunities for people of all ages.  The more people donate time, the less isolated these facilities become.

Diverting food from landfills offers communities an opportunity to improve our environment.   Besides, why throw away good food?

Thank you for reading this blog.

Please refer this article to your preferred social media network.

Don’t forget to join the email list.

Thurman Greco

Libraries – and the Hungry

bully 2

“Hunger and income inequality is probably the single biggest issue facing this country.” – Susan Zimet

LIBRARIES ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO A TOWN, TO A COUNTRY.

Libraries are equal opportunity events offering information, learning, culture for any and all who enter.  They also offer an opportunity to get in out of the rain, snow, heat.  As far as I can tell, it’s easier to get into a library than it is to get into a lot of pantries.

For one thing, I don’t think you have to prove where you live to get into a library.  There may be libraries out there that require proof of address, and other identification but I don’t know about them.  (If you know of a library requiring identification or proof of residency to enter, please let me know.  I don’t want to be wrong about that.)

Libraries are important to a community.  The most important thing I carry in my wallet is my Woodstock Free Library Card.  I never have to show it to anyone to use the library.  I just walk in the door and all this wonder, this knowledge, this information is available to me…for nothing.  But, for some reason, I feel that it’s important to carry it.

At the Woodstock Free Library, a person can even take his/her dog if it’s on a leash.

As soon as I walk in the door, I see the computers.  And, of course,  they are available to everyone.  These computers are sooo important to those of us who are in a situation where there are only funds for rent and gas.  For those  in the “broke” category, a computer is out of the question.

For those in the homeless category,  library computers  are even more important because they are a homeless person’s ticket to communication with the outside world…especially offices  such as Department of Social Services, Office of the Aging.  For a homeless person seeking shelter, they are invaluable.  For a housed person seeking a larger or less expensive apartment, they are necessary.  A job seeker cannot get hired these days without access to a computer.

We can all get an email address quickly and cheaply at Gmail.

I’ve been connecting with area libraries recently to book a series of speeches I’ll be giving this year.  Libraries in communities all around Woodstock are in such wonderful condition.  They are right in town in beautiful buildings.  Ample parking is available.  The libraries are open for extended hours.

They have bathrooms – a luxury that we all need.

I mention these things in a blog about hunger and food pantries because, in a perfect world, I would have a library and a pantry in the same building.  It only makes sense really.  After all, all the people I see in the pantry are also all the people I see in the library.

Thanks for reading this blog.

Please refer this article to your preferred social media network.

Don’t forget to join the email list.

Thurman Greco