Hunger Is Not a Disease

Preventing Senior Hunger

January 25, 2020 at 12:08 am

For years, I’ve been blogging and writing books about hunger in America in general and senior hunger specifically.

Senior hunger is not going away anytime soon.

If you read my blog posts, then you are probably interested in senior hunger.  Recently I came across a guide which you will want to read.

To learn more about senior hunger,  access it here:  https://onlinegrad.baylor.edu/resources/seniors-food-insecurity-hunger/

Thanks for reading this article and thanks for your interest and action.

I hope you’ll not only read this article but will also share it wherever you feel it might be appropriate.

This new resource may be of interest to readers everywhere.  The goal is to help open a dialogue in our country about senior hunger.

Thank you for your time and thank you for your concern about seniors and hunger.

Thurman Greco

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Exploring the Spirituality of Hunger in America – New Beginnings Part 1

September 18, 2019 at 4:46 pm

Part 1

I began this memoir before I even knew it.  On the first day I worked in the basement food pantry, I sat with Mary, a member of St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church and the head of the alter society.  We greeted a couple dozen hungry people.  Mostly single homeless men, there were a few of Woodstock’s famous colorful characters included in the mix that day.

Throughout my career in the pantry, the most colorful of the colorful was Grandpa Woodstock who liked to bring his bride, Lady Estar into the pantry to shop.  The two of them went around the room choosing from peanut butter, cereal, tuna fish, and soup.  While this happened, he entertained us gushing enthusiastically.

“My, how beautiful you look today!”  I fell for his spiel every pantry day.  Those words melted my heart.  The most professional of the street actors, he knew how to make us each feel special when he flashed his peace sign and posed for photographs.  Grandpa knew how to flash that peace sign, whip out his postcards to sell, and sound off his horn “toot toot”.  I sometimes thought he spent a few afternoons posing in front of a mirror to figure out how to get the best response from tourists.

Grandpa Woodstock and Lady Estar were most photogenic with their long, flowing silver hair.  Their lovely matching beards only emphasized floral print silk skirts and kimonos.  Their toenails were painted matching colors and their Teva sandals matched.

None of Woodstock’s rich and famous got so many requests for autographs and photographs.  They simply couldn’t compete with his show off tricks.

After all, Grandpa entertained us all with street theater at its finest.  So what if he didn’t mean a word of it?  We all enjoyed being sucked into the show!

Thank you for reading this article.  Please refer it to your preferred social media network.

Thurman Greco

Can we break down the barriers?

March 31, 2015 at 6:01 am

GNP41Starving seniors?  Is that too harsh a term?

Let’s ratchet it down:  hungry

Or maybe:  food insecure.  Yeah, that’s better.  It sounds better anyway.

Call it what you want, the event is the same.  It’s your grandmother or grandfather (for me…I’m certainly a grandmother) caught in a situation where there’s simply not enough food in the house.

MANY OF OUR OLDER RELATIVES QUIETLY CHOOSE BETWEEN BUYING MEDICATIONS OR PUTTING FOOD ON THE TABLE.

The issues with seniors and food insecurity are serious because when seniors no longer have the $$$ to buy the food they need for proper nutrition or when they can no longer pay for the medications they need, they become ill and finally end up being taken care of by their children or they end up in a nursing home.

I know  stories about:

The older Woodstock woman living on mashed potatoes.

The woman who ended up in a nursing home when she was cut off from her take out food and didn’t have the resources or physical ability to get to a grocery store.

The older man who lacks funds for enough food and is slowly starving to death.

THERE IS FOOD AVAILABLE FOR SENIORS:

IF they can get to a pantry or connect with a pantry offering take out

IF they will sign up for SNAP (food stamps).

I was recently speaking with a retired man I know:

“Richard, do you get SNAP?”

“No.”

“Why, Richard?  SNAP is usually easy to get.  All you have to do is apply.”

“Well, I’m getting by alright without it.  Let someone else, needier than me, get the $$$.”

“Richard, think about getting SNAP.  This is a benefit you paid for.  This $$$ is waiting on the table for you.  You’re not the kind of guy who leaves $$$ on the table.”

I HAVEN’T CONVINCED HIM YET.   However, we’re not through negotiating.  As seniors, we’re in a situation where every little bit helps.

THE BARRIERS SENIORS PUT UP TO SNAP ARE GREAT.  Seniors resist going to a pantry, soup kitchen, getting SNAP until they simply cannot resist any longer.  I know the feeling.  We grew up as children and went into adulthood feeling that if we worked hard and paid our taxes, we would end up okay.  We worked all our lives with this event in sight and now that we’re here…there simply isn’t enough.

With this event comes the feeling of inadequacy and the self blame.  “I must have done something wrong.  Here I am living hand-to-mouth.  I don’t even have enough $$$ for food.  What did I do wrong?”

THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WHEN A WHOLE GENERATION OF PEOPLE BEGIN BLAMING THEMSELVES.  We’re really not totally to blame.  The rules have changed.  Because we’re retired, we’re not in the rules making game anymore.  Retirees by their very nature are disempowered.  Whatever happened to the Gray Panthers?

FOOD INSECURITY AMONG SENIORS IS AN EPIDEMIC.  People  work on both a state and national level to make SNAP more available to seniors.  The least we can do is get a card and use it.

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Peace and food for all.

Thurman Greco