The needy; the homeless? and the forgotten?

One point in the article was simply addressing a way to use food that supermarkets are discarding, which is definitely a good idea. But one quote from the program coordinator seems kind of silly... “When you go to a supermarket, don’t just go for the perfect one. Take the bruised one,” she says. “All you have to do is cut it out and it’s perfectly good. If you don’t it will get thrown out.”

Um, no. If the bruised one is the same price as a perfect one, I'm certainly not going to buy bruised.

I applaud the program that is providing the food to needy people, however.
 

I remember back in the day when someone came into the grocery store and got food on welfare there was a big production. They had a form, the manager had to be called, sometimes the cashier would say "welfare order" to the office manager up in the booth. :mad: How humiliating! Everyone in line could see and hear what was going on. At least now food stamp benefits are on a card and the person swipes it like a credit card and still has some dignity.

On some occasions if I have a couple extra dollars I'm happy to help someone out so they won't have to put something back. People helped my mother a few times and it's just paying it forward.
 
applecruncher said:
I remember back in the day when someone came into the grocery store and got food on welfare there was a big production. They had a form, the manager had to be called, sometimes the cashier would say "welfare order" to the office manager up in the booth. :mad: How humiliating! Everyone in line could see and hear what was going on. At least now food stamp benefits are on a card and the person swipes it like a credit card and still has some dignity.
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That's how I felt when it was the day to pick up war surplus at the neighborhood grocery. Everybody knew what that line was for. I felt even smaller than I already was at about age 6 or 7. Maybe my mother sent me because she thought it would be easier for a little kid than for her, a grown woman. I never asked her, but I remember hating those Saturday mornings.

In any case, I give what I can because...there but for the grace of God go I.
 

applecruncher said:
I remember back in the day when someone came into the grocery store and got food on welfare there was a big production. They had a form, the manager had to be called, sometimes the cashier would say "welfare order" to the office manager up in the booth. :mad: How humiliating! Everyone in line could see and hear what was going on. At least now food stamp benefits are on a card and the person swipes it like a credit card and still has some dignity.

On some occasions if I have a couple extra dollars I'm happy to help someone out so they won't have to put something back. People helped my mother a few times and it's just paying it forward.
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You know, a few years ago the school lunch program was like that. Needy children were made to use bright pink meal tickets instead of being the same color as the other kids'. I thought it was horrible and humiliating for those children (since some terrible bullying goes on in schools), and I made a lot of noise at the school board meetings.
 
Al Capone's soup kitchen during the Great Depression, 1931

Al+Capone%27s+soup+kitchen+during+the+Great+Depression,+Chicago,+1931.jpg


"Al Capone started one of the first soup kitchens. The kitchen employed a few people, but fed many more. In fact, preceding the passage of the Social Security Act, “soup kitchens” like the one Al Capone founded, provided the only meals that some unemployed Americans had. They rose to prominence in the U.S. during the Great Depression. One of the first and obvious benefits of a soup kitchen was to provide a place where the homeless and poor could get free food and a brief rest from the struggles of surviving on the streets".
 
My niece lives in downtown Houston and sees people on the corner begging for money for food. She started tossing them packets of peanut butter and cheese crackers. Most of them threw them back at her. She said she now just gives to the Star of Hope shelter like I do.
 
When I see photos of the depression, it always amazes me the way they dressed. Here they are, down & out, & doing without, and yet so many [most] seem dressed up. Here these men are in a soup line & yet they have on a jacket , vest, & in many cases a tie. As well as an overcoat.

Perhaps there clothes represent all that they have?...&/or not knowing the weather ? I suppose it all might be keeping them warm?

In these photos, it seems to always be more men than women as well?....taking it home to the family maybe? Or perhaps I just have not seen enough of them?


I have noticed men wearing coat & tie in old photos of baseball games as well. Different times, different ways........
 
There was an interesting report on a TV programme about surplus food. Farmers and growers often (due to the vagaries of the market) have surplus fruit and vegetables. This has no commercial value, so is generally dumped. A number of voluntary organisations travel around farms and harvest the surplus crops which are then distributed amongst homeless shelters, refuges etc..
 
I give to the River of Life Mission in Honolulu. They send newsletters where they report about their successes in getting the homeless back on their feet and reports from the previous homeless themselves where they tell their stories.

I have given to homeless individuals when I was working in town, sometimes buying a meal for them. The saddest thing to me is when it's females on the street. There was one woman who had been around awhile and when I talked to her she would tell me how she had really had nice clothes when she was working. I think she may have been from the mainland. One time I was sitting beside her early in the morning on a bus stop bench and offered her $10 for breakfast. As much as I tried, she kept refusing.

So many are mentally challenged and many are drug addicts, etc. Some actually do work but don't make enough to even are able to afford the cheapest of rents. And some are so alienated from families and friends that they can't even get help from them. And then there are imports from the mainland.

And we have those tent "cities" here, too. So many tents along sidewalks, etc. But we do have what that Japanese businessman who has built a "tiny house" community for families. I think that is a good example of what could be done in a more expanded way.
 
As to the Depression - yes, there were charitable institutions doing as was mentioned. However, the government's actions were very much more directed towards creating jobs for people to have. The person offended by having food tossed at them was looking for food, not dignity. You do not create dignity by begging in the street.
 
When I see photos of the depression, it always amazes me the way they dressed. Here they are, down & out, & doing without, and yet so many [most] seem dressed up. Here these men are in a soup line & yet they have on a jacket , vest, & in many cases a tie. As well as an overcoat.

Perhaps there clothes represent all that they have?...&/or not knowing the weather ? I suppose it all might be keeping them warm?
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During the Depression years, I don't think they had "casual" clothing yet. Those clothes were all they had. They wore their suits, ties, hats, etc. to everything.

I think casual clothing came into style during and after WW2.
 
ray188 said:
As to the Depression - yes, there were charitable institutions doing as was mentioned. However, the government's actions were very much more directed towards creating jobs for people to have. The person offended by having food tossed at them was looking for food, not dignity. You do not create dignity by begging in the street.
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With respect, I have lived on the street, involuntarily. It was difficult, but I did my best to hang onto whatever remnants of dignity I could. Without it I would have given up, either killing myself, sliding into substance abuse, or becoming prey to the predators who stalked the streets looking for teenage flesh. Unless one has lived there, it is difficult to understand the mindset, or the dangers.
 
ray188 said:
As to the Depression - yes, there were charitable institutions doing as was mentioned. However, the government's actions were very much more directed towards creating jobs for people to have. The person offended by having food tossed at them was looking for food, not dignity. You do not create dignity by begging in the street.
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In my travelin’ rail riding misspent youth days, I’d hit the labor pools.
Back then they weren’t so specialized, just waiting in a large room til you got called to the teller like front.
Got a blue ‘uniform’ (if you were too grimy) a sandwich, pack of smokes, some sorta cookie and $2 to sustain yer day

Got a night job, moving mattresses for some warehouse
We were all sitting in the back of a van, piled in, maybe six of us, no seats, like sheep, on our way
I was toeing a petrified sandwich remnant from some previous one day career
It was more crust than anything
A gent across the van said ‘hey, what is that?’
I kicked it over to him
He ate it


If yer hungry, you’ll eat most anything to keep yer stomach from rubbing on yer backbone

I mean hungry, not just empty

I don’t get the folks I see these days, with their little signs….and pets
 
Shalimar said:
With respect, I have lived on the street, involuntarily. It was difficult, but I did my best to hang onto whatever remnants of dignity I could. Without it I would have given up, either killing myself, sliding into substance abuse, or becoming prey to the predators who stalked the streets looking for teenage flesh. Unless one has lived there, it is difficult to understand the mindset, or the dangers.
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I am not talking about a mindset or dangers - I am talking about getting out of that environment. A sandwich, regardless of the dignity with which it is given only sets you up for begging for the next one. That is what I like (as I said earlier) about places like the Salvation Army as opposed to the mere "sandwich giver".
 
ray188 said:
I am not talking about a mindset or dangers - I am talking about getting out of that environment. A sandwich, regardless of the dignity with which it is given only sets you up for begging for the next one. That is what I like (as I said earlier) about places like the Salvation Army as opposed to the mere "sandwich giver".
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Unfortunately, the street populace is too great for places such as SA to help more than a few escape the environment.
 
Sunny said:
During the Depression years, I don't think they had "casual" clothing yet. Those clothes were all they had. They wore their suits, ties, hats, etc. to everything.

I think casual clothing came into style during and after WW2.
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I remember my grand-father, in the late thirties, weeding his garden, wearing a shirt, tie, felt hat, and a suit type jacket if it was cool. If the job was a bit dirtier, he'd wear a pair of bib overalls. He died in 1959 at 96 and still wore his shirt and tie everyday. He wasn't a poor man and when he could still drive, would go to the barber shop for a shave. It was a different time and yes, men wore shirts, hats (not caps), and ties to the baseball games.
 
DaveA said:
I remember my grand-father, in the late thirties, weeding his garden, wearing a shirt, tie, felt hat, and a suit type jacket if it was cool. If the job was a bit dirtier, he'd wear a pair of bib overalls. He died in 1959 at 96 and still wore his shirt and tie everyday. He wasn't a poor man and when he could still drive, would go to the barber shop for a shave. It was a different time and yes, men wore shirts, hats (not caps), and ties to the baseball games.
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Not long ago, a friend who is 79 and who is a regular church attendee was complaining about how folks dress for church theses days.

Just days later, I needed to go to the 'quick-mart' on a Sunday morning....passed a church as folks were filing in.......Saw what he meant...shorts & flip-flops on many, Tee shirts, jeans, etc.

Again, different times, different ways I suppose.

I'm not a religious person, but if there is a God....I doubt that he cares.......jmo.
 
I kind of miss the "dress up" occasions. Seems like nowadays people don't dress up for anything...not church, funerals, weddings, etc. I suppose it shouldn't matter but somehow it does.
 
I think it matters.

I wouldn't think of wearing shorts, jeans, sneakers, etc. to church or a funeral. I no longer go to many weddings, funerals, etc. But I've always dressed appropriately.
 
I remember as a child, having to dress in Sunday best to go to church. I hated it!

Fast forward to last month when Mrs. L and daughter went on a girlie holiday to Bologna, Italy. On one occasion, they and others were denied entry toa church because they weren't 'properly' dressed. Now, this wasn't to attend a religious service or anything ( we're atheists) it was simply to look at the architecture. Ironically, they were able to visit a nunnery and a monastery without any trouble. As rgp says, it there was a god, I doubt if he'd care.
 

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