Our local United Way was gravely mistaken about what they are calling the Neighbor to Neighbor Response. They’ve been doing a media blitz; asking the community to donate money, food, blankets, toilet paper and baby stuff to needy people at designated drop-off sites. My school is one of these sites. Here’s what our “pantry” looks like at the moment.
Last week, it looked better. A corporation did a drive and brought us three truck loads of items. The hallway was piled high and I spent most of one work day sorting out the tuna from the peanut butter, gloating about how we would be able to help all of our own students and the community for several blocks around. But after it went (and it ALL went – even the jars of cilantro honey glaze and the cans of pimentos), no more came. The students have been trying to help it along by bringing in what little they can manage to contribute themselves. Often, that’s a single can of chili; a partially used package of diapers; half a sack of pinto beans, held closed with a rubber band. What’s left on the floor in this picture was donated by people who already have too little.
The economic situation has been hurting my students particularly badly. Every day that we have class, people are telling us that they have lost their jobs, their apartments, their health care.
I wrote a big long post about the growing anxiety, but Blogger errors prevented me from posting it, twice. I guess that may be a sign that I should drop it for now. Suffice to say, things are getting pretty sad.
3 comments:
Kate, I'm glad you bring this up. The shelters here are turning away people, and the pantries are emptying as fast as they fill. The recession is literally killing the most vulnerable populations.
Here's something I got from someone who helps immigrants in our area:
--...the temperature was
in the 20s, with the wind gusting to more than 40 mph. Despite this
extreme weather, nearly 200 men were huddled outside the 7-11s
desperately seeking work.
Many told us that they hadn't worked in
weeks, and that when they finally found some, they were ripped off by
their employers.
Our ongoing work with the immigrant community is done entirely by
volunteers and the bulk of our budget comes out of our own thin
pockets. However there are ongoing expenses that require the
resources of the greater community. For example, although WWC is a
501c-3 nonprofit organization and member of the National Capital Area
Food Bank, It still costs about $800 each time we provide a food
bundle for 200 workers. (Our goal is bi-weekly distributions through
the winter). To provide a warm cap, gloves and socks, in addition to
any winter coats we collect costs over $10 for each worker.--
This cold and the holidays in particular remind me how fortunate we are and that we all need to share what we can.
Bless you for doing so.
Katherine said it so well, bless you for doing something.
I hope things improve, I keep hearing how bad things are in the US right now. Looks like I will be back next year some time, I hope I can lend a hand from Texas in some way. Glad you are trying to help, we need people like you.
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