Cupboard Bare at Solano Food Bank-provides meals for 300 needy families each week

[The Straight Story]

Cupboard Bare at Solano Food Bank
Written for the web by Dan Adams, Reporter

Dan Adam's Report

A Solano County (CA) food bank which provides meals for 300 needy families each week has nearly run out of food.

"In the history of Mission Solano, we have never seen our pantry get to this point," said Mission Solano Executive Director Ron Marlette, who started the program nine years ago. "It's not that the community doesn't care about the less fortunate, but the need has increased to the point that we don't have enough coming in and we have more going out."

While Solano County has become one of the fastest growing counties in Northern California, Marlette said organizations to help the needy are about the same as they were a decade ago.

Looking over the food locker which is normally brimming with non-perishable products like pasta, rice, and canned goods, volunteer food distributor Kathie Trees could only sigh. "This is what we're looking at," she said, pointing to a few cans of soup. "Our empty shelves."

Mission Solano directors said through Christmas and the first of the year, donations remained strong. But for some reason, they have lagged during February. At the same time, with the extreme cold weather in January, residents are finding it difficult to pay for electricity bills and buy food. So food is usually the first to go.

http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=24777

[laura888]

1. Hunger

Thanks for posting. Most of us don't have to deal with not having enough to eat. It's a jolt to be reminded there are those who don't have enough.

[The Straight Story]

2. I was there once, the salvation army came through for me

Out of work due to an accident, Ohio's Bureau of workers' comp screwing me over (though I eventually won), and 3 kids to feed.

After I got things resolved I volunteered at the salvation army for a spell helping troubled kids after school.

So many people suffering here in our country, and instead of solutions the rw nut job's just tell people to get off their lazy asses and git-r-done. Idiots, the lot of em.

[diamidue]

3. I know a couple who went to the food locker

here in No. CA right after Thanksgiving. They were given a bag of food and when they got outside and opened it, they found 10 cans of cranberries and nothing else. It was all the locker had to give.

[PA Democrat]

4. Bush doesn't give a damn about the poor. His 2008 budget cuts funds for hunger programs

CHICAGO --- February 5, 2007 --- President Bush released his Fiscal Year 2008 budget proposal today eliminating funding for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) - a critical nutrition program benefiting nearly half a million low-income seniors and women with young children each month in 32 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

“CSFP serves the most vulnerable population of low-income Americans in the United States, and in many cases it is their most critical source of nutritious food,” said Vicki Escarra, president and chief executive officer of America’s Second Harvest—The Nation’s Food Bank Network. “It is morally reprehensible that many of our senior citizens are experiencing hunger. We live in a land of plenty. No one should go without food, especially our seniors who have contributed so much over the years to their communities and to this great nation of ours. If these cuts are passed, the impact will be devastating.”

Additionally, the budget proposal changes the current categorical eligibility structure for the Food Stamp Program, eliminating eligibility for approximately 300,000 low-income American. It also caps funding at Fiscal Year 2006 levels for the Nutrition Services and Administration, weakening the overall administration of Women, Infants and Children (WIC), a critical nutrition program for pregnant women and postpartum women, infants and children under five.

Approximately 95 percent of the Americans participating in CSFP are poor, vulnerable seniors who rely on the food boxes to get them through each month. Eliminating CSFP puts these seniors at significant risk of hunger.

http://www.secondharvest.org/news_room/2007_press_releases/020507.html

[grilled onions]

5. This Shouldn't Happen In A Country Of Any Means At All

Every service,volunteer group,church etc should be able to gather enough food on a regular basis to at least help food pantries temper the storm when regular donations become scarce. It's such a simple process. Most of us can go for a "two'fer". Every time you buy a box of noodles or can of soup pick up an extra. If you can get several friends to do the same thing in a month you can have a nice little donation. it's not much but the thing is every bit will count. This is the time for schools to get creative. They could come up with a "gimmick" like what would a thousand pounds or a thousand cans of something look like and let them start collecting it. We obviously cannot expect a government to help since they seem more obsessed with war then helping the hungry so we should be rolling up our sleeves and seeing what we can do. So many of us are just a couple paychecks from this stark reality. Many of us will be there with just one hospital visit or getting laid off. The time is now!

[mnhtnbb]

6. This is a measure of Bushie's compassionate conservatism.