19.9 Percent of Tennessee Is On Food Stamps... (Memphis, Knoxville: rental, houses)

[RamblinRoseRanch]

Many churches in my area have food banks- as well as a few local agencies. Some offer clothing and school supplies to the kids and occasional utility assistance too. I assumed it was that way all over this region.



Honestly? I think illegals should recieve NO assistance from any agency, government or otherwise. Either prove up or shut up. Our ancestors survived leaving everything they knew behind- crossing oceans in extremely poor conditions, arriving in a world where they their name was changed if the agent at Ellis Island couldn't pronounce it, where they had to WORK for whatever they had- yet were still able to become legal and prosper-it's sure as hell gotta be easier now that it was then.

[2mares]

Originally Posted by RamblinRoseRanch

Many churches in my area have food banks- as well as a few local agencies. Some offer clothing and school supplies to the kids and occasional utility assistance too. I assumed it was that way all over this region.



Honestly? I think illegals should recieve NO assistance from any agency, government or otherwise. Either prove up or shut up. Our ancestors survived leaving everything they knew behind- crossing oceans in extremely poor conditions, arriving in a world where they their name was changed if the agent at Ellis Island couldn't pronounce it, where they had to WORK for whatever they had- yet were still able to become legal and prosper-it's sure as hell gotta be easier now that it was then.

Perhaps its location. Like Rose, I assumed most churches had food banks like the ones in my area. Many also give clothing and hh items to those in need and donate school supplies as well as visit the elderly in nursing homes. I feel my community does a great job of coming together to help each other, church members or not.

Like hik tho, I believe many have been on FS for generations in this area. Afterall it has mostly been a poor depressed area with little employment opportunities. One reason that in past decades people wouldnt move here if you gave them property.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by 2mares

Perhaps its location. Like Rose, I assumed most churches had food banks like the ones in my area. Many also give clothing and hh items to those in need and donate school supplies as well as visit the elderly in nursing homes. I feel my community does a great job of coming together to help each other, church members or not.

Like hik tho, I believe many have been on FS for generations in this area. Afterall it has mostly been a poor depressed area with little employment opportunities. One reason that in past decades people wouldnt move here if you gave them property.

I'm positive you meant to say "like hik said, tho." I've never been on food stamps. I dearly, dearly wish we had them, today. We own a biz and the road construction is so bad in front of our shop that we we were in the newspaper last month and on the local tv news last week.

Originally Posted by Brian

I believe some Catholic, Lutheran and the likes have food banks

Some Christian churches have Dinners after services usually on Sundays.

It may be worth to check out the Angel Food Ministries (sp?) program.

I was born and raised in the Lutheran church. I went to different Lutheran churches, as well as many others, for 47 years. Not one of them had a food bank. They are very, very rare. There are plenty of food banks in the larger towns and cities, but they are usually run by private citizens. I saw one food bank that was run by a church - the Catholics - in 49 years.

All of them would pass the plate or have special fund drives for missions to other lands, though.

I went to a Lutheran church and asked about food and they acted like I was crazy. Me, who was born, baptized, confirmed, had my children baptized in the Lutheran church. Me, whose parents have probably donated at least a million to their churches.

[LauraC]

People who live in apartment complexes and sometimes condo complexes can't grow their own food because you aren't allowed to.

[Beretta]

Bringing this back to Tennessee......... I wish we had a big push from our new Governor to address the upstream of TennCare, food stamps and the like. It would be great if he could work toward incorporating some of the ideas you have mentioned here.

Back in the day when the gardens came in everyone shared produce and the canners got a cranking so that everyone had vegetables all winter long. Why bother doing this when you can rely on food stamps to buy canned stuff from, perhaps, another country? In the fall we got a bushel of apples and those were our snacks; there was no buying candy and chips. And the bushel is much cheaper!

If I were Haslam, or given free reign to incorporate, I would come up with a plan to nourish and educate our youth. We need to have summer programs for children to both educate them, keep their minds active, and to teach them life skills that they would never otherwise get. I would also take a long, hard look at education again and put the technical programs back in high schools. We never seem to hear about vo-tech anymore. At this point we need to work backwards with this problem and start with our youth. This food stamp epidemic didn't happen overnight and will take years to correct. The time to start is now.

I am reminded of that commercial from long ago: "A mind is a terrible thing to waste".

[RamblinRoseRanch]

Agreed, Beretta. I heard on WIVK in the last week or so, a spot talking about how many people (kids and adults) could not do or did not know of things of past generations. Small numbers knew how to can, cook totally from scratch, sew on a button/darn a sock, garden and such. When younger generations know nothing other than convience items and immediate gratification ways of obtaining things, with no one to teach them how to support themselves if the shtf- they're virtually doomed.

Now, i'm not advanced enough to be able to sew our clothes, but I can fix a seam, put a button back on or patch a hole. I can (and do) cook almost completely from scratch (and from the garden if possible- ordered my seeds today, yahoo!) and do the majority of the handyman work around the farm, in addition to caring for all the critters and people that live here too. No one taught me, but I had the desire to get out there and learn and boy, has it ever paid off!

But if the desire to find out for themselves isn't there.......let's just say that my children are learning to do for themselves.

I have heard that the WIC program is giving vouchers (as well as a program that gives farmers market vouchers to the elderly) for produce- I actually saw one being redeemed the other day. I think it goes on an amount basis, but hey- anything would help.

[hiknapster]

I do all of the above. I teach my daughter to do all of the above. I am just finishing up the last of the summer squash I put up last year. It helped but it is not enough.

Our daughter has to wear a costume for school. All the mothers are special ordering dresses. I am altering one of my old dresses.

I almost always cook everything from scratch. I will be glad when the warmer weather is here. It has been a tough winter.

By the way, WIC is for women and babies. It's a great program, though. We used it when our daughter was on special formula. We both worked and could not afford Allumentum. That was unbelievably expensive but it was the only thing she could hold down. WIC was a Godsend through her first year of life.

I just cannot bring myself to get food stamps. After this weekend, though, I just may.

I was just thinking, my mother didn't know how to do any of the above. I taught myself. Where there is a will there is a way, and that was long before the internet.

[septimus]

Things are really rough out there. I frequently wonder how those on minimum wage make it. When a gallon of milk costs almost a much a 1 hour of work if you are making min. wage.

I have a garden, I sew, etc but those activities are "trendy" in my circle. I'd have chickens if my HOA allowed them.

Do they even have practical life classes in middle school anymore? I remember taking cooking, sewing, wood shop and typing in middle school. Those classes have come in very handy in my adult life.

[SCBaker]

More than a half century ago people made their way from Tennessee, Kentucky & other Southern states to work in the auto factories in Detroit. They chose to live amongst Europeon immigrants but sometimes they formed their own little communities. They were quickly labeled "hillbillies" but they didn't seem to mind. For the first time in their adult lives they had a good paying job that allowed them to send money home to the folks back home on the farm. Most never returned to their home state because they knew there was no way to survive financially in those areas.

Most of my close friends from school were from Tennessee. Their parents had brought them to Detroit as children. My mom & dad also worked with many people from the South. So, I knew their stories well.

Unfortunately, there is no opportunites today for unskilled labor and that is not going to change. So, people need to realize that they need to arm themselves with education and/or needed skills. And, like generations before them, they may have to leave their home towns to find a decent paying job.

[hiknapster]

They've suspended most of the healthcare programs. We pay out of pocket and I can no longer afford to go to the doctor, even though I have a huge need. Ah, well. Someone said to me that I should quit complaining because I could have cancer. A Canadian. I told him, I could have cancer. I can't afford to find out. But being in pain and vomiting every day can't possibly be good!

I second the vo-tech idea. It's terrible here. They pay their auto techs so very little and most are not professionally trained. If you have a trade you always have something to rely on.

I love the summer idea, too.

I think people should earn their assistance, too. I wouldn't mind getting food stamps if I could, say, volunteer to work at the summer school program.

Originally Posted by Beretta

Bringing this back to Tennessee......... I wish we had a big push from our new Governor to address the upstream of TennCare, food stamps and the like. It would be great if he could work toward incorporating some of the ideas you have mentioned here.

Back in the day when the gardens came in everyone shared produce and the canners got a cranking so that everyone had vegetables all winter long. Why bother doing this when you can rely on food stamps to buy canned stuff from, perhaps, another country? In the fall we got a bushel of apples and those were our snacks; there was no buying candy and chips. And the bushel is much cheaper!

If I were Haslam, or given free reign to incorporate, I would come up with a plan to nourish and educate our youth. We need to have summer programs for children to both educate them, keep their minds active, and to teach them life skills that they would never otherwise get. I would also take a long, hard look at education again and put the technical programs back in high schools. We never seem to hear about vo-tech anymore. At this point we need to work backwards with this problem and start with our youth. This food stamp epidemic didn't happen overnight and will take years to correct. The time to start is now.

I am reminded of that commercial from long ago: "A mind is a terrible thing to waste".