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I would say that about 95% of our clients were poor due to their own poor choices (imo) in life, but my heart really went out to the 5% or so who were poor through absolutely NO fault of their own. They were just unlucky, and I realized that their misfortune could just as easily have happened to me. But what really irked me were the salaries of the people who ran the food bank. You are free to disagree with me, of course, but I really don't know how some people can run charities like that and feel good about getting six-figure salaries (and in the case of many national charities, seven-figure salaries). But maybe I am just too idealistic in some ways.
How do you know the salaries of those who ran the food bank? I've never heard of any local food bank manager who made six figures. How did you know that 95 percent of the clients were poor due to their own choices? Did you grill them on their lives when they came in for help?
Sweetened beverages, including soda, are among the most commonly purchased items by recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. About 10% of food budget for many recipients.
Candy, cookies, cakes, ice cream, ... all can be purchased with EBT cards
Given the diet related diseases that can develop and the cost to treat them, some pilot programs have incentivized people to purchase healthy items by adding 30% of the cost of the healthy items such as fruits, vegetables, its, whole grains, and fish back on to their card.
It preserves choice but nudges people towards healthy diets and potentially saving billions in health care costs.
I believe I saw that one of the local farmers markets here gave some sort of bonus or incentive for people to use their benefits at the farmers market this past summer for fresh produce. It would be interesting to see if, and how much difference that made to the recipients and if it was utilized to any significant degree.
because they spend it all at one time. Maybe buy so much that some goes bad and has to be thrown out.
Its like when I was in the military. People had a tendency to say "wait for payday". We made decent money - not hard to save. But for some, that paycheck hit and it was lets go shopping time.
That's why I specified buying staples and nonperishables.
When I was in the people-helping biz people used to brag to me about how they scammed the system, double-dipping, etc. That just shocked the heck out of me and I didn't want to hear it because it made it much harder to feel caring and do my job. I wanted to say, "You realize I'm a taxpayer, don't you?"
It also indicated to me how normalized it was that people thought nothing about talking openly about it. I try to keep a balanced view but those people are actually working against others who truly need the help. It was very hard to keep from becoming disillusioned.
There are "soulless people." I don't know how they got that way. They come in all colors and persuasions. They will always be with us and we will end up "helping" them along with those who need it. I don't know any way around that.
Don't, please, make excuses for those who make it harder for the others. That's just plain wrong.
Sweetened beverages, including soda, are among the most commonly purchased items by recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. About 10% of food budget for many recipients.
Candy, cookies, cakes, ice cream, ... all can be purchased with EBT cards
Given the diet related diseases that can develop and the cost to treat them, some pilot programs have incentivized people to purchase healthy items by adding 30% of the cost of the healthy items such as fruits, vegetables, its, whole grains, and fish back on to their card.
It preserves choice but nudges people towards healthy diets and potentially saving billions in health care costs.
Yes... But there's a difference between buying junk with money you earned from work, versus buying junk with money given to you for free under the impression that you absolutely need it to survive. SNAP/EBT should be treated the same as one would treat his/her last dollars while food shopping.
How do you know the salaries of those who ran the food bank? I've never heard of any local food bank manager who made six figures. How did you know that 95 percent of the clients were poor due to their own choices? Did you grill them on their lives when they came in for help?
The great majority of our clientele were never married single mothers who had more than one child and/or did not speak English. In my opinion, that means poor choices. Also, I think that most of our clients smoked and a good many of them had tattoos. And, no, we did not "grill" them on their lives, but we did get some basic information, and a great many of them did not finish high school and had no skills.
And, yes, all of that might very well be judgmental, but I still think that feeding one's children should come before anything else. And, btw, I did not say that 95% were poor due to their own choices, that was about what I would say (or guess).
And, no, I do not know the exact salary of the director, but based on information I both heard and observed, that would be my guess, based on the fact that she could afford a live-in nanny (or at least that is what I heard) -- although, yes, if that was true, maybe her husband had a high paying job. However, I will now admit that I am probably wrong as I just found the following link and the top salary now for an executive director of a food bank in the Denver area is now "only" $113k, according to the following:
Of course some people are horrible parents but giving them a card to buy food with doesn't make them less horrible, it just gives them fewer chances to make rational choices if they choose to. I will give you an example. A young woman with two kids in Reno gets $383 in TANF cash every month. She also gets around $515 in SNAP benefits. At the time (2013-2014) she could rent a monthly motel room for $500-$600 a month. It wasn't fancy but it beat sleeping on the street. With $383 cash she would still need $117 to pay $500 rent. Assuming that she no other source of money, she sells $234 of SNAP benefits @ 50 cents on the dollar for the $117 to pay the rent. And that leaves her with nothing for diapers, laundromat costs, bus transportation, clothes or other necessities, so she would sell $400 in SNAP in order to have a few dollars for necessities. That left her with a little over $100 in SNAP benefits. Had she been given cash instead of SNAP she would have had $398 left after paying her rent. Do the math yourself and see which makes more sense.
The women I worked with were not drug addicts, alcoholics or prostitutes, most were very young, poorly educated and ended up alone with their kids because of domestic violence.
I acknowledge that some people truly suck at being parents but do we make them better parents by treating them like idiot children?
Your example is a good one, and thanks for the illustration. It helps.
(And I continue to think that education is the best cure for many of society's problems, although I think that helping the poor could be done much more efficiently, and I think almost everyone agrees on that!)
And, no, I do not know the exact salary of the director, but based on information I both heard and observed, that would be my guess, based on the fact that she could afford a live-in nanny (or at least that is what I heard) -- although, yes, if that was true, maybe her husband had a high paying job. However, I will now admit that I am probably wrong as I just found the following link and the top salary now for an executive director of a food bank in the Denver area is now "only" $113k, according to the following:
Anytime I've ever seen that type of job advertised around here, the wages are pretty low.
Depends on what's involved with running the food bank and what the education requirements are. If it's a small one like I suspect the one in my community is, the director is probably mostly managing volunteers and doing a little office work. If the job is more involved and entails grant writing and outreach, it's going to require someone with a higher skill set. I don't have a problem with people who work for a living being paid accordingly.
Oh please stop with the PC and taking everything literally.
Huh? Just stated facts.
I don't know the number of people that have spouted to my face stuff like "you sure don't have a problem affording" 'cable/cigarettes/booze, etc' when I don't partake any of them. They were lying about me to my face.
I have brain damage from having my head bashed into a wall, medicine cabinet, and everything else he hit me into that day. I walk funny and my speech randomly slurs. I have been falsely accused many times of being drunk or being on drugs. I've been turned down at interviews years ago when I still got them because my speech started messing up and people assumed I showed up intoxicated.
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