Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

  • Shop
  • Subscribe to BMG
  • Contact
  • Log In
  • Front Page
  • All Posts
  • About
  • Rules
  • Events
  • Register on BMG

Food Bank Shortages and Us

December 1, 2007 By jlove1982

Experts attributed the shortages to an unusual combination of factors, including rising demand, a sharp drop in federal supplies of excess farm products, and tighter inventory controls that are leaving supermarkets and other retailers with less food to donate.

Other factors cited include, among other things, the lack of a rise in the aid given to food bank:

Food bank operators are lobbying for passage of a farm bill currently stalled in the Senate that would raise emergency aid for food banks to $250 million a year, from $140 million. That figure has remained steady since 2002.

I believe Zezima may actually be referring to the Senate equivalent of the Feeding America’s Families Act of 2007 that can be found in the Farm Bill (which is also the bill that includes addressing the issues with Food Stamps that Jim McGovern and Jo Ann Emerson, among others had illustrated back in May when they took the Food Stamp Challenge… I should point out that since then, others have taken the challenge, including Keith Ellison and Chris Van Hollen). The Farm Bill is now in the Senate (on the legislative calendar).  Tom Harkin, the Chair of the Agriculture Committee, introduced the bill, and there’s some good information on the Agriculture Committee, but if anyone has any good info to add to this, please feel free to put it in the comments, as I’m not the greatest expert on the Senate Agriculture Committee.

However, while hopefully the Farm Bill will go through without cuts to any of these important programs, there are many other problems that Zezima cites, including supermarket efficiency and supermarkets selling leftover foods to discount stores (in terms of getting affordable food out there, it’s a help, but that’s not helping the food banks any…).  So even with a revised Farm Bill in place for the future, there are still going to be major issues in terms of getting food to food banks.

So what can we do?  There are many viable options.  Letting your Senator know about the importance of the Farm Bill in terms of the hunger provisions (in particular the food stamps and the Emergency Food Assistance Programs (food banks)) is important.  Getting involved in your local food bank is also a good idea for those people who want to do that (Second Harvest seems to have a good listing of food banks, including a state and zip code search).  The easist thing you can probably do is just give food, through local food drives or directly to the local food bank.  You’ll have to check with your local food bank on their policies, and check municipal websites (based on personal experience, the Boston city website has a good list of where food can be dropped off as part of their Can Share program.

So look around your pantry for those canned goods and nonperishables that you don’t need, and give.  šŸ™‚

Please share widely!
fb-share-icon
Tweet
0
0

Filed Under: User Tagged With: community, food-banks, hunger

Comments

  1. jlove1982 says

    December 1, 2007 at 11:48 am

    if anyone’s interested in doing more Community Service stuff, check out Boston Cares.  In my first volunteer time, I helped make audiobooks for the blind and dyslexic, which was a lot of fun (though I did learn that I easily mix up the words ‘supernatural’ and ‘supranational’)

  2. raj says

    December 2, 2007 at 10:23 am

    So what can we do?

    <

    p>One thing that is obvious is that we can get rid of the ridiculous ethanol-as-transportation-fuel boondogle.  That would help lower the price of food, as has been noted elsewhere.

    <

    p>The sad fact is that it isn’t going to happen any time soon, since powerful agribusiness interests, including, but not limited to Archer-Daniel-Midland is behind ethanol (as well as the high-fructose corn syrup poison).  As an American taxpayer, I for one, am not interested in subsidizing agribusiness.

  3. peter-porcupine says

    December 2, 2007 at 3:28 pm

    …I saw a neat community effort when I was up in Maine after Thanksgiving.

    <

    p>It was the annual Parade of Lights in Rockland – more detail HERE.  What was neat was – in order to ‘vote’ for the Best Float, you had to put a non-perishable can of food onto the float to be counted – it resulted in a few HUNDRED cans of food for the local food bank.

    <

    p>I’m suggesting it as a voting method here – if you have any community contests coming up, you may want to try it.

    <

    p>For instance…a straw poll, in which there were cans of food instead of paper ballots…

Recommended Posts

  • No posts liked yet.

Recent User Posts

Predictions Open Thread

December 22, 2022 By jconway

This is why I love Joe Biden

December 21, 2022 By fredrichlariccia

Garland’s Word

December 19, 2022 By terrymcginty

Some Parting Thoughts

December 19, 2022 By jconway

Beware the latest grift

December 16, 2022 By fredrichlariccia

Thank you, Blue Mass Group!

December 15, 2022 By methuenprogressive

Recent Comments

  • blueeyes on Beware the latest griftSo where to, then??
  • Christopher on Some Parting ThoughtsI've enjoyed our discussions as well (but we have yet to…
  • Christopher on Beware the latest griftI can't imagine anyone of our ilk not already on Twitter…
  • blueeyes on Beware the latest griftI will miss this site. Where are people going? Twitter?…
  • chrismatth on This site (will be disabled on) December 31, 2022I joined BMG late - 13 years ago next month and three da…
  • SomervilleTom on Geopolitics of FusionEVERY un-designed, un-built, and un-tested technology is…
  • Charley on the MTA on This site (will be disabled on) December 31, 2022That’s a great idea, and I’ll be there on Sunday. It’s a…

Archive

@bluemassgroup on Twitter

#mapoli

mainenewshound mainenewshound @mainenewshound ·
4h

šŸ“›MASSACHUSETTS
Raw video from inside Massachusetts Mall.
Holyoke Mall, Holyoke, #Massachusetts on Saturday, Jan 28, 2023
multiple news outlets reporting 'shooting,Innocent Bystander dead'
@NBC10Boston #mapoli #breaking
(video credit WinstonChen,MarlinaKu)
Saturday, Jan 28 2023

Reply on Twitter 1619573488557387776 Retweet on Twitter 1619573488557387776 Like on Twitter 1619573488557387776 Twitter 1619573488557387776
garyyu910 Gary Yu @garyyu910 ·
4h

Dozens of people gather #bostonchinatown for a candle light vigil, remembering all victims of CA’s latest mass shootings in Oakland, Half Moon Bay & Monterey Park
#California #MassShootings #Vigil #BayArea #SiliconValley #GunViolence
#boston #mapoli #BosPoli

4

Reply on Twitter 1619571697698627590 Retweet on Twitter 1619571697698627590 Like on Twitter 1619571697698627590 2 Twitter 1619571697698627590
b87fm Boston 87.7 FM @b87fm ·
5h

šŸ‘ā€šŸ—ØReal
URBAN
TalkšŸŽ™šŸ”„

Wake Up WOKE Ā» FOLLOW @NotoriousVOG In The Morning M-F 7-11a, Urban Talk, News, Politics & More šŸ“ž (617) 440-8777.

šŸ“» 87.7fm | šŸ“² http://B87fm.com/player
http://tun.in/sfxnB

#NITMā˜•
#UrbanAgenda
#BOSpoli #MApoli

Notorious VOG @NotoriousVOG

@Livinthetruth1 That sounds good. But, trust me, in a city and state where @massdems Black & white electeds practice herd endorsement simply to take the vote out of hands of #Black & #brown voters. All your comfort-food for white consumption goes out the window.

#UrbanAgenda
#BOSpoli #MApoli https://twitter.com/Livinthetruth1/status/1619545416932147201

Reply on Twitter 1619557569965481984 Retweet on Twitter 1619557569965481984 Like on Twitter 1619557569965481984 Twitter 1619557569965481984
dbernstein David S. Bernstein @dbernstein ·
5h

Very sad news in #mapoli world.

The Boston Globe @BostonGlobe

Former Cambridge mayor Alice Wolf, an advocate for refugees and LGBTQ equality, dies at 89 https://trib.al/D41o9cP

Reply on Twitter 1619551768945516544 Retweet on Twitter 1619551768945516544 Like on Twitter 1619551768945516544 3 Twitter 1619551768945516544
reveverett Rev. Laura Everett @reveverett ·
5h

Good Lord. Fatal shooting at Holyoke MA mall? #mapoli

masslivenews @masslivenews

ā€œThe victim was an innocent bystander to a confrontation between two other people,ā€ The DA’s office said. https://www.masslive.com/police-fire/2023/01/holyoke-mall-shooting-leaves-one-innocent-bystander-dead-da-says.html?utm_campaign=masslivenews&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Reply on Twitter 1619549923439185920 Retweet on Twitter 1619549923439185920 1 Like on Twitter 1619549923439185920 2 Twitter 1619549923439185920
teapartyusa1 Chris Lynch @teapartyusa1 ·
6h

Memphis police permanently disband unit tied to deadly beating of Tyre Nichols https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/memphis-police-permanently-disband-unit-tied-to-deadly-beating-of-tyre-nichols/ar-AA16QpCF #DefundingThe Division #BosPoli #MaPoli

Reply on Twitter 1619548622013739008 Retweet on Twitter 1619548622013739008 Like on Twitter 1619548622013739008 Twitter 1619548622013739008
Load More

From our sponsors




Google Calendar







Search

Archives

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter




Copyright © 2023 Owned and operated by BMG Media Empire LLC. Read the terms of use. Some rights reserved.