I found it irritating:
So a friend had asked me if I would help out at a local food bank the other morning. I wasn’t doing much then so I said yes.
Every Single Person who was broke enough (supposedly) to need help from the Food Bank had in their car either a $6 coffee from a large chain that rhymes with “Carbuck” or a large fountain drink. Every Single One of them.
If yer that broke that you need to beg food at the Food Bank (which gets their food from donations) then you can’t afford high dollar coffee and soft drinks.
Pick one. Broke or not.
Also, many of these folks were driving pretty nice rides as well.
I’m thinking the concept of “Poor ” is not what I thought it was.
I mentioned the expensive drinks to one of the leaders there and was told “Don’t Judge”.
But I WILL judge. I was volunteering my time to help people less well off than I am. I.E. “Poor”. These folks weren’t acting Poor, nor were they volunteering….they just wanted the free food. .
They were just taking.
Last time I volunteer for something like this.
I’m not sure I can justify any additional donations, either, to be honest.
There have been some times in my recent life I have had to use a food bank and have seen the same starflucks coffee cups and what grieves my ass is the latest $1500 buck “I” phones and the other expensive as fuck brands of cell phones and the ink on their bodies. and also the nicer cars than my 25 year old Chevy truck. and my 6 year old cheap flip phone. Another scam I have seen is I have six kids and I am poor and need food for them. You look around and out to the cars and where are these screaming little porch monkeys? You that poor you can afford a babysitter or is your dead beat shack up boyfriend at home watching them?
They’re probably out shoplifting… You know; “doing their part” for the good of the “family…”
My kid worked at a grocery store as a cashier, and couldn’t COUNT the number of times people rang up lobster and expensive cuts of meat on their EBT (food stamps) cards. A number of them actually LAUGHED at how they were gaming the system. Any time someone said anything along the lines of “I don’t care. I’m not paying for it,” my son would say “No, I AM!” The offended dindu would then complain to the manager and my son would get written up for telling the GOD’S HONEST TRUTH!
…The only way to end this is to starve the beast; a TAX REVOLUTION. If that doesn’t work, then go full HOT REVOLUTION!
starving the beast won’t work. they are deficit spending for 76% of the budget now. just like arab spring, nothing will happen until the average joe can’t feed his fam any more.
I’ve often noted the expensive cars when local news reports on the long lines at the food banks. I’ve not seen the Starbucks drink containers you speak of. They wouldn’t edit that out, would they?
and i watched them toss the beans, flour and other staples in the dumpster down the street. too lazy to cook. f ’em.
Here is another angle that burns me. The local junkies couples go, each at separate times and collect food from the food bank. They get they free food but save their dollars for the meth dealer as he only deals in cash. Those with kids make it even worse.
This coming from my late aunt who lived next door and watched the goings on. I know we have to have compassion for lesser creatures but for crying out loud, Don’t abuse the system, it just screws the ones who really need it.
I headed our church food pantry for about a year. I quit the post because it was all I could take to see so much shameless hustle from a growing number of thieves.
I call them thieves because that’s what they are. I would ‘counsel’ them that the church has a limited budget and can only do so much. That in their scam – which I know what you’re doing – they are taking food out of the mouths of the truly needy. My talk did shame a few and they stopped coming.
A couple of times I denied food to certain persons. Because they were the most egregious in their scam. I resented being put in the position of having to judge if this one or that one was truly needy.
Sending different persons from the same household at different times was a favored tactic. My response, supported by pastor and deacons, was to keep a written ledger noting how often a recipient came and itemizing their take. Creating a paper trail scared off a goodly number. The truly needy weren’t scared off.
My tactics were hard. I stopped just throwing food to whoever. We all are called to be good custodians of what we have, to be generous in charity, but not to squander. And to call out wrong. I called out a lot, especially hoping to get people into the right track.
Told this story before…..
Waiting on a Saturday morning to get into the public library here (cold March day) and there were about 15 homeless people waiting to get in. (they have to leave the shelter during the day and go to the library).
Someone asked, “What time is it?” and every one of them pulled out a smartphone better than mine to check the time……