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Post by Thor on Aug 19, 2011 17:42:03 GMT -5
Charity A or B or C is all well-and-good... But, IMHO, there is no better charity to give to than Feeding Programs... Including... a. national organizations b. major metro-area food banks (main donation warehouses) c. neighborhood food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and missions, and mini-foodbanks at the community level If the idea appeals to you, then, you might wish to consider... 1. donating money 2. donating goods-in-kind (food, etc.) 3. donating (volunteering) time As with any charity, you'll certainly want to research those that you're considering donating to, through such mechanisms as your local Better Business Bureau and the Chronicle of Philanthropy or similar publication... Lots of great community-level and regional and national (and even international) feeding programs to choose from... Saving an abused animal is one thing... Putting food on the table of a poor family is quite another... And, in these present, miserable times, it's more important than ever that at least some of your attention goes to helping your own fellow citizens who have fallen upon hard times, when you are in a position to help, and are looking for a worthwhile cause...  |
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Post by Thor on Aug 19, 2011 17:43:50 GMT -5
And, of course, for our Canadian and UK and Euro friends, food banking has caught on in a big way Up North and on the other side of The Pond as well...  |
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Post by Thor on Aug 19, 2011 17:49:12 GMT -5
One of my own favorite places to go looking for worthwhile local or regional agencies like that is... feedingamerica.org/...where you can find info on 200+ major metro-area food banks across the United States; all part of the Feeding America membership network (nationally monitored for standards but locally owned and operated)... And, when you find a local metro-area food bank, and jump to the website for that local food bank... Chances are good that you'll find references and websites and links and the like for scores or hundreds of neighborhood or community -level food pantries that draw at least some of their food supplies from the metro-area food bank... For anyone who might be interested in such matters, I encourage you to go do a little web-based exploring to get yourself up-to-speed on some of the basics of such operations, and to decide, afterwards, if that sort of charitable involvement appeals to you...   |
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Post by a on Aug 19, 2011 19:10:12 GMT -5
The Animal Rescue Site
1.25 million children are "in urgent need of life saving interventions."
Today we're asking you to help feed the Horn of Africa by clicking at The Hunger Site - It's FREE.
Together, we can make the world a better place.
If you would like to make your daily click to feed shelter animals, click here: shop2give.us/AidAnimals
Click For Free- Fight The Famine!
www.TheHungerSite.com
More than 12 million people are at risk of starvation in the Horn of Africa. Please wear this badge and ask your friends to click the Feed Africa Now! button. Their click will fund 1.1 cups of food for Famine Victims in the Horn of Africa.
Save A Life Today: Click For Free @ The Hunger Site!
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Post by Thor on Aug 19, 2011 19:15:17 GMT -5
A food bank or foodbank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes mostly donated food to a wide variety of agencies that in turn feed the hungry. The largest sources of food are for-profit growers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers who in the normal course of business have excess food that they cannot sell. After sorting and inventory, a food bank distributes the food to 100 to 1,000 non-profit community or government agencies, including but not limited to food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, orphanages, and schools. Standard modelWith thousands of food banks on six continents there are many different models. However there are some elements that food banks share. There is typically one food bank in a city which runs a centralized warehouse. Like a blood bank, that warehouse serves as a single collection and distribution point for food donations. A food bank operates a lot like a for-profit food distributor, but in this case it distributes food to charities not to food retailers. The largest portion of donated food comes from food leftover from the normal processes of for-profit companies. This food can come from any part of the food chain, e.g. from growers who have produced too much or whose food is not visual appealing enough, from manufacturers who overproduced, or from retailers who over-ordered. Often the product is approaching or past its "expiration", "sell by" or "best by" date. In such cases, the foodbank works with food industry and regulators to make sure the food is safe and legal to distribute and eat. Other sources of food include the general public in the form of food drives and government programs that buy and distribute excess farm products mostly to help support higher commodity prices. Food banks can also buy food either at market prices or from wholesalers and retailers at discounted prices, often at cost. The food is then distributed to food aid agencies which could be private or public, religious or secular. The type and nature of the recipient agency varies depending upon the policies of the food bank, the nature of their community, and the laws of where they operate. Food banks operate on six continents in every region of the world. [edit] HistoryThe world's first food bank was the St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance in Arizona, begun in 1967. In 1965 John van Hengel while volunteering for a community dining room learned that grocery stores disposed of food that had damaged packaging or was near expiration. He started collecting that food for the dining room but soon had too much for that one program. He thought of creating a central location from which any agency can receive donations. With the help of St. Mary's Basilica, the first food bank was born.[1] Food banks quickly spread across the United States. By 1976, the precursor to Feeding America was established. Foodbanking has since spread around the world.[2] See alsoAg Against Hunger BALMEVG Canstruction Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act Feeding America Food Not Bombs Food Salvage Food Stamp Program Gleaners Good Shepherd Food Bank National Association of Letter Carriers#Annual food drive Northwest Harvest Hopelink References1.^ History of St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance 2.^ The Global Foodbanking Network [edit] External linksHunger relief at the Open Directory Project Behind The News Report on Food Banks en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_bank |
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Post by Thor on Aug 20, 2011 9:51:41 GMT -5
And, for anyone who goes on to explore the genre... As you explore what food banks are all about... (the big metro-area types, anyway)... You'll encounter s program called Kid's Cafe... A nationwide initiative of "Feeding America"... Rolled-out at many if its member food banks, nationwide... It's a Direct Feeding program for disadvantaged kids... Rather than just acquiring and redistributing food supplies for neighborhood -level mini food banks and pantries and soup kitchens... Many food banks try to operate one or more feeding programs of their own, as well... It allows these large-scale food banking operations to keep in touch with their ultimate clientele rather than just being a big impersonal warehouse from which other charitable operations draw much of their foodstuffs... In some locales, and in many instances, these Kids Cafes are directly operated by the food bank, in some cases, on the premises, but mostly on the premises of community-level member agencies... In some locales and instances, these Kids Cafes are operated as a partnership between a food bank and/or local or regional corporate sponsors... Regardless of h-o-w they're configured, however, the end result is the same...  Disadvantaged and low-income kids are getting one or more square (healthy, balanced, high-energy) meals per day, in a clean, safe, caring environment that they may not always enjoy elsewhere... |
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Post by Thor on Aug 20, 2011 10:40:49 GMT -5
Is anybody puzzled, like me, why the people in the richest country on the planet are reliant on handouts in 2011? ===================== I'm sure that the List of Contributing Answers is a long one. And, I'm also sure that some of the Items on that List have been ON the List for a great many decades. My own amateur-caliber advocacy for such charitable operations stems more from a desire to address the immediate needs of the poor and troubled in our midst than anything else. It's true that "giving a man a fish" does not teach him to be a fisherman, but it's usually best to give a man to fish in order to stave-off hunger while he is learning to fish. These types of hunger-relief programs, when coupled with a focus upon education and job-training and other societal relief programming, can go a long way towards giving a family - or a child - a fighting chance to enter (or reenter) the mainstream. And, in a charitable operation like food banking, we're looking at efficiencies and economies-of-scale that make both donors and volunteers feel better assured that their contributions are being used more effectively than in many other types of programming. |
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Post by a on Aug 20, 2011 12:03:40 GMT -5
Not puzzling considering the fact that we live in a plutocratic oligarchy, much the same as every other country on the planet. Be they democracies, theocracies or monarchies...
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Post by Flying Horse on Aug 20, 2011 13:47:27 GMT -5
It has become a well-known fact that the rich in this country is getting richer while the poor are growing and the middle class is shrinking. There are over 15,000,000 children living in poverty and if by clicking on the various charities on Animal Rescue/Save the Cats can help, then do it. This doesn't mean that you can't make a contribution to your local food bank too.
If I, a 74-year-old living on her pension and social security can make regular contributions to her local food bank, you should be able to do so to.
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Post by a on Aug 20, 2011 14:28:52 GMT -5
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Post by Thor on Aug 22, 2011 21:05:55 GMT -5
The Obamas, volunteering their time at a Washington D.C. soup kitchen, affiliated with the local food bank...   |
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Post by Thor on Aug 23, 2011 9:21:15 GMT -5
Even Bubba gets involved ...  |
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Post by Thor on Aug 23, 2011 11:41:30 GMT -5
Food banks (and their community-level partner agencies) help to provide some measure of food security for homeless families across the country...  ...and, of course, in extremely tough economic times such as those we find ourselves in now... The number of homeless - both individuals and families and family-fragments, begins to rise again... Homelessness - and "food insecurity" - impacts a great many of our fellow citizens... Those numbers cut across all regional and ethnic and racial and religious boundaries... Feeding programs are only part of the answer, of course, but they're an important part... A 'first-responder' type of effort which - coupled with other types of social service programming - helps to put folks back on the road to health and safety and well-being... It's tough enough to be a kid, living by bouncing from shelter to shelter, or bridge to bridge... It's doubly-tough to be a homeless kid who is also going hungry most days of the week... Food banks and feeding programs can't fix it all... But they provide nourishment and hope and a starting point for referrals for other services... |
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Post by lance on Aug 23, 2011 11:58:39 GMT -5
Charity should start at home, Thors....gawd only knows how many unfortunate folks there are out there is these turbulent economic times, but wherever you can be of service to the needy and suffering, go for it. Many years ago I sponsored a young boy in Honduras for over 15 years, and all for a paltry sum of $6.- a month. One of the best things I ever did.
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Post by Thor on Aug 23, 2011 21:11:38 GMT -5
Charity should start at home, Thors....gawd only knows how many unfortunate folks there are out there is these turbulent economic times, but wherever you can be of service to the needy and suffering, go for it. Many years ago I sponsored a young boy in Honduras for over 15 years, and all for a paltry sum of $6.- a month. One of the best things I ever did. ======================================== I hear ya. Lord knows there are a very great many people worldwide- including children - facing food shortages and even downright starvation. Trouble is, there are a lot of folks in our own country who fall through the cracks in the safety net every day - a good many of them children. This (supporting food banking and related local feeding programs) is one of the coolest ways that I know to help make a dent in the herculean task of taking care of our own. |
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Post by Thor on Aug 23, 2011 21:16:04 GMT -5
Every year, the National Letter Carriers Association conduct a nationwide food drive (usually in May, as I recall) in which folks can donate boxed and canned and freeze-dried foods by putting them in their residential mail boxes and letting the postal folk pick up the goods and transport them back to local post offices, for hand-off to the local or regional food bank...  |
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Post by Thor on Aug 25, 2011 9:04:18 GMT -5
The New Jersey food bank... Notice the half-empty shelves - during difficult economic times, both large-scale and smaller-scale in-kind donations of food begin to nose-dive...  Another shot of food bank warehouse workers or volunteers...  What neighborhood food pantries do with the bulk goods that they receive from their regional food banks...  The back door for a truck operated by the New Jersey food bank, noting some of their sponsors and donors (including The Boss, Bruce Springsteen)...  A shot of a truck operated by the Food Bank, on the street. Notice the refrigeration equipment mounted on the front of the cargo section - allowing the truck to pick up perishables from some of their in-kind donors...  One of the unseen, unsung warehouse workers at a foodbank, operating a pallett-lifter type of forklift... There are a great many hungry and needy amongst us; including neighbors on our own streets or in our own housing subdivisions, in many instances... Food banks cannot hope to keep up with the demand, but professional-caliber operations, adhering to best practices, and keeping their overhead down, put a good-sized dent in the need...  |
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Post by Thor on Aug 26, 2011 11:00:11 GMT -5
We all hope that Hurricane Irene will not impact the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. too badly.
If it does, however, and you care to look, observe the response of large-scale food bank warehouses in the Carolinas and Virginia and the like.
You will find the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army and such, setting up tent-cities and shelters and feeding locations.
And you will find those regional food banks supplying much of the food and drink-ables being served in those places.
And receiving and or coordinating massive donations of food nationwide, from the food manufacturing and food processing and food distribution and food retailing industry segments.
Even FEMA and the National Guard will draw-down on food bank inventories in order to provide foodstuffs for the displaced during such emergencies.
Food banks are more integral to Disaster Response in America than most folks are aware.
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Post by Thor on Aug 26, 2011 11:12:52 GMT -5
American Red Cross feeding center in Florida, following Hurricane Ivan, in 2004...  |
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Post by Thor on Aug 26, 2011 11:15:13 GMT -5
The American Red Cross operating a mobile feeding center in Louisiana, after Hurricane Katrina...  |
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Crap, the Name Escapes Me 
