Saturday, January 3, 2009

The Food Bank Needs a Bail-out

Judging from the Yahoo groups online Wish List put out periodically by the Homeless Youth Services shelter where I drop off donations, the New York Food Bank must be approaching bankruptcy. First they eliminated eggs, then fruit, then milk. And judging from the current Wish List, they are no long supplying any protein, and even such stand-bys as cereal, pasta, and canned tuna are scarce.

Well, the weather isn't too cold today, so I'll be making the rounds of assorted supermarkets and pharmacies to take advantage of their specials to add to the milk, eggs and tangerines I picked up yesterday. The final item on this week's Wish List reads:

We need food! The food bank and similar organizations are stretched thin, and we're feeling it. Tonight I served pasta and sauce (no cheese or meat) and tomorrow we're going to be down to beans and rice . . . bring a friend and a bag of groceries and cook dinner for the shelter or drop off some of the following items:
spaghetti
parmesan cheese
tuna
chicken
ground beef
milk
hot dogs
spices: esp. adobo, onion and garlic powder, cumin
fresh fruit esp. oranges and bananas
popcorn kernals - we have a popper
cereal
sugar

I had an exceptionally good week of business, so I'll be doubling my usual weekly expenditure on this shelter.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow, that is really a shame.

Our food bank recently up'd their marketing to gather more funds. For every $5 a person donates the food banks can generate $125 worth of food. I

Well, I am glad to hear there are wonderful citizens such as yourself. I plan on following suit soon with our local Salvation Army.