(This post is posted public so that anyone can see it or share it, as needed.)So, a friend asked me to sum up my experience with using the local food bank
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I've been to a couple of food banks in my area (and also availed myself of hot food in the weeks just after Superstorm Sandy, when I had no stove or refrigerator, and no electricity for small appliances). It seems to be very random - some food pantries (often the local church ones) are run by well-meaning but clueless volunteers and stocked via "food drives", which results in a hodgepodge of leftovers like what you got. Others (like the one run by the county, here) get a lot of their food from commercial sources, as described by mama_hogswatch, and you'll see cases of no-brand canned goods and packaged mac&cheese, and items like rice, dried beans, flour, pasta, and powdered milk. Perishables are highly variable, though. And in general, anybody who has special nutritional needs (food allergies, gluten-free, sugar-free, low-fat, low-carb, high-protein, etc. - not to mention kosher, halal, vegetarian, or vegan!) is pretty well screwed :-(
It helps a lot if at least one member of the household knows something about basic nutrition, and is good at improvisational cooking.
Yes, we had SNAP for part of the year, then the state dhhr failed to send us a form to fill out to agree to a phone interview that they then scheduled and, without telling us, cancelled.. because we hadn't sent back the first form that they didn't send us to fill out. I've got the paperwork for a re-app for it sitting around, but I need to get the case number for the paperwork.. and I have been waiting over a month for someone to return my calls. (Frustrating.) Hopefully, sometime soon, I can either get a call back, or I can get in to the office in person -once we can afford the gas- and get that last detail that I need. I hate red tape.
Yeah, SNAP is funded, though WIC isn't. There is a reduction in SNAP coming up, next month, though - the 2009 Recovery Act isn't likely to get extended between now and then, as it would require an act of congress to do so. (Also, since the current GOP loves to kick the poor in the gut, and it's so easy for them, this time..)
The state DHHR offices have been saying that they are extremely understaffed for the last year, so that is probably part of it (still doesn't excuse them for this long, though.)
I wish there were some way to make all those obstructionist Republicans in Congress spend a year trying to survive solely on what they can get from various forms of public assistance, beginning with the process of getting it: filling out incomprehensible forms, trying to replace their required personal paperwork that was destroyed in a disaster, having to borrow bus fare to get to the agency office, getting shuffled from one line to another for hours, being treated as sub-human scum by low-level bureaucrats, finding out that the paperwork somehow got screwed up and they have to start all over, waiting weeks to months before the assistance finally shows up (if it shows up at all), discovering that it's about a third of what they need, needing life-saving surgery and applying for Medicaid, only to be told that they "make too much money" to qualify...
This thing with missing paperwork on appointments and such seems to be the thing now with any kind of aid. Both my older daughters had phone appointments they didn't know about, but got the paperwork they were dropped just fine.
Meanwhile, I'm counting myself lucky my son wasn't taken off SSI when they scheduled an in person appointment I couldn't make. Called, told them, they said someone would do a phone interview. Four months later, nothing.
It helps a lot if at least one member of the household knows something about basic nutrition, and is good at improvisational cooking.
P.S. - Have you applied for food stamps?
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Meanwhile, I'm counting myself lucky my son wasn't taken off SSI when they scheduled an in person appointment I couldn't make. Called, told them, they said someone would do a phone interview. Four months later, nothing.
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