Help With Food

Since the last party, I have given out quite a bit of food. People have helped out with bringing food and that's great, in fact, God bless every person that has done so!
A couple of times in the last month, I have advertised on Craigslist "Food" heading and then inside of the ad I commit to giving one family $40 worth of food. The "winning" family only need send a list of what they think they would like to receive and I go to Fry's and buy it up. Usually, the lists are full of requests for meat.

The sad truth is, many of these families are people who have had 2 - great - incomes and are now faced with NO-ONE in the house working because of layoffs. The desperate tones I read again and again are heart-wrenching. Unemployment benefits only go so far. Even food stamps are usually insufficient to get people through an entire month, more like less than half a month. I've received emails from people who are going to church food handouts and going to the food banks. The problem with most of this is the fact that a lot of it is lacking in the meat department.

This week, Fry's is having a sale on meats that is pretty outstanding. 77 cents per pound chicken drumsticks. 97 cents per pound assorted pork loin chops. $1.88 per pound super lean ground beef - that's a GREAT deal for 93% lean beef.

I was there today, they had milk on sale - GALLON containers for 99 cents! Also had shredded and bar cheese for a buck a package. What am I encouraging you, those that can do something, to do? Yes. Go to Fry's, but $20 worth of food, get on Craigslist, say what you have. I guarantee you you will have more emails than you can deal with. Many of the people include the story of how they got to where they are at, and folks, it ISN'T pretty. You can make a 20 dollar bill go pretty far at Fry's right now.

And/or, I will unabashedly ask for money to buy food for those people. I could copy and paste dozens and dozens of emails just from the ad I ran the other day. I don't want to do that because I had to reveal a person's privacy, so I won't. BTW, many of these people are families with children. I can only do so much - my finances are as limited as anyone else's - but I do what I can. If you want to help out, I am going to give out a rather unique email address I have that I hardly use: trooperrat@aol.com - if you want to help me help others, simply email me at that address and I will give you my paypal account ID.

I have no problem asking the folks that have to give if they want to help the folks that do not have, as I am not going to take a single penny of anything for myself, as is the case with several donations I have received thus far. If you have a problem with it, well, I can only say my conscience is clear and will stay that way because my intenions are pure, and if that hasn't come out by now after all this time, there is nothing I can say that would change a person's mind, anyway.

Let me emphasize that I am NOT condemning folks that have that don't want to give to those that don't have enough food to eat. That is purely your decision and your right. My point is that the people that are asking are NOT moochers or life-long beggars, draining the system and abusing government handouts through food stamps and housing subsidies. I don't even have a problem with housing subsidies or food stamps - it's just become quite obvious that there are people out there abusing the system. No, the people that I am getting email from are people who are hard-working Americans, have an excellent work-ethic, and simply cannot find jobs right now. I give out food and I see it in their faces and they even voice it: they have never done anything like that before and feel very uncomfortable with it, but, their need is so great, they will do what they have to to survive.

Anyway, hope you all have a great day and my the Lord bless you and yours abundantly in every way!
ben