Speaking from experience on both sides of the fence...  I've at various times worked as a food pantry/food bank volunteer and at times (like now) depended at least in part upon what food I could get from a food pantry or food bank if I could find one that serviced me - and believe it or not, that CAN be a problem.  Healthy food is the idealistic goal, ENOUGH food is the main goal, food that's still fit to call food is the primary goal.  It's DISGUSTING how much is donated to food pantries and food banks that is past the point for pig slop.  Stuff like bread with solid coats of mold, something thought once to be mashed potatoes left to become technicolor sludge (yet still given to clients), and vegetables so far rotten no one could tell what they once had been.

I don't want to help those who turn to me become overweight when they depend upon a food bank or food pantry I'm staffing because the only food we can get isn't the healthiest - but I'd rather have chips and danish than NO food.  As a client, I'd prefer fresh vegetables and a loaf of bread I can still use to the chips and danish - but those chips and danish sure beat not eating at all.

All I really ask are two things: if you're going to donate it to a food bank, make sure it's something you, yourself, would be willing to eat - which means don't donate already rotten food.  The other is that if you're going to take it from a food bank, take it home and eat it or at the very least make sure it gets to someone who will - it's really sad how much food bank food (of any type) is taken and tossed aside as close to the food bank as between the exit and the bus stop.

Ultimately though, how can the poor be faulted for eating what they can afford and/or what is given to them by groups like food banks? It's not like they really have other choices besides starvation - and that's not TRULY a choice now, is it?

please don't donate to the let them eat cake  strategy. mulit disabled homeless special diet needs impossible to get  decent healhty food almost anywhere... or $2 in mileage gets you  $1 or less in food.esp when single.  GOT sick of hearing "if your hungry enough you'll eat it" (to likely end up in ER?)DONATE ONLY WHOLE GRAIN BREADS MANY LEARN HOW TO EAT FOR LIFE THROUGH FOOD BANKS.. use white bread to feed the birds. PLEASE donate green veggies  corn beans beans beans salsahere's a nice meal. esp when can only do one per day.drain and dump beans on a plate drain cut up french beans dump on topdrained corn if ya got it small can salsa on top Trader Joe's  or other cheap cracked pepper basil oregano makes it homeless gourmet.eat alone or with  TJ truley hand made tortillas (no soy/yeast)or good quality chips. Better donating:sardines not vienna sausagewhole grains not white baked goodsgreen green green veggiessingle serving  salad dressingssalsabeans beans beanschili not beef stewsingle serving cereals  so poor aren't sending kids off in am with bags of chipspineapple cranberry papaya orange grapefruit juice or water not apple juice or soda.if you have a yard growand donate fresh veggies for salads.

Sheer arrogance! Assuming these people are ignorant or stupid just because they are poor! Assuming they need education from You! Unhealthy snacks often taste great, and used in moderation, can be a bit of a bright spot in these peoples' day. Incude these donated items and let them decide! 

"if your hungry enough you'll eat it"
That makes me sad. As a vegan, I hear something along the same lines quite often. And read once a person asking where to get vegan food if homeless, and people just responded, "If you're homeless, you shouldn't be vegan." Which is disrespectful and/or ignorant on multiple levels. I asked the group on my campus which delivers meals to the homeless to consider making meat-free meals, and they were quite receptive to the idea.

No one has the right to judge what food recipients should or shouldn't eat. It is arrogant to decide that your views on food and nutrition should be forced upon people whose need puts them in a vulnerable position. People need food, and the dignity of making their own choices, regardless of how we feel about it. It is important to deliver healthy foods, but you must let go of controlling what recipients do with it. The reward  is that you have done something positive in the world, not winning converts to your particular philosophy. Too many people get those two different things mixed up.

Do I want spoiled food or not?  Taken to its ultimate conclusion giving bad food to the poor will only kill or harm the poor.   But that will not mean more money in your pocket.

I also see both sides of the fence. I am glad when at my food bank I am given the chance to eat something new, like international coffee, stuffed potatoes. But this morning I got rotten sausage. My loved one ate hers before I found a horrible taste.

My food bank gives out toilet paper and soap. Most should do that. 

Even as good as my food bank is. Even being on a couple food banks boards, I look forward to when the hard working poor, and the disabled and welfare fsamilies can purchase their own food. With Ombama in office now IS The Time to Convince the president the a livable wage must replace the poverty level which DOES NOT take into account any basics but Food.  I am tired of waiting two hours for leftovers.  Aren't you? 

Our food bank has vegatables, half rotten, half fresh. Why should the poor be given rotten food? When if they were paid a cost of living income, they could purchase the foods they like, and are low in calores?

That's one thing I'll never get, why do they give us rotten (or half rotten food)?  I've seen people, sometimes those around the food banks, sometimes those who talk about those using the food banks and once in a while even the food bank volunteers complain because we who need food "dare" to complain about receiving rotten food.  Well of course we do, there does come a point where WE have a right to complain.  What are we supposed to do with bags of green goo that used to be vegetables, rotten meats, moldy breads, or stuff so far gone even the volunteers are having to guess what it once was?  There's really nothing we can do beyond throwing it away - as the food bank itself (or even those who donated it) should have done long before trying to foist it upon the hungry who need EDIBLE food.

Jan, stuff like TP and soap is an incredible blessing.  Going a bit off topic, one thing I will never forget is the time that I went to my local welfare office looking for help and was given the misinformation that there was no help available beyond food stamps while waiting on my SSDI application.  I asked the worker what I was supposed to do for non-food necessities and she said (and I quote) "adults don't need things like toilet paper and dish soap".  It took several more months for me to find out about GAU (the category of General Assistance for which I was qualified).  Which left me spending months dependent upon others for everything I couldn't get through food stamps and food banks.  Talk about a twisted mix of humbling and humiliating.

The food bank in my area collects non-perishables.  There is a COOL Pantry that does have some fresh food, but it doesn't stick around long enough to go bad.  I'm sure that if anything is spoiled, they would toss it.  The soup kitchens in my (old) town make meals about an hour before the food is served, so it's always fresh, and as well-balanced as any volunteer group knows to make it. They generally enforce the rule that people can't take food out, because they don't want to get blamed if someone gets sick because they didn't have a way to refrigerate or reheat it well (like fried chicken) -- and possibly get closed down by the local health department.   But I suspect they aren't so strict about that if they someone sneaking out an extra roll, fruit or dessert.

It isn't the food bank's fault if people donate junk food.  

But I'm surprised that people donate -- and that food banks accept -- things like cooked food (mashed potatoes?).

On another related topic, we used to participate in Share Food, which was a nice deal where we could buy one or more units of food every month.  That included frozen meat and fresh veggies & fruit.  Back then, it cost $14.00 plus 3 hours of volunteer work, and the non-perishable or frozen foods lasted me and my kids almost a month.  Any kind of volunteer work (signed off on a form we had to present) not only helped build community, but made us feel like we weren't getting a hand-out.  (I tended to volunteer on site, getting the units put together, which had the added benefit of not being put in a position where there might be a perception of giving someone "less fortunate" a hand-out.  We were all in it together, and the kids helped too.  Sometimes someone's volunteering was day-care for those three hours, which was great, too.)  Some groups accepted food stamps.  The food was obtained on Delivery Day from a food warehouse.  So the frozen food was still frozen when the people received it.  It was a good program.  I'm not including a link, because it seems that each area may have it's own website.  

Google for "Share Food", if interested in finding out if there's an active group in your area, or if you'd like to start one.

Why not just have it all - healthy, organic, local, cheap, and accessible?  It can definitely be done.  When I read your post I thought of this short article I read in Mother Jones a few weeks ago about an organic farm in Milwaukee:

"Allen's secret? Soil. While most organic farmers buy fertilizer, Allen makes his own with worm compost and fish waste for added nutrients. The recipient of a 2008 MacArthur genius grant, Allen, 60, believes that the key to boosting urban farms is playing not to social-justice concerns, but to bottom-line ones. "Everybody just says, 'Oh, I can't grow organic food cheaper,'" says Allen. "But we don't have to pay $10 a pound for food-I charge $2 a pound and make money. You could be a millionaire.""

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2009/03/beets-hood

I lived for a week on $3 a day, the average food stamp amount, and it was HEALTHY food if a bit monotonous and from a discount grocery store.  Whole wheat bread, day-old fruit, eggs, vegetable stew, canned salmon, oatmeal, peanut butter, salads etc.

I've spent nearly two years working on shopping lists, recipes, and menu plans that let you eat delicous, healthy for less than the food-stamp allowance and to eat using "green" ingredients for not much more. See CookforGood.com for details.

The email from Change.org that led me to this article said:
However, wholesome food is increasingly a luxury many Americans cannot afford. As the Obamas planted their garden, food prices continued to rise along with unemployment numbers, leaving many with the only option of eating the type of cheap, processed food that has contributed to America's obesity America's obesity pandemic - if they can afford anything at all.</blockquote>

Wholesome food is not a luxury and it doesn't take more time to prepare. Use what money you have to buy healthy ingredients and cook from scratch. You can make a pot of beans that serves 20 people in about 10 minutes of active time. We need to provide access to good food and the skills and equipment to prepare it to those in need.

Where to start?  When did foodbanks and food pantries become a fixture of the social assistance landscape?  Why do we not see that the disabled, the sick, mothers of young children, heads of families without work have enough money to buy food?  I live in a town with 2 universities:  Queen's University at Kingston (Ontario) and the Royal Military College which is Canada's equivalent of Sandhurst or Westpoint.  The officer-cadet's full-dress uniform is A RED SERGE JACKET with gleaming brass buttons and collar and navy blue trousers with black boots. It is very similar to the jacket of the full dress uniform of the Canadian Mountie.  Last Saturday, there was a food drive for the local food bank on (these days when is there not a food drive for the local foodbank on?) and there in front of the most expensive supermarket in Kingston were the Officer Cadets in full dress uniform collecting food for the foodbank.  Beautiful!  My question is this:  when poverty alleviation becomes a military operation isn't it time to raise the rates?  The Ontario Disability Supports Programme and Ontario Works programme need an overhaul.  The rates are at least 50% less than what anyone would need to maintain a decent life.  "The poor die more quickly than we do." bluntly stated my doctor in a newspaper article after he had signed Special Diet Allowances that gave every man, woman and child an extra $250 per month on their cheque until the Government radically changed the programme and now, no one is getting much money for food. through Special Diet Allowances.  For further information about the poverty issue in Ontario, please send me your e-mail address and I will be glad to put you on my mailing list.  The topic is hot, but the neo-con government of Dalton (let them eat cat! Qu'ils mangent de la brioche alors! We are bilingual in Ontario.)McGuinty is not yet listening.  Poverty is a health risk!  Also, for a recounting of one man's 10-year struggle against the human rights violation called "Workfare", please google "Quixote's Horse" and click on Workfare.  Enjoy! Buen appetito!    

I work out of day labor place here in Seattle...
If there is no work I hit the food banks that do bag lunches.
St Martin de Porres on Queen Anne Hill does bag lunches. A couple of sandwiches...pastry...small container of salad or pasta.
They do that five days a week so that is usually my first stop.
On Monday and Wednesday I often go to Cherry St food bank.
Bag lunch. Sandwich, Ho's Ho's-Zingers ..something like that, chips, and soda. But....the coffee is what I really go there for.
Have coffee pot at home.
Sometimes I eat lunch at the Millionair Club...the day labor place. I might also stop at the downtown food bank near Pike Place Market on 55 and older day. Sometimes that is iffy...I look for good to go stuff rather than cook stuff which tends to be pasta, potatoes, rice etc.
The Georgetown Food bank also does bag lunches. That tends to be pastries, granola bars, yogurt...misc stuff
Once in a blue moon I will do one of the church feeds.

The sugar thing. On the morning news I have heard that candy sales are way up. The morning news people are theorizing. One of them thinks it might be because candy reminds people of Happier times when they were kids. These people wake up too early and go to bed too early:)
Candy sales are up because people can get through the morning on a King size Snickers bar.
I did it when I was working for Labor Ready a long time ago.
But the Snickers bar got me through THE DAY:) 

Can't hit the food banks if out on a job.
Although we did hit the Georgetown food bank when it was at the courthouse and if we had to hang around the office all day waiting for work. Second shift work at City Ice loading trailers with  boxes of frozen fish fillets or surimi.
Guys showed up at 3 in the morning waiting for work that started at 4 in the afternoon.
Did that a few times myself.
I will wager that way over half the people working out of places like Labor Ready were either living in the shelters, in their cars, or camped out somewhere. It has been like that for years.
O Reilly said there are no homeless Vets?! I can find him a hundred in 45 minutes.
Person can work a 40 hour week and still not be able to afford housing.
Seems like I am rambling but all these things go together.


Still have roof over my head and I have a couple of people that I do work for to thank for that. As well as King County Vets, who are probably running out of money. Their funding comes from voter approved tax levy.

As it is I figure I spend anywhere from 50-75% of my income on rent.....
So the food banks are helpful even if it is sandwiches, ho ho's, and Ding Dongs...
sugar is better than starving

I guess it warms the cockles of your vet's heart to know that RMC's Officer-Cadet's are out on the first warm Saturday shilling for our local foodbank?  I still say they should put their thinking caps on --must be around here somewhere? says the Officer-Cadet C.--and realize that people who work or raise kids or are sick or can't find a job should get enough money for basic necessities that they don't need food banks except in an emergency such as their apartment flooding or going up in flames or the kid running off on a camping trip with all the food in the house.  "Welfare:  It's not enough to live on and it's not enough to die on."