Tea party? Bring food
Carpenters District Council keeps a food pantry for unemployed members at its headquarters. Christian Gooden|Post-Dispatch
Perhaps as many as a thousand St. Louisans gathered at the Arch grounds last Friday Saturday to stage a “tea party,” protesting President Barack Obama’s extraordinary stimulus expenditures and his proposals to dramatically reorder and expand the federal budget.
If they want to dump tea into the Mississippi River, that’s certainly their right. Much worse stuff gets dumped into it every day; some of the stimulus money may go to clean-water programs that will help that.
But a far better use for that tea would be to give it to a food pantry, along with maybe a can of beef stew or a jar of apple sauce. A box of pudding or maybe some muffin mix. Peanut butter and jelly. Think oatmeal and a fruit juice. Or cash for meat, bread, fruit and vegetables.
Nearly 1 million Missourians (half of them children) are struggling to put together basic meals. That’s because a breadwinner has been laid off or hit with a pay cut, or a member of the household has suffered a serious illness or experienced some other financial setback. Suddenly they become eligible for federal nutritional assistance.
A staggering one of every six Missourians now needs that help.
Federal aid mainly comes through the Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — or SNAP — the new name for the old food stamps program. Of the $787 billion in new federal stimulus spending, about $20 billion will be devoted to increased SNAP benefits. Missouri is receiving more than $500 million of it.
SNAP money can be used only to buy food. No group benefits more than kids.
What’s more, no form of federal expenditure has been rated higher for its stimulative effect on the economy. Each dollar in nutrition aid generates $1.73 in economic “demand” — compared to 29 cents for each dollar needed to make President George W. Bush’s tax cuts permanent.
Food stamps alone can’t keep people from going hungry. Food pantries help fill the gaps. The growing need can spark a better understanding of how broadly and deeply the effects of the current recession already are being felt in this community.
Glenn Koenen, executive director of Circle of Concern, one of the region’s largest food aid nonprofits, says federal nutrition programs and private food pantries typically are thought of as services for the chronically poor from the inner city. No longer.
Circle of Concern serves the Parkway, Rockwood and Valley Park school districts, all of which have experienced an explosion in the number of families needing government food assistance, Mr. Koenen says. Five to seven new families a day are visiting Circle of Concern, he says.
Mr. Koenen cited as an example a middle-class married couple that came for groceries. One was working reduced hours at an auto plant, the other had been laid off by a national mortgage lender. These families are finding it difficult to connect with state aid, he says. Telephone calls to family support service centers increasingly are met with busy signals and filled voice mail boxes. Office hours in St. Louis County are kept only are on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. There are no evening or weekend hours to accommodate working people.
Mr. Koenen worries that “people will grow so fearful of their own situation that they will stop helping others, even though they can.”
People will feel better when they get in the habit of giving. Mr. Koenen predicts we can get past this “deep, nasty” recession if everyone in the St. Louis area made arrangements to donate one meal a month to a local food pantry.
One meal a month. That’s all. Throw in some tea if you want and call it a protest. Just give.
What’s so weird about these tea parties is that for one thing, it’s a peaceful kind of protest, if you can call it that. However, in my opinion, it doesn’t really do anything but waste time and effort that could be given to give actual HELP to those who NEED it. Why not spend the funds for tea on something more worthwhile like those you’ve mentioned? Food banks and whatever else that can give to the less fortunate…
The “rich” are some of the most generous around when it comes to charities. Why then did the President feel that the deductibility of charitable giving should be limited in his latest budget proposal? Seems that the party that wants to help is actually hurting the cause.
“Mr. Koenen cited as an example a middle-class married couple that came for groceries. One was working reduced hours at an auto plant, the other had been laid off by a national mortgage lender.”
Food pantries serve a genuine need in our communities but they are also a source of something for nothing and that has great appeal for many people. It has been recommended that people save for 6 months of normal expenses during times of unemployment. Are those who do supposed to feel a need to share it with those who don’t?
If a working couple, a laid off mortgage lending employer an auto worker, even at reduced hours, (what about unemployment compensation, sub-pay and the jobs bank?) needs a food pantry, it’s because too much of their money went for a home priced above their means, boats, motor homes, possibly controlled substances and other symbols of conspicuous consumption. You didn’t mention the length of time between their misfortunes and the trip to the food pantry and because of the omission, I suspect it was within days.
It would be wise for Post-Dispatch employees to map out their routes to food pantries because fawning and truckling to liberal whack jobs is not exactly a secure occupation.
What a waste of good tea! Maybe if they throw the names of the 435 members of congress in the river it would truly send a message.
These men and women are the aliens in our country that need to be expelled.
This would be the ultimate tea party, the procession of the thieves leaving Washington. We then could start over. First item No lawyers allowed holding office on a state or federal level. The War on drugs stops.
No person can own more than one radio station; no more than one person can own more than one TV station. No more than one person can own a newspaper/magazine. Max amount you can stay in office on the federal level 2 terms for congress, two terms for Senator. On state level, Governors two terms state representives as well as senator two terms. Only one owner per Bank.
All election is to take place within one week of when federal and state taxes are due. If we start with these few changes, life would be lots simpler.
Why haven’t we seen this call when there are other protests, just when conservatives protest. Perhaps the money spent making signs for every other protest could also have been spent at the local food pantry. Instead of Sandwich boards, Bring Sandwiches. Theres an old editorial I dont recall seeing. I would venture a guess as to why we have not seen it becuase it tries to zing conservatives and cold-hearted. Since that is more in line with the agenda of the editorial board.
Growing up I was a Boy Scout. Every year I would participate in Scouting for Food to help to local food pantries. My temple would also serve a huge Thanksgiving dinner to 500 plus people that I and my family would volunteer for. To this day I still grab the extra $1, $2, $5 tabs at my grocery store to donate money to food pantries.
AJ also makes a nice point, The fact that Barack Obama is calling to reduce the deductibility of charitible giving in his latest budget is a far bigger concern than the little amount of tea thrown into the Mississippi. My 100 packets of tea cost me $2. $1 for the tea and $1 for the food shelters.
Thank you for the lecture but perhaps it would be nice to know if the editorial board already practices what it preaches.
Hey PD Editorial Nuts,
Where was this editorial during the Iraq war protests? Those were much more useless than the Tea Party. Couldn’t you have suggested those clowns that hate President Bush (I guess that includes you guys), to be more productive with their time by helping others instead of hating Bush? Guess that kind of editorial is saved for a cause you disagree with, right?
Amazing that the Post is going to judge these people because they expressed their opinion. Give me a break! If they were protesting the rare, gray eyed pip-a-squeak canary, it’d be front page news with no mention of the food pantries.
(I give monthly to the food drive at church, I donate old clothes and books to the pick-up charities so I’m not a scrooge in case you want to judge me!)
I am doing quite well, and damn well will not be donating anything to anybody. No I won’t lose a job.
This total irresponsibility from Obama down to people who don’t want to work will not be rewarded by me.
Others are free to do what they want.
I find it disgusting that the Post seems incapable of making a simple point without insulting conservatives. When did Rahm starting writing for you? “Never let an opportunity to insult conservatives go unused.” Very low class given survey after survey shows conservatives are much more generous givers than liberals who only want to help the poor with someone else’s money.
If Obama gets his way and deductions for charities are cut and conservatives stop giving, the poor will suffer and it will be Obama’s fault. Although, I am sure you will blame conservatives.
Could the PD editorial board tell us if the leftovers from Obama’s inauguration parties were donated to food banks???