I was surfing around on the internet the other day when I came across this story on the MSNBC site about a food bank's donations that were found rotting in the California desert. The story goes that these items were sent to a pig farm because the food items were unusable for human consumption (industry donations of pallets full of items that were out of date, for example). What doesn't really make sense are the items like toothpaste, teeth whiteners, bottled water, etc that are sitting there as well. Apparently the pig farmer left the land, but the food bank didn't know that when they dropped off the shipment. It's just been sitting there in the hot sun, rotting and stinking. I'm really glad that there's no such thing as smell-o-vision yet.
The part of the story that really gets me thinking though, is the statement made that almost 20% of donations received at this particular food bank (and I'm guessing this would be fairly equal at similar organizations in other parts of the country) are not usable. Companies donate food when it goes beyond the date it can be sold in the grocery store - some of it still usable and some of it not. They sort it out and if it's not usable, they were passing it on to the hog farms (which makes me kind of glad I don't live near a pig farm or eat pork products anymore). Referring to a piece by Christine Ahn, the article then talks about practices of donations and whether it's really about solving a hunger problem or solving a corporate problem. Ahn proposes that the system is really about corporate tax breaks - they can donate things that would otherwise lose them money and claim a tax deduction for it. Hmmmm.
I admit that I'm almost automatically skeptical of the big corporations and institutions in general, but this seem too obvious. What is someone who is hungry going to do with teeth whiteners? I guess if they have a nice white smile when they starve to death, perhaps they have a better shot at getting their picture in the paper or on tv to raise awareness of the problem?! Come on! And according to the article, about 1/4 of the donations received are things like snack foods, cookies, soda, and coffee - not things that are nutritionally valuable. Granted, someone who is hungry may not care if they're eating cookies or vegetables, as long as they get something in their bellies, but how long can someone survive on bread and soda? Are we really helping them or just prolonging their deaths? Is this charity or torture? or both?
I claim to be a follower of Jesus, who taught that we're supposed to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, etc. but how often do we actually DO those things? How many of us feel that when we clean out our pantry shelves and donate it to the local food bank, that we're doing our part? Are we really? Does this system really do what we think it does - what we want it to? Or is it another way for big companies to help their bottom lines?
2 comments:
Oh Mandy, I'll apologize now, because I just finished a rampage on National Healthcare so I'm worked up on this. I absolutely understand where you are coming from, but the gists of my feelings are no one is entitled to anything. Wherever the processes that goes beyond that is charity or Christianity or some other higher, enlightened human emotion, but we aren't entitled to food, shelter, toothpaste, healthcare, education- nothing. We aren't entitled to anything. Jesus taught us to take care of each other, but he didn't teach us to expect to be taken care of.
The whole criticizing charities drives me nuts- not that we shouldn't point out inefficiencies, but we apply a whole different set of rules to charities that can be very unfair and counter-productive. I remember after 911 there was a big to do about money given to the Red Cross going to buy new computers. Everyone was upset because they wanted their money to help the victims. No one would expect a billion dollar company to run on outdated, crappy computers. Yet all hell breaks loose when a charity that has a billion dollars rush in at once needs to upgrade their system. How do we expect people to serve if we don't help with the infrastructure to do that? Should someone give up a six figure salary to work at non-profit because even though the level of skill required is equivalent to that in Fortune 500 companies, we expect then to make $100,000 less cause they are working for a 'non-profit'?
Do you know why there is public education? It's because the mine operators in middle age France couldn't keep their workers. The workers were loose cannons. They weren't motivated by possessions or wealth- they were nomads and hence not motivatable. So the mine owners decided to start education for the children so they would desire more in life. Hence, they would want things the company store had to sell, become indebted to the mine companies and be a dependable source of labor. Think about it. Every civilized society has a public education system. It's a requirement for survival of that society by creating a desire for higher status, and hence productivity.
I agree there isn't enough charity. But to be honest I don't care if charity comes from intrinsically needing to help our fellow wo/men or because someone is looking for a tax break. Who can we say will help society more than the billions left to charity by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet? I don't care if a company gets a tax break for donating bread and chips. Maybe the chips aren't helpful, but the bread is and as long as I can hand it out to a mother and her son at the food pantry I don't really care where it came from or what the motive behind it was. The more people give, the more they will give that is of use.
My belief, the more we are grateful for, the more will come our way. The more we demand, the less we have. I'd be nice if everyone felt the need to do better, but we just aren't past bribing and selling them on 'what's in it for?' so taking it how it comes is necessary. As for the toothpaste- I don't care if it's whitening or not, systemic disease from poor dental hygiene is a big problem and there are a lot of places in the US- such as Appalachia that could really use toothpaste..... and again, my apologizes, I'm a little sore on this issue right now.
Oh Mandy, I'll apologize now, because I just finished a rampage on National Healthcare so I'm worked up on this. I absolutely understand where you are coming from, but the gist of my feelings are no one is entitled to anything. Wherever the processis that goes beyond that is charity or Christianity or some other higher, enlightened human emotion, but we aren't entitled to food, shelter, toothpaste, healthcare, education- nothing. We aren't entitled to anything. Jesus taught us to take care of each other, but he didn't teach us to expect to be taken care of.
The whole criticising charities drives me nuts- not that we shouldn't point out inefficiencies, but we apply a whole different set of rules to charities that can be very unfair and counter-productive. I remember after 911 there was a big to do about money given to the Red Cross going to buy new computers. Everyone was upset because they wanted their money to help the victims. No one would expect a billion dollar company to run on outdated, crappy computers. Yet all hell breaks loose when a charity that has a billion dollars rush in at once needs to upgrade their system. How do we expect people to serve if we don't help with the infrastructure to do that? Should someone give up a six figure salary to work at non-profit because even though the level of skill required is equivalent to that in Fortune 500 companies, we expect then to make $100,000 less cause they are working for a 'non-profit'?
Do you know why there is public education? It's because the mine operators in middle age France couldn't keep their workers. The workers were loose cannons. They weren't motivated by possessions or wealth- they were nomads and hence not motivatable. So the mine owners decided to start education for the children so they would desire more in life. Hence, they would want things the company store had to sell, become indebted to the mine companies and be a dependable source of labor. Think about it. Every civilized society has a public education system. It's a requirement for survival of that society by creating a desire for higher status, and hence productivity.
I agree there isn't enough charity. But to be honest I don't care if charity comes from intrinsically needing to help our fellow wo/men or because someone is looking for a tax break. Who can we say will help society more than the billions left to charity by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet? I don't care if a company gets a tax break for donating bread and chips. Maybe the chips aren't helpful, but the bread is and as long as I can hand it out to a mother and her son at the food pantry I don't really care where it came from or what the motive behind it was. The more people give, the more they will give that is of use.
My belief, the more we are grateful for, the more will come our way. The more we demand, the less we have. I'd be nice if everyone felt the need to do better, but we just aren't pass bribing and selling them on 'what's in it for?' so taking it how it comes is necessary. As for the toothpaste. I don't care if it's whitening or not, systemic disease from poor dental hygene is a big problem and there are a lot of places in the US- such as Appalachia, that could really use toothpaste..... and again, my apologizes, I'm a little sore on this issue right now.
Opps. sorry- that wasn't really worth saying twice :)) I had happy fingers.
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