Good morning! I will be traveling next Monday, so there will be no letter next week. Mike is having his [mumble-mumble-eth] high school reunion, and I have bravely promised to go with him :-)
I'm going to do something different from the usual today. I'm going to rant. I was extremely angered by a meme that I saw making the rounds last week, and it was just too insulting to ignore. Lots of things online these days are insulting and irritating, but this one was actually in our wheelhouse here at Stone Soup Kitchen, so I felt I had to respond.
Here is the offending meme, with my photoshopped red letters over it:
Here is why this post is wrong:
1 Overwhelmingly, most of the people who come to us for food assistance are working. They may not have what we would all consider to be a "good" job, but they are working to their capacity. If there is anyone who is "dependent on handouts," like the meme suggests, it would be the companies that are not paying them a living wage. We are actually subsidizing corporations, both through SNAP and through programs like Stone Soup Kitchen. That makes me angry, but we simply can't stop our programs until the world changes.
2 Most of the people who come to us for food assistance who are not working are elderly, disabled, or otherwise incapable of doing so. We judge them at our own peril. But for the grace of G-d, it could have been us. If they have a nice car, do we think they should turn in a perfectly good paid off model for a less expensive beater? If they have their nails done, do we know that they didn't do it themselves or have a friend do it? Do we think that paying for a tattoo or a nice manicure when they had the funds for it is now preventing them from being able to afford an apartment or food?
3 The very few who come to us for food assistance who are not working but could be (and believe me, we know who they are), are such a small number that I can list them all on one hand. We serve about 200 people, and fewer than 2% of them are doing what you might call taking advantage. So what? Is it hurting anyone that they are coming for food assistance that they might not "need"? Stone Soup Kitchen doesn't mind, because these are often people who need help from us in different ways: friendship, community, a sense of purpose. Now, if we mind our TAX dollars being used this way, read #4.
4 If we don't feel that taxpayer money should be used for food assistance, then where will it come from for people who cannot make ends meet for the various reasons we've listed? There is not enough church attendance or good-hearted donors in most towns to take care of the need without a higher level organization overseeing it. Maybe we need to be lobbying our lawmakers to get those regulations and taxes back onto businesses that they removed decades ago, believing that corporations would "do the right thing" for their workers? Maybe the entire system of taxation and public support needs to be overhauled? We all have our personal political beliefs, but Stone Soup Kitchen is not a political organization. I know that many of us differ on how exactly we believe these social problems should be solved, but I think we can all agree that there are an unconscionable number of people who need assistance in our country. At SSK, we will continue to apply the bandaids, and each of us will privately vote and lobby until the world changes.
I truly hope that even people who believe this meme is true never have to find out the hard way and use a food pantry, apply for SNAP, or wonder where their next meal is coming from. It's not a fun place to be.
A little more education about the kind of people who come to food pantries and collect SNAP:
https://substack.com/@michaeljensen/note/c-311300840
What's coming this October, thanks to last year's "One Big Beautiful Bill" (H.R. 1):
https://abcnews.com/amp/US/millions-dropped-fromsnapfood-assistance-funding-faces-september-uncertainty/story
The average SNAP benefit per household per month in the US: from $332 to $351
I'm not asking for anything in particular this week. I love you all, and I pray that each of you finds a way to be engaged in the issues you care about.
I'm going to do something different from the usual today. I'm going to rant. I was extremely angered by a meme that I saw making the rounds last week, and it was just too insulting to ignore. Lots of things online these days are insulting and irritating, but this one was actually in our wheelhouse here at Stone Soup Kitchen, so I felt I had to respond.
Here is the offending meme, with my photoshopped red letters over it:
Here is why this post is wrong:
1 Overwhelmingly, most of the people who come to us for food assistance are working. They may not have what we would all consider to be a "good" job, but they are working to their capacity. If there is anyone who is "dependent on handouts," like the meme suggests, it would be the companies that are not paying them a living wage. We are actually subsidizing corporations, both through SNAP and through programs like Stone Soup Kitchen. That makes me angry, but we simply can't stop our programs until the world changes.
2 Most of the people who come to us for food assistance who are not working are elderly, disabled, or otherwise incapable of doing so. We judge them at our own peril. But for the grace of G-d, it could have been us. If they have a nice car, do we think they should turn in a perfectly good paid off model for a less expensive beater? If they have their nails done, do we know that they didn't do it themselves or have a friend do it? Do we think that paying for a tattoo or a nice manicure when they had the funds for it is now preventing them from being able to afford an apartment or food?
3 The very few who come to us for food assistance who are not working but could be (and believe me, we know who they are), are such a small number that I can list them all on one hand. We serve about 200 people, and fewer than 2% of them are doing what you might call taking advantage. So what? Is it hurting anyone that they are coming for food assistance that they might not "need"? Stone Soup Kitchen doesn't mind, because these are often people who need help from us in different ways: friendship, community, a sense of purpose. Now, if we mind our TAX dollars being used this way, read #4.
4 If we don't feel that taxpayer money should be used for food assistance, then where will it come from for people who cannot make ends meet for the various reasons we've listed? There is not enough church attendance or good-hearted donors in most towns to take care of the need without a higher level organization overseeing it. Maybe we need to be lobbying our lawmakers to get those regulations and taxes back onto businesses that they removed decades ago, believing that corporations would "do the right thing" for their workers? Maybe the entire system of taxation and public support needs to be overhauled? We all have our personal political beliefs, but Stone Soup Kitchen is not a political organization. I know that many of us differ on how exactly we believe these social problems should be solved, but I think we can all agree that there are an unconscionable number of people who need assistance in our country. At SSK, we will continue to apply the bandaids, and each of us will privately vote and lobby until the world changes.
I truly hope that even people who believe this meme is true never have to find out the hard way and use a food pantry, apply for SNAP, or wonder where their next meal is coming from. It's not a fun place to be.
A little more education about the kind of people who come to food pantries and collect SNAP:
https://substack.com/@michaeljensen/note/c-311300840
What's coming this October, thanks to last year's "One Big Beautiful Bill" (H.R. 1):
https://abcnews.com/amp/US/millions-dropped-fromsnapfood-assistance-funding-faces-september-uncertainty/story
The average SNAP benefit per household per month in the US: from $332 to $351
I'm not asking for anything in particular this week. I love you all, and I pray that each of you finds a way to be engaged in the issues you care about.
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