Food Banks – November 2013

With the holidays fast approaching, this is a good time for those with the means to donate to their local food banks, or for those in need to get assistance. In my area, the Los Angeles food banks make a little go a long way. (A few years back, I started making an annual donation about this time of year.) The Feeding America site has a useful national food bank locator.

Meanwhile, the site Scary Mommy has a good post titled "Those People" about making unkind assumptions about the people benefitting from food drives. (The site is also organizing a Thanksgiving food drive for members of their community.)

Best wishes to all those in need.

Food Banks – November 2012

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, this is a good time for those with the means to donate to their local food banks, or for those in need to get assistance. In my area, the Los Angeles food banks make a little go a long way. (A few years back, I started making an annual donation about this time of year.) The Feeding America site has a useful national food bank locator. Best wishes to all those in need.

Food Banks – November 2011

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, this is a good time for those with the means to donate to their local food banks, or for those in need to get assistance. The Los Angeles food banks make a little go a long way. The Feeding America site has a useful national food bank locator. Best wishes to all those in need.

Los Angeles City Donating to Food Banks

It's nice to hear some good news for a change. From the Los Angeles Times:

In what one official called a giant step toward "eradicating hunger" in Los Angeles, tons of surplus food from city-sponsored events would be donated to the needy each year under a new policy enacted Wednesday by the City Council.

“Today we are taking a historic step in eradicating hunger in the city of Los Angeles,” said Councilman Jose Huizar, adding that he hoped that donating surplus food would become “as common as recycling.”

Among other things, new guidelines would encourage contractors such as caterers serving city events to donate surplus fare to food banks or other assistance groups. Lawmakers are seeking to insert language in all city contracts promoting donations of surplus food.

With the economy continuing to slump, anti-hunger advocates are aggressively pushing to bolster food donations from both the private and public sectors. The need is rising sharply, advocates say, as people facing loss of jobs, homes or other setbacks join the bulging ranks of hungry food-seekers. The unemployment rate in Los Angeles County is 12.5%.

One in six people now receiving emergency food aid in Los Angeles has never received such assistance in the past, according to Councilman Huizar’s office.

Some 5 million tons of consumable food is wasted each year in California, activists say.

The Los Angeles Convention Center already has a robust food-donation effort. The Last year, according to Huizar’s office, the Convention Center shipped 7.24 tons of surplus food to aid groups.

For Los Angeles residents, the city's new site is HelpFeedLA.org. (I donated to my local food bank a few weeks ago.)

Meanwhile, the site Feeding America has a very useful food bank locator for all fifty states.

 

Food Banks - November 2010

I'm donating to my local food bank again. Local NPR show Which Way L.A.? has more on the situation out here. The Feeding America site has a useful food bank locator for anyone seeking such information. Best wishes to all those in need.

Haiti Aid

Digby has compiled an excellent set of links for anyone wanting to give aid to Haiti. The donations have been generous, and it's been good to see all the networks run coverage on this diaster, but the scope of devastation is staggering, and hard to take in. While I was driving home, I heard NPR reporter Jason Beaubien break up talking about it all.

The Red Cross' International Response Fund currently says that donations to date have allowed them to:

• Pledge $10 million to support humanitarian relief activities of the Haitian Red Cross;
• Deploy disaster response experts to Haiti to provide relief and recovery expertise;
• Send 5,000 family kits that include blankets, kitchen sets and water containers;
• Continue our global programs to prevent disease, reconnect families separated by crisis and promote respect for global humanitarian principles.

Best wishes to all.

Update: Good lord. Digby posted a link to some photos compiled by The Boston Globe. For the most graphic, you need to click a warning to see them.

I'm reminded of a NPR story years ago, after another natural disaster, on rescue dogs and their handlers. In some cases, they knew someone was trapped in a collapsed building, but it was too dangerous to go in, so although it was wrenching, they couldn't try to help. Also, as the hours and days progressed, it became rarer to find anyone alive. Some dogs are very sociable. Apparently, finding only dead bodies mades made the dogs depressed, or hurt their morale, or however one puts it for dogs. Because of this, their handlers would occasionally have a healthy person hide in a building so the dog could find him or her, to keep the dogs' spirits up.

Haiti could use all the aid and hope and spirit-raising they can get right now.

Hunger on the Rise

It's just another day in the richest country in the world:

Just one day after a federal report revealed that 1 in 7 U.S. families struggled to get enough to eat last year, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urged lawmakers to reauthorize school nutrition programs that help feed the nation's schoolchildren.

Appearing before the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee on Tuesday, Vilsack said the child nutrition programs provide an opportunity to fight child hunger. A USDA report released Monday said 49 million people experienced what the government calls "food insecurity" in 2008.

"Yesterday, the department released a report showing that in over 500,000 families with children in 2008, one or more children simply do not get enough to eat. They had to cut the size of their meals, skip meals or even go whole days without food at some time during the year," Vilsack said. "This is simply unacceptable in a nation as wealthy and developed as the United States."

In the 2010 budget, President Obama has proposed an additional $10 billion over 10 years for programs to provide meals and improve child nutrition.

It's good the government is doing something, but this state of affairs is shameful. Let's not forget this story from earlier in the month:

Nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood, and fallout from the current recession could push those numbers even higher, researchers say.

We can and should do better as a nation.

That's not going to change overnight. However, next week is Thanksgiving. If you can, consider donating some time or money to your local food bank (or doing something similar). In my area, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank claims that they distribute $5 worth of food and product for every $1 donated. A little can go a long way. Thanks.

Independence Day Food Drive (Second Refrain)

Following up my earlier plugs, here's another reminder about the Independence Day Food Drive, or "Million Can March," organized by Revphat at Les Enragés. This post gives the details, and a follow-up is attempting a can count, but the basic idea is to donate some time, money or food to a local food bank. Blue Gal added a good post at C&L that provides some other resources, including a useful food bank locator.

I donated $50 to a local food bank organization earlier this week, and likely will donate more time or money later this year. California is going to get hard hit. DDay and Digby have some harrowing stories about targeting the elderly, blind and disabled – and Arnie's stogie in the Jacuzzi. Likely, it's only going to get worse, and as usual, it won't be the scoundrels who suffer.

On a related note, there's a Blue America campaign pressuring politicians to provide a public health care option. The more pressure, the better.

If nothing else, there's writing your politicians, signing petitions and keeping these issues alive on behalf of the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free in our own country. Providing health care for everyone – and at least a meal – is a revolution worth fighting for.

(Cross-posted at Blue Herald)

Independence Day Food Drive

There's another round of teabag parties scheduled for July the 4th. Revphat at Les Enragés is organizing the "Million Can March" food drive as a conscientious alternative. The basic idea is to donate some time, money or food to a local food bank some time before Independence Day, and then blog about it. Conservative bloggers are welcome to participate as well. See the above link for more details.

(Cross-posted at Blue Herald)

Paul Newman (1925-2008)

A great actor and a greater human being has passed away. Condolences to Joanne Woodward, his daughters, and his many friends.

Here's Paul Newman's imdb page. From The Washington Post, here's his obituary, an appreciation by Stephen Hunter, a list of his 10 Oscar-nominated performances, and an article on his arrangements to continue his charities. Here's The New York Times obituary, an appraisal, a remembrance from a friend, and a short humorous piece making fun of that Fox News lawsuit against Al Franken. The Los Angeles Times has the official obituary from his publicist and a retrospective. NPR has a remembrance and links a number of older pieces, including a short anecdote about Paul Newman's "potty humor." Meanwhile, here's the pages for Newman's Own (organic food before it was fashionable) and for the original Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. Dahlia Lithwick has a lovely piece about working there (her Slate colleagues also have some good pieces linked on the same page). David Letterman had a nice, funny remembrance, and Newman's close friend Robert Redford made some remarks. I'm sure more will follow.

Newman really belonged to an earlier generation than mine, but who didn't like Paul Newman? When I was a kid, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was always on TV, and we watched it more times than I can count (William Goldman never gets tired about talking about that film). The Sting ran a decent amount, too. My dad was quite a fan of The Hustler. As I grew older, I finally got to see why everyone raved about Cool Hand Luke, and I raved about Nobody's Fool to everyone the year it came out. Newman's so good in The Road to Perdition and, well, everything, it's easy to take him for granted. There a few classic Newman films I still haven't seen, actually, but I certainly saw enough to prize how damn good he was. The Verdict is a marvel. Roy Edroso has a great short piece about two of his favorite Newman performances (that match mine, actually), and how Newman "played the trick of submerging his charm early on and letting it creep out as the character made progress." Many remembrances note his charisma and good looks, but also how he played against them. He could handle both subtlety and power, and it made for some vibrant performances.

As much as I'll always admire Newman the actor, I've really been struck for the past decade or so by his model philanthropy. Both he and Redford have built quite the legacies, and I always appreciate it when successful people give back. Newman's Own has donated a staggering 250 million to charity. Meanwhile, there are the Hole in the Wall camps, which provide an amazing camp experience for kids with serious illnesses. Unlike Dahlia Lithwick, I didn't work there, but I was privileged enough to visit the original camp twice. One of the part-time staffers at our school in Connecticut worked at the Hole in the Wall camp in the summer, and arranged for a tour of the camp for faculty and staff who were interested one Sunday morning. Tours very intentionally are limited for when the camp isn't in session to maintain the kids' privacy. But the place is extraordinary. All the staff who were present were proud and excited to work there. A new theater was being built when I visited, and that building and the dining hall had a palpable, positive energy radiating from the walls. The medical ward is designed as a large Butch and Sundance bunkhouse, and decorated with a colorful, friendly, western motif. The arts and crafts rooms have stacks and stacks of buttons, beads and other materials, mostly stored in cleaned out Newman's Own jars. The camp reminded me the most of the Eugene O'Neill Center, because they share a similar vibe – even when both places are mostly empty, there's a resonance present, perhaps from all the positive creative energy, photos, paintings and tapestries. We were told that at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, the last session of the summer was reserved for siblings of kids with illnesses, since they can get lost in the shuffle. For the kids who attend, everything's paid for. They all want to come back, which the camps try to accommodate, but they give priority to kids who haven't attended before. Newman spent a fair amount of time at the Connecticut camp. Read through all the pieces linked above, and it becomes clear that Newman was very competitive and a prankster, but also extremely modest and generous. (A book on Art Direction I own has an anecdote about a movie production dinner decades back where Newman graciously stopped by to chat with the wives of the art department and told them how important the work their husbands did was. There seem to a lot of stories like that.) Newman used his celebrity for good causes, but really enjoyed not being seen as a movie star, and clearly just loved kids. (Some celebrities volunteered at the camps and worked fairly incognito as well.) In any case, I enjoyed visiting the camp so much, I inquired about seeing it one last time before I moved (and chatted with a visiting clown about Commedia dell'arte techniques, actually). It would have been fun talking film and acting with Newman, but I think it'd be hard not to talk about the camps. Some projects are simply lasting, unqualified goods, and there's something really profound and special about the Hole in the Wall camps. One of the pieces linked above says that Newman went with a western motif partially so kids going through chemo could hide their baldness beneath cowboy hats. That's very thoughtful, but I'm not sure it was necessary after a while. Let's close with Dahlia Lithwick, who sums it up the best:

Today there are 11 camps modeled on the Hole in the Wall all around the world, and seven more in the works, including a camp in Hungary and one opening next year in the Middle East. Each summer of the four I spent at Newman's flagship Connecticut camp was a living lesson in how one man can change everything. Terrified parents would deliver their wan, weary kid at the start of the session with warnings and cautions and lists of things not to be attempted. They'd return 10 days later to find the same kid, tanned and bruisey, halfway up a tree or cannon-balling into the deep end of the pool. Their wigs or prosthetic arms—props of years spent trying to fit in—were forgotten in the duffel under the bed. Shame, stigma, fear, worry, all vaporized by a few days of being ordinary. In an era in which nearly everyone feels entitled to celebrity and fortune, Newman was always suspicious of both. He used his fame to give away his fortune, and he did that from some unspoken Zen-like conviction that neither had ever really belonged to him in the first place.

Hollywood legend holds that Paul Newman is and will always be larger-than-life, and it's true. Nominated for 10 Oscars, he won one. He was Fast Eddie, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy. And then there were Those Eyes. But anyone who ever met Paul Newman will probably tell you that he was, in life, a pretty regular-sized guy: A guy with five beautiful daughters and a wonder of a wife, and a rambling country house in Connecticut where he screened movies out in the barn. He was a guy who went out of his way to ensure that everyone else—the thousands of campers, counselors, and volunteers at his camps, the friends he involved in his charities, and the millions of Americans who bought his popcorn—could feel like they were the real star.

Tornado Aid

Blogger Monkeyfister lives in the area hit, is trying to get the word out and the donations flowing (thanks to Cernig of The Newshoggers for spreading the word).

Monkeyfister recommends:

American Red Cross
Mid-South Chapter
1400 Central Avenue
Memphis, TN 38104
901-726-1690

And:
United Way of the Mid-South phone in a donation at (901) 433-4300.

They take DIRECT donations, so you can skip all the National-level waste and delay, AND they serve nearly every community in the affected radius.

A large area was hit:


As the AP reports:

At least 55 people were killed and hundreds injured Tuesday and Wednesday by dozens of tornadoes that plowed across Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama. It was the nation's deadliest barrage of twisters in almost 23 years.

"We had a beautiful neighborhood. Now it's hell," said Bonnie Brawner, 80...

The AP's slideshow is pretty harrowing.


Here's Monkeyfister's other key post:

Whilst we're waiting for George's Promised Prayers to roll in, down here in the Tornado-Stricken Mid-South, I might recommend some DIRECT HUMAN INTERACTION...

As Scout Prime is to NOLA, I am, suddenly, to the Mid-South area (I LIVE here, and was Live-Blogging these horrible storms all night), and have started to get the help-ball rolling down here. Some of you know where I work. I started a Food Drive there today for the Mid-South United Way Food Bank.

As the area affected is so broad and detached, and everyone in the Country was distracted by politics last night, as yet, there is no central assistance hub set-up. So, at the link, above, you'll find the two agencies with the broadest radius to help the area right now. Both take DIRECT donations.

A small-blog swarm on that post (or this comment) would be greatly appreciated by more people than just me. I can't describe how wide-spread the damage is down here. It's enormous. The Media, per usual, is only just now waking up to the situation, after their Super-Duper-Let's-All-Wet-Our-Pants-Together- Tuesday Political Hangover. Like NOLA, these are REALLY poor folks down here, and have nothing, and nowhere to go.

A short post about this at YOUR Blog, linking either to my post, above, or directly to the two Orgs mentioned in the post above, would sure be a big help, and would be greatly appreciated by many people who are relying on help. They are all that we have right now.

I just donated a deer's worth of ground venison, along with the 100 pounds of rice and quart-sized ziplock bags that they said that they needed at the United Way Mid-South Food Bank, when I phoned them this morning. Their pantry is BARE, and I'll be loading them up with all the potatoes, rice, veggies, bags, and other staples that I can fit in my truck tomorrow.

This is serious Red State country, and a flood of help from the DFH Left would REALLY make a big difference in a number of good ways.

I thank you all in advance...

Your humble peer,

Monkeyfister

Thanks.



(Cross-posted at The Blue Herald)

Feed the World Through a Better Vocabulary

Via Gene Weingarten's chat today, here's a dangerous charity — or rather, a game for charity that's dangerously addictive. Free Rice poses vocabulary questions, and for each question you get right, they donate 10 grains of rice to combat world hunger through the United Nations World Food Programme. It seems to be on the level; the FAQ explains that the rice is paid for by the rotating ads for each screen.

So far, I've gotten up to vocab level 47. As Weingarten, who "got to 48, then tanked badly," says, anything above 44 is quite good. Plus, it's not hard to burn out for a stretch!

(Cross-posted at The Blue Herald)

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina’s devastation, both human and physical, is all the more harrowing with the anniversary of 9/11 right around the corner. I’m donating some money and I have some friends donating blood. They advise to go through the Red Cross website to set up an appointment versus calling as the phone lines have been swamped. Also, one of my brothers forwarded the following list of charities. I fear the aftermath of this one will be felt for a long time, but the more help, the quicker the recovery.