Ohio: Layoffs keep pantries busy (30% rise in needy)

http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/1211hunger.html

DAYTON | Times are definitely tight for Michelle "Mickie" Kolsky's family: She said a family member has been selling blood plasma twice a week for gas money.

<snip>

Kolsky, her husband Ron and daughter, who has epilepsy, moved to Dayton from Darke County in October after Ron lost a job as a dumptruck driver.

He landed a part-time security job in Dayton. Then, the day before Thanksgiving, his supervisor informed him he was being laid off with all the other temps.

<snip>

Many have told her that layoffs prompted their visit.

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country.

As he prepared to "clear brush"

Don't you listen to our fearless leader, Herr Bush?

The food pantries around here have also seen a sharp increase in the number of needy. Too bad the contributions haven't seen a similar increase, but then I guess most folks are spending great gobs of cash at the mall in the name of celebrating "Christmas". If the Christ child were to be found in America today, he'd be at a homeless shelter.

BTW, are any of those hundreds of Christmas parties being held at the White House open to the thousands of poor and hungry of D.C.? I thought not.

http://www.nps.gov/elro/glossary/great-depression.htm

excerpt:

The breadth and depth of the crisis made it the Great Depression.

No one knew how best to respond to the crisis. President Hoover believed the dole would do more harm than good and that local governments and private charities should provide relief to the unemployed and homeless. By 1931, some states began to offer aid to local communities. FDR, then governor of New York, worked with Harry Hopkins and Frances Perkins to begin a direct work relief program. This helped only a very few. By 1932, only 1/4 of unemployed families received any relief. In 1932, only 1.5 percent of all government funds were spent on relief and averaged about $1.67 per citizen. Cities, which had to bear the brunt of the relief efforts, teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. By 1932, Cook County (Chicago) was firing firemen, police, and teachers (who had not been paid in 8 months). Breadlines and Hoovervilles (homeless encampments) appeared across the nation.

Those hurt the most were more stunned than angry. Many sank into despair and shame after they could not find jobs. The suicide rates increased from 14 to 17 per 100,000. Protest that did occur was local, not national: "farm holidays," neighbors of foreclosed farmers refusing to bid on farms at auction, neighbors moving evicted tenants' furniture back in, and local hunger marches.

Resistance to protest often turned violent. In 1932, four members of the Dearborn hunger march were shot and killed when 1,000 soldiers accompanied by tanks and machine guns evicted veterans living in the Bonus Army camp in Washington, D.C.

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and here's an excellent timeline:

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/Timeline.htm

I'm old enough that my own mother and father grew up in the midst of the Depression -- in Appalachia, no less. Most of America has NO idea what it's going to be like when this false economy comes crashing down around their ears.

although my father was in Chicago and my mother was in the dust bowl.

So expect no help and if you even think of uprising you'll be put in the slammer, with conditions making you long for homelessness again.

people who care more about those big sales than other people should be reminded of their past. And those twits account for far more than just the * supporters. (I'm not saying Kerry would have done nothing, I'm saying the American populace prefers to parrot the politicians they're told to vote for than think for themselves.)

Thanks to their political indolence and willful negligence, we're all about to get a rude awakening.


BTW: Who made people care for all those juicy sales? Corporate america; the same lot of filth who gave us our high price society and now say we're not financially competitive, lazy, and stupid - hence offshoring. And we know that's a load of old bull too. If we are to be globalized, how come the cost of necessities hasn't dropped to meet the needs of the wage-lowering (offshoring and the resultant devaluing of jobs here at home)?

When an article like this shows up on a lifestyle website, you have to know the problem has gotten out of control. Hunger doesn't just happen in other parts of the world. Every night, here in America, kids and adults, our fellow citizens, go to bed hungry. I know that this year, my family and I don't have money to just throw around on the holidays, but I'm posting this here so that maybe you and I -- woithout the huge bucks it will take use what resources we may have to share the Holiday spirit with those who are hyngry. Here's the article from (if you can believe it...) Epicurious.com:

Friday, December 9, 2005
The Gift of Food: Organizations Fighting Hunger
Dateline: Anywhere, Anytime

'Tis the season for giving, and we at Epicurious.com like to give sustenance and warmth to our neighbors far and wide by contributing time and money to food banks. More than 38 million Americans are living in hunger or are on the brink of hunger, and this winter the number is sure to escalate. Here are some of our favorite charitable organizations that are waging the war against hunger. We urge you to reach out and feed someone this holiday season and beyond.

America's Second Harvest: Calling itself the Nation's Food Bank Network, this organization donates food to more than 50,000 charitable agencies across the country, feeding 23 million Americans each year.
http://www.secondharvest.org /

Share Our Strength: Through innovative programs like the Great American Bake Sale and Taste of the Nation, this 21-year-old nonprofit has raised more than $180 million, which has been distributed around the country and the world for hunger relief.
http://www.strength.org /

*The Red Cross: It's been providing relief and assistance for over a century and continues to be the lead agency in times of disaster. Feeding disaster victims is just one of the many services this extraordinary organization performs around the world.
http://www.redcross.org /

UNICEF: The United Nations Children's Fund has spent decades battling childhood malnutrition throughout the world through a variety of programs.
http://www.unicef.org /

Meals on Wheels Association of America: This, the oldest and largest food relief organization in the country, feeds millions of homebound seniors around the country daily.
http://www.mowaa.org /

*The End Hunger Network: Many stars from America's entertainment community have lent their support to this group's programs and events aimed at ending childhood hunger throughout the nation.
http://www.endhunger.com /

Entire article:

http://www.epicurious.com/features/news/dailydish /


* These organizations are ones whose ideologies and political affiliations I do not always agree with, but seeing that they were included, and are helping the hungry, I will include them.

TC

in your communities every day. And donate year round, not just at the holidays. You can find food banks at the America's Second Harvest site in Totally Committed's above post. But also try to find out which nonprofits in your community are running the soup kitchens and other emergency food programs, or those dealing with low-income housing.

I work for the main hunger relief nonprofit in my county, and our donations are down significantly this year while the need is rising.

http://www.mlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-17/1134300062222070.xml&coll=9

Facing a projected $5.5 million budget deficit for next school year, Saginaw School District leaders say mid-year layoffs, additional school closures, salary freezes and health insurance plan changes are all possibilities as they look to cut costs.

Declining enrollment and state funding increases that lag behind inflation along with escalating retirement and health insurance costs are the reasons cited for the financial spiral.

The cuts for next school year are in addition to $615,000 that officials still must slash from this year's spending plan.

The reductions will "affect every aspect of the district," Superintendent Gerald D. Dawkins said Saturday during the annual Board of Education retreat.

"This is going deeper ... We've already experienced pain. This will be excruciating pain. Everybody's going to feel it."

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Thanks to our elected officials and their kowtowing to corporate cronies.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence.

and it seemed that every block had a homeless person on it...sometimes more than one.

I live in suburban DC, and there are more and more homeless here as well. It's a national disgrace.

aired a segment relative to this topic. It dealt with the fact that while charity donations had reached record levels, less money was going to the poor. A top fundraiser was interviewed and she said a lot depended on who served on the board. That while symphonies, museums and other well placed non-profit organizations with the 'correct' affiliations were doing very well, food banks, homeless shelters and other charities directly assisting the poor were not capable of tapping into the big dollars. Actually, I found it to be very interesting and informative.

I have also noticed something this year I have never observed before: local television stations are sponsoring "volunteer drives". In essence, their saying "Hey, we are short volunteers (people's time, not just money) in Southeastern Wisconsin this year. Please call if you can donate time - or money."

This current 'wonderful economy' is hitting everyone hard. I honestly believe that when people have to work two full time jobs to support themselves and their families, they don't have time left over to donate, and they sure as hell don't have the money - in most instances their one paycheck short of becoming one of those in need themselves.

Edit: Add Link

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1387620

I wonder !!!!

Could this be the lifestyle Bush was refering to, when he sez "they hate us for our lifestyle" ?

Let's face it folks, there's somethin seriously, BIGTIME, WRONG with this picture.

I mean a country of the U.S.'s resources, a country that spends more GDP on it's military then many countries earn in a year, a country that has been blessed with all the resources they could wish for, AND IT'S CITIZENS MUST DONATE THEIR BLOOD so's they can afford to put GAS IN THEIR TANKS ???????
Linning up for food handouts ??????????? Accepting heating oil from a country that they have villified, so's they can survive through winter ????

This from the country we are supposed to accept as the World leader ????????

Well folks, if that's how such a country treats it's own, I want no part of it, you're more then welcome to it all yourselves.

Starting wars with countries that can't defend themselves; torturing people around the world; the rich getting richer and flaunting it in our faces every day while people in New Orleans are dying and starving and living like rats. Then go into a department store this time of year and look at all the idiots pulling out their credit cards to buy junk made in China.

The general populace is stupid.

Welcome to the Third World....

that correlates with this one:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=114x18398

I'm sorry for your various needinesses and tragedies, but..

YOU GET WHAT YOU VOTE FOR!

I myself would agree with that sentiment. Ohio had suffered some of the worst that the Bush economy had to offer prior to 2004 and yet Bush prevailed in that state. Hard to believe don't you think? Give Ohioans the benefit of the doubt.

for those people living in democratic districts. People have waited for hours in the rain in the big cities. I am sure those rural Bush loving voters just waltzed right in. When I voted in Bush/Gore elections-I went in the morning-there was hardly anyone there, no lines at all. When I voted in Kerry/Bush election-I had to stay outside, for hours, in the rain. In the same freaking city-so, what gives?

I'm sure that new congresswoman Jean Schmidt is getting ready to solve any problems in Ohio. Just a matter of time now, and she will be jumping into action to help the hungry, the poor, the disabled, the elderly.
Right. You really do get what you vote for.

I was in Reynoldsburg, Ohio this weekend, and I have never seen so many Bush/Cheney stickers anywhere since November.

That includes my drive from Boston to Miami and back along Route 95 last year.

I even saw a black woman with a big "W" sticker on her car.

That 2% of African-Americans that approve of Bush-- do they live in Ohio? They certainly don't live in New Orleans. Although somewhere some idiot is sitting in a pile of rubble singing "Hail to the Chief" and glorying in the fact that Louisiana amended its constitution to ban gay marriage.

What does Bush need to do to make the ultra-stupid see how badly he's fucking them over?

They have bought the BushCo Republican propaganda hook line and sinker. Those people in Ohio don't realize yet that the American dream has turned into the American nightmare thanks to all the high level corruption and incompetent leadership. The joke's on them though. And what a truly bad joke it is. They bought the bullshit, now they get to choke on it. Unfortunately for us, they are dragging the rest of the country down with them. More and more I start to wonder how long the "blue" states are going to take this crap? How long before we have to seriously consider splitting off from the delusional "red" states like Ohio? :(

OH, almost 50 % of people living there didn't vote for him.
So, comments "since they vote for Bush, they deserve what they got" are really stupid, considering that almost half of people in OH did not vote for him.

With Diebold or companies like this counting votes, how can we even be sure that majority actually voted for Bush?

I never said I was glad about anything - I was just stating a fact. MANY people in Ohio DID vote for Bush. Now the bullshit is coming back to haunt them - as well as the rest of us. Sorry if that did not come across as clear, but I thought I was pretty straight forward about it. Also, I was replying to post #24 by IanDB1, not the original post.

It's seems posters like you need to be educated every single day.

Only a slim majority of Ohio's residents voted for Bush; your post is lame and ridiculous. Even in places like Alabama and Texas, there's still MILLIONS of people who voted Kerry, not Bush. There is no "us against them" - except in your own mind.

I was replying to IanDB1's post, but since you felt the need to weigh in, I'll take the time to educate YOU. I was talking, again not to you, about the "stupid people" referred to in IanDB1's post who ACTUALLY DID vote for Bush. Yes, believe it or not there are people out there who think Bush is a gift from God. I won't call your post lame and ridiculous like you did mine though, no matter how productive a strategy you think those kind of comments may be.

HUH????

are the same ones that supported Bush because of his anti-gay and other "family values" extremism?

They cut all the government based assistance programs and replace them with "Faith-based" programs so that all the poor people need to accept Jesus if they want any food.

Or, they can join The Army.

Where they will also be evangelized by the Chaplaincy program.

This is why they want to destroy the economy, ruin the job market, destroy social security and drive more and more Americans into poverty.

Accept Jesus or starve.

vote with us!

Are they saying "Merry Christmas" when they hand people bags of groceries?

day I am more and more grateful and happy that I left Ohio this summer, leaving behind my son, family and friends, to live in Rapid City, SD. The backwoods yahoo repubs in OH have ruined that once-great state and run it straight into the ground, the OH Dem party are a bunch of ineffective idiot hacks who still seem to think that circus freak Jerry Springer will be their "savior", and the people complain and bitch and moan and yet still keep voting the same bloodsucking repub idiots in year after year. It may be my native state, but thank GOD I am out of it! I don't think I'll ever go back, either.

that the Chimperor is REALLY and TRULY trying to destroy the United States. Or bring on the "Apocalypse" from his beloved book of fairy tales, the Bible. Or both.....