Soup Kitchens and Hot Meals
These men found a soup kitchen during the Depression. How do you find out if there is a place to get a meal in your area now?
Phone book: If your phone book is like mine, with no category for "soup kitchen", try calling the local food bank for references. The printed hand-out I picked up this week had two soup kitchens listed for the area. Their websites do not list serving times, so a call is needed to find out the specifics from each one.
Online: With access to a computer, it is much easier to track down resources.
America's Second Harvest has a food bank locator by zipcode and a long list of links for other sites that may offer additional resources available to combat hunger.
2-1-1 Information & Referral: Like 9-1-1, in many states you can dial 2-1-1 to get help finding help. When you don't know where to turn for food assistance, housing help, childcare, disaster relief, or even suicide prevention hotlines, the folks at 2-1-1 can help hook you up with the appropriate agency or organization. On their website's search page, I had trouble getting any results to come up until I entered my state and simply selected the link for Comprehensive Information & Referral. (Hold, please, for 10 more minutes while I surf around the site....) Ah, here's a more direct route to help in your state: US Map.
Once in my state's 2-1-1 site, I was able to type in keywords and my zip code to pull up a listing of organizations and agencies able to help me find something to eat. It took a few minutes, but I finally figured out the right search phrases to enter by looking at the results of the broader food search to find where meals were available. The phrase meal sites and the phrase congregate meals brought up many options, including Meals on Wheels programs for seniors who are homebound, need a special diet, or are handicapped. There are far more listed here than on the Food Bank list, so trying 2-1-1 is definitely worth your time.
Kids' Meals
School Lunch & Breakfast programs provide free and reduced price meals for low income children going to school. The state agencies administering Child Nutrition Programs are listed in this directory on the USDA's Food & Nutrition Service website.
Cooking for Peace
The group Food Not Bombs shares free vegan food with hungry people, and protests war and poverty. Their website has considerable information about their history, purpose, and current activities. If you are interested in how they feed large numbers of hungry people (these kinds of details always fascinate me), check this out. By eliminating animal products from their menu, they have greatly reduced the risk of food contamination and spoilage in mobile locations.
I'm impressed with their commitment to reduce waste, obtain food through recovery and donation, and buying local and organic ingredients as much as possible. Food Not Bombs groups are located worldwide. Click here to find one near you if you are hungry or if you want to help. Be aware, however, that dealing with hunger in a direct and informal manner may not go over well with the authorities. There are also suggestions on the site for dealing with encounters with the police.
Will Work for Food
While I would hardly call Violent Acres a green blogger - I picture her more in purple tones - she had an outstanding tip in a post a couple of years ago. During a period of homelessness, she got a job at a buffet restaurant and ate for free as a result. She doesn't specify whether she only ate once a day or was able to eat several meals there daily, but it does suggest another avenue for avoiding hunger.
I know from talking to other folks with experience in the restaurant industry that there are always some perks to the job, either free food or steep discounts. So, if you want to get out of the unemployment and soup kitchen lines, consider trying to land a job at a restaurant. In the last post in this series, Rosa mentioned in the comments that restaurants may serve out the back door at closing. That's worth checking out as well.
Stay tuned for more in this series.
I never thought about working at a restaurant if you're hungry - though it seems so obvious. All restaurants I've ever worked at have given me either free or steeply discounted food and beverages. I actually kind of miss that perk now that I have a "real job", more food preparation.
ReplyDeleteI really like that you are doing this series Chile, but it also makes me really sad that you have to. This is supposed to be the "richest country in the world" and we can't even keep our people fed. And what angers me more is that, in most cases, this hunger is not as a result of an actual shortage, but as a result of an inability to obtain the capital needed to purchase the food.
Great post Chile, but it just leaves a hole in my heart. Not because of your post, I think this is such great information to share, but because sometimes I forget how lucky I am.
ReplyDeleteI stress about cookies or laundry, but in the end I can provide a family of six warm, nutritous meals every single day. As well as clean clothes to wear and two parents to nag them about homework, baths and grades.
However, in this economy, finding food in financially stressed times may be harder than ever and I worry that there could be a day when I can't make choices the way I do today. What if I have to choose gas to get to work or healthy food for the table? Thank you Chile, for the information as well as the reality check. I'm going to go hug my kids now! :o)
What is sad also is that the people who most need this information are the least likely to have the resources (computer and Internet) or time (multiple jobs) to access it. I hope that people reading these posts will pass along the information to people they may know who need it as well as be inspired to help out the organizations that are trying to do something about the hungry.
ReplyDeleteIt is a good reality check, Eco 'Burban Mom. We often forget just how "wealthy" we are. Looking at the photos from the Depression Era posted frequently on The Automatic Earth remind me of this every time I see them.
Religious institutions, whether you're associated with one or not, are another resource for food. Everywhere I've lived, all the soup kitchens, food banks, and shelters were run by religious institutions.
ReplyDeleteThe state 2-1-1 directory includes all the churches that have meals available as well as food banks.
ReplyDeleteHowever, from the Food Bank's website comes this little tidbit: Of the 11 Soup Kitchens (in the area) only 2 feed the community at large. The other 9 are abuse/drug/alcohol treatment centers and feed only their clients.
I'll second working in a restaurant... even as dish help if that's the only job you can get. I worked in a Mexican restaurant through college. Not only are there steep discounts for waitstaff and free meals for kitchen and dish, but you know all the tricks about how to order your food to get the most for the least money, and your meal comes out of your paycheck.
ReplyDeletePlus, there were the piles of day old tortillas and salsa at the end of the line for anyone to take home.
And this is gross... but you could even take home partly eaten but mostly untouched meals (like the back half of a burrito that someone had three bites of). I never did that, as I wasn't in serious need of food in college, but you can bet I WOULD if I needed too.
Other sources for ready cooked food:
If you are older, your local senior center may have meals. I know the one here does a lunchtime meal every weekday.
Also, even in the summer the school district may offer meals for children... mine does. Ther are posters all over town for it, even!
Hi Chile,
ReplyDeleteDo let me add that your local library and librarian would (should) also be more then happy to help people locate resources. Many libraries, especially ones in challenged areas, keep lists of information and phone numbers for when we have people in needs. They should also be able to give you a map to a food bank, help you get forms online for food stamps or social services or direct people to shelters or other resources.
Thanks for the FNB mention, Chile.
ReplyDeleteI met a woman once who told me the thing she was proudest of her whole life was staying sober long enough to make a home for her girlfriend's kids where nobody hit them and they could have seconds if they wanted. That will stick with me forever.
Jennifer - I expect our "standards" for acceptable food are rather flexible. With increasing hunger, they're bound to loosen up.
ReplyDeleteGood idea about checking with the library! Ours seems to be increasingly short-staffed but the folks there have always been very helpful.
Wow, Rosa. That is pretty dedicated.
When I was on my way to Krym, my mother had made me a huge packed lunch ~ I'd eaten breakfast before Dad took me to the Embassy to pick-up my visa & my cousin was cooking for me in the evening as I was staying over with him before catching my flight. I was wandering around London awaiting closing time when I could meet up with Stephen after his work (violin repairer) & I watched as a man started scouring bins in the hopes that he could find someone's unwanted lunch: he wasn't begging or asking. I reached into my bag & gave him my lunch & he was so pleased ~ clean untouched wrapped food given with thanks that I didn't need it the way that he did.
ReplyDeletePayback came when I was on the overnight (20 hour odd train) from Simferopol to Kiev with no Ukranian or Tartar & little Russian ~ I'd been booked into a 4-berth sleeper by my friend & the others in the carriage willingly shared their food & made me glasses of tea throughout the journey. I was humbled by the way people in these poor countries (Krym regards itself as independent from Ukraine & Russia, but they both want it!) were so willing to share everything with a total stranger. Hospitality in Krym & Russia is incredible.
That's a wonderful story, Killi, and so nice that you experienced the same sort of giving that you expressed earlier.
ReplyDeleteI have often struggled with people begging for money outside of grocery stores, knowing that many will choose to spend it on liquor. One way I've dealt with this is to buy something extra in the store - apple, banana, cool drink on a hot day - and give it to them on my way out.