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Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

schools.nyc.gov

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Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#141
post #64
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you get food banks in the US?

Yes we do, but they are charities, and generally related to religious organizations. My experience with homelessness and lgbt issues taught me that relying on the charity of others, and not a formal social safety net, will only drive marginalized people further to the margins. Relying on someone else wanting to feel good about themselves to get what you need to survive isn't a good model.

Our town went into lockdown. I talked with Craig, a homeless guy I see occasionally. He said first day, kind young people came by with gloves, vitamin C tablets, some kind of facemask. After that - nothing. Its been weeks now.

Charitable organizations can run down once the volunteers have done enough to feel helpful. Not a good thing to rely upon, not in our modern society.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#142

I wonder why this is done through the Department of Education and if they will continue such a program when schools are back in session. People normally don't like a bunch of random adults hanging around schools.

DoE is uniquely suited to preparing and serving large numbers of meals.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#143
post #103

One of those things I wish could out last this virus. We'd be so much better off as a society if we could at least keep our people fed. The comments in here seem a little negative currently but this is great news. Think of all the people in NYC who didn't have access to clean and regular food before the virus.

This is a crucial move. A LOT of kids in particular relied on school breakfasts and lunches. This will make sure they stay fed. And with a lot of people out of work, unemployment offices backlogged, and a long turnaround time for SNAP eligibility (and many of the newly unemployed ineligible for it anyway), the alternatives would likely involve some combination of mass starvation and food riots that destroy grocery st…

In Chicago the schools are still handing out lunches to parents/kids to come and pick up.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#144
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes we do, but they are charities, and generally related to religious organizations. My experience with homelessness and lgbt issues taught me that relying on the charity of others, and not a formal social safety net, will only drive marginalized people further to the margins. Relying on someone else wanting to feel good about themselves to get what you need to survive isn't a good model.

I’m sorry you feel this way. The food bank I’ve volunteered with “in order to feel good at myself” literally just puts a bag of groceries in your trunk, or as much as you can carry.

Have to have a trunk...even carrying groceries works only if you have someplace to put them.

Don't get me wrong - bless you for your good work! But there's a difference between helping folks with some problems, and helping the homeless.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#145

I wonder why this is done through the Department of Education and if they will continue such a program when schools are back in session. People normally don't like a bunch of random adults hanging around schools.

Because this is primarily designed for kids who were getting their breakfast and lunch for free at school. Them not having food was one of the top problems cited with closing schools.

So basically you can still get your meals for free at school, only now it's open to everyone.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#146

One of those things I wish could out last this virus. We'd be so much better off as a society if we could at least keep our people fed. The comments in here seem a little negative currently but this is great news. Think of all the people in NYC who didn't have access to clean and regular food before the virus.

After the lockdown is lifted, do you think the fast food chains will allow for this to continue? How much of this could potentially eat into their revenues?

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feeding people was solved in the 20th century, perhaps almost too easily. See correlation between poverty and obesity in the 21st century, vs the 19th century.

Right. Food insecurity need not be a problem for anyone in the 21st Century. It should be like running out of oxygen: nearly impossible because it's essentially free and widely available.

By essentially free, you mean easily attainable, but not "free" in the economic sense of costing nothing?

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#149
post #121
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With more people obese than not in this country, keeping people well fed is not a problem that we have.

Obesity in this country is closely linked to poverty. The foods that people in poverty have access to (because of cost but also because of food deserts) offer excessive calories but poorly balanced nutrition. That means that people are obese but at the same time essentially starving to death from lack of nutrients. Which causes more food cravings that people are able to attempt to satiate only with more food with poo…

I think obesity dis-proportionally affects impoverished African Americans vs. other impoverished races.

At least based on one point of anecdata - my neighbors. I have lots of poor families in my neighborhood even though I am middle class myself thanks to HOC (a Maryland social program where middle class housing is subsidized for the poor). Long story short - my poor African American neighbors are extremely obese; and it's no wonder why. I only ever see them eating McDonald's/dollar tree chips/soda. I know they are on SNAP, but I don't know if they are trading it for booze/cigarettes. It's my opinion though that they lack education on how to prepare/cook cheap raw ingredients into meals.

Yet my other equally poor immigrant El Salvadorian neighbors are skinny as rails and from what I can tell they eat tons of rice and beans and such (I often see them carrying 20 lb bags of rice into their house).

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