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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

#241

Post by DiffEq »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #84
DiffEq wrote: 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.

https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/facts > More than 38 million people are living in poverty in America. In 2019, most families living in poverty earn less than $25,750 per year. > More than 37 million people struggle with hunger in the United States, including more than 11 million children.

The people that run these organizations have an incentive to make this problem appear larger than it really is. I have never in my life seen in this country a starving person or a malnourished person for that matter and the government health statistics back me up. It is not a problem the U.S. has.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#242

Post by MisterBastahrd »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #181
alexgodin wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The average SNAP recipient receives about $4 a day and sees their balance run out after just 17 days. This is not enough.

I don't think SNAP is supposed to always cover 100% of food expenses. If you're near the cutoff point for benefits, you get some allowance, but you're expected to cover some of the food cost from your income. You would of course use your SNAP benefits first, since they are not fungible, so it is not surprising that you would run out before the end of the month. This does not mean that such households are unable to af…

Okay now try to eat like an actual human being and make it work for $500 over 30 days.

The dollar amount itself is fine, but SNAP should be supplemented with basic commodities. Beans, rice, flour, sugar. The prices for these when purchased at the volume of the federal government drop to near nothing.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#243

Post by bobwaycott »

Justsignedup wrote: post #218
asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think SNAP is supposed to always cover 100% of food expenses. If you're near the cutoff point for benefits, you get some allowance, but you're expected to cover some of the food cost from your income. You would of course use your SNAP benefits first, since they are not fungible, so it is not surprising that you would run out before the end of the month. This does not mean that such households are unable to af…

That's the point. It should. If we remove the fear of starvation (we can afford to feed everyone twice and barely put a dent in our military budget) a lot of people will have a HUGE improvement in their day-to-day happiness. This is one of those obvious huge moral positives we can do. The only "down side" is there will never be fear of starvation. Edit: The one progress I can see in a society is when we can basically…

To add to your basics, don’t forget clothing and education. I think those are the 5 basics that are necessary to ensure every person can participate in society without fear or shame.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#244

Post by munk-a »

jefftk wrote: post #180
dickjocke wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's a low bar. The US is an advanced economy. Why would people being unable to get fresh produce or have a balanced and varied diet be acceptable? Especially when you consider the obesity problems the country is facing. I think that food insecurity meaning literal hunger pains is way too low a bar for the US. That number should be literally 0%. Food security for us should mean food that is healthy an…

"food insecure at least some time during the year" includes people who at some point during the year didn't like the food they had available ("reduced desirability"). For example, someone could be getting their food from Meal Hubs and still be counted as food insecure. If you surveyed specifically on whether people had access to fresh produce you'd get a much lower number.

I'm relatively sure that saying "That chicken was alright, but the brine set in too strong and it was just too salty" doesn't fall within anyone's definition of food insecure.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#245

Post by karatestomp »

Justsignedup wrote: post #218
asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think SNAP is supposed to always cover 100% of food expenses. If you're near the cutoff point for benefits, you get some allowance, but you're expected to cover some of the food cost from your income. You would of course use your SNAP benefits first, since they are not fungible, so it is not surprising that you would run out before the end of the month. This does not mean that such households are unable to af…

That's the point. It should. If we remove the fear of starvation (we can afford to feed everyone twice and barely put a dent in our military budget) a lot of people will have a HUGE improvement in their day-to-day happiness. This is one of those obvious huge moral positives we can do. The only "down side" is there will never be fear of starvation. Edit: The one progress I can see in a society is when we can basically…

Maybe it’s because I’ve never been poor enough so I don’t get it, but I’m a lot more worried about losing housing and healthcare than food. Food’s super cheap compared to those (unless you’re a meat-with-every-meal type, and picky about which meat) and there are tons of government and community programs to provide it.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#246

Post by munk-a »

impostergc wrote: post #102
tren-hard wrote: post #18

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.

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.

Obesity is strongly tied in with the fact that the food we're consuming is unhealthy - rather than the fact that it's purely excessive. One of those unhealthy factors is an overabundance of sugar and salt both of which fight satiation fueling the brain to overeat.

We have plenty of food, but we've turned a large portion of it into unhealthy crap.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#247

Post by bluedino »

bloopernova wrote: post #157
jsonne wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As of 2018 40 million Americans received more than 57 billion dollars in SNAP. It seems like largely the US has been and will continue to keep people fed. Note also that this is just 1 Federal program and doesn't mention the multitude of other state level and city level programs that exist as well as private charities, religious organizations, etc. Please note I am not saying the system is perfect, shouldn't be expan…

Incorrect, SNAP and other federal/state programs do not go far enough to feed a family. And the poorest families are constantly demonized as some sort of "Welfare Queen" living large on steaks and top shelf liquor.

>> living large on steaks and top shelf liquor

More like frozen foods and sugary drinks

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#248

Post by vsareto »

observer987 wrote: post #86
observer987 wrote: post #50

This is a lifeline for workers who have been laid-off with no prospects of getting back to work anytime soon. Unfortunately, this may be the new normal...

Reminiscent of soup kitchens from the Great Depression.

I'm really interested to see if organized crime would do similar things this time around if they really declare a depression. I don't think they will.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#249

Post by dysfunction »

gshdg wrote: post #103
tren-hard wrote: post #18

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…

It was already the case for several weeks in NY that school-age kids could pickup free packaged meals from any school, the change in this announcement is expanding that to include adults.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#250

Post by mehrdadn »

gshdg wrote: post #136
Zenst wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also no kosher option. Still Halal and Vegetarian options available, so clearly some thought given and overlooked. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_New_York_City

Interestingly, kosher food is usually considered acceptable under Halal but not vice-versa; so if they made kosher meals they'd be covering both.

I don't know where this widespread misconception has come from, but it is not true. Unless by "kosher food" you mean kosher lettuce and pickles or something, rather than meat.
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