The past few weeks have been crazy-busy-wonderful. I thought about how to best describe it and couldn’t think of a word. I had to come up with a word salad combo.
The crazy part is that our federal government decided to close up shop and take an extended vacation. The busy part is what happened at the Co-op as a result. The wonderful part is how this community came together to help people in need.
Most of the seniors, disabled persons and families in medical crisis come regularly for food service even though they qualify for food stamps. What they get from SNAPS isn’t a lot and they need all the help they can get. We assist many large families on SNAP. The families with children get a little more help, but the support from a food bank helps to get them through the month.
We saw furloughed people who never thought they would ever be in a position to need a food bank. They are the ones who usually are dropping off donations, not picking them up.
I don’t spend a lot of time on social media. Actually, I spend no time on social media. Morgan and Nathan handle the posts for the LCM. This month I was curious about what people were saying about the food crisis. Most of it was beautiful and supportive. Some of it was, well, ugly and very wrong. I thought I should provide some accurate information:
- The maximum amount that a family of 8 receives is $1,789 per month. Smaller families receive less. The average for a senior is $188 monthly, but most of our senior clients receive under $100.
- Food stamps can be used to purchase anything with a nutritional label. That does include soft drinks, but not alcohol. It does not include toiletries.
- In Georgia, there is a work requirement for people aged 16-59 who are able to work before they can receive food stamps.
- The average family size is 3.7 people. Most of our families are single parents with 2 children, or a two-income family with 1 or 2 children.
- Most families must reapply every 3 to 6 months. Seniors and disabled person usually reapply every 24 months.
Reading through all of the disinformation reminded me why I never spend time on social media. Yuck! Despite all of that, or perhaps because of it, really good people came through with food drives, donations and kind letters of support. One really lovely supporter brought by a letter of encouragement after she dropped off some donations. I’ll let her wrap up this post. She described what she saw:
“I saw everyone (your staff, volunteers and others) working, helping, encouraging, greeting reaching out to these desperate people and their families …I saw God at work. It is impossible to miss his presence in the midst of your chaos and I was overwhelmed with what was going on.”
