Shutting Down Food

One weekend during the federal shutdown, Jerry and I went to Pt. Reyes National Seashore and found ourselves locked out of parking lots.  A piss-off, but I resisted writing, "Blame the Republicans" on the signs. 

A bump in the road for middle-class people who want to take a walk.  But how about this:

Poor people who don't have enough to eat moved closer to the precipice during the shutdown.  I wonder if most people are aware of this?  I would be if I didn't do my once-a-week volunteer gig at the Berkeley Food Pantry.

First,  the USDA halted shipments to Food Banks all over the country three weeks ago.  That includes the Alameda County Community Food Bank, which provides food to the Berkeley Food Pantry.  USDA food fills one of the two bags we give out to people.

Pantry shelves get low

During the first half of October, the Pantry gave out food that had been delivered in September,  so fine.  But if the shutdown had gone on another week, the Pantry probably wouldn't have gotten the October delivery from the Food Bank.  Clients would have gotten half the food they've come to count on.  Even now, it's likely the make-up shipments will be delayed.

Or how about this?  Another client, a brand-new mother, was told that the Women Infants Children (WIC) benefit would end in November if the shutdown continued. This USDA program provides supplemental basic food for needy women and their young children.   This is a woman so impoverished that she couldn't get a breast pump for a week after giving birth and her baby wasn't getting enough milk.  We provided formula that someone had donated.  That's a pretty shaky lifeline.

Or this?  FEMA provides half the Pantry's funding, and that money was hung up by the shutdown.  This, plus skyrocketing client numbers, have seriously imperiled the annual Thanksgiving bag giveaway.

We have clients so hungry when they arrive at the Pantry that they ask for food they can eat immediately.  Starbuck's donates sandwiches, and I have seen people gobble those down in the parking lot on the way to the bus stop.

I've talked to conservatives about this, and they seem disbelieving.  They feel that people exploit services like the Pantry, and there are probably some who do.  But most do not.  A newborn does not. People so hungry they beg for a sandwich do not.

And all these people teetered on the edge during the shutdown.

Washington could not be more out of touch. 


 The new mother was able to get a breast pump through WIC eventually.

I'm just finishing another quilt to be auctioned here to benefit the Pantry.  It's be a lap or baby quilt--a holiday gift for someone, perhaps?