Have you ever used an emergency food service?

I have used one multiple times. We used soup kitchens too. I also stayed in battered women shelters with my mom in Utah and North Las Vegas.

Hubbs and I are looking at using one right now, actually. I don’t really feel bad about it per se. More resigned.

Just remember bad things can happen to good people and we all get in a bind sometimes.

I volunteer at our local food bank. There are a lot of new people coming in.
Some are very sad. Some are anxious, or embarrassed. Some are defiant, or filled with blame. We try to help them and preserve their dignity. They are for the most part, just regular folks like me, they are often people I know. ( I know that I am probably just a few paychecks away from being there myself.)
I feel bad for theses folks, we try to help them as much as we can. I know how I would feel if I had to get food for my family that way.

Then there are the regulars. These people work the system, and have for many years. They know how to get around any of the rules or restrictions, many times by using deceitful tactics, and outright lies. They drive nicer cars than most of the people working (without any compensation ) to help them, and have the latest in cell phones and actually use them right there in front of us. It’s a shame because they are taking food away from the truly needy. There is only so much to go around.

For a while we lived off peanut butter and the other coupon-food from the WIC program. It was humbling but I was, and still am, very grateful that the program existed to help my daughter and I survive.

Most people do what they need to do to survive. Anyone who judges someone else for that is the one who needs to be embarrassed. When I was a child, I was embarrassed to have to queue up with my guardian for that sort of help, but we ate. And I didn’t see any of the kids who made fun of me for being poor rush to ask their parents to help my guardian get a better-paying job, so…

I’m in a different place as an adult, but if it turned out I had to go to the food bank, I’d go. People do what they need to do to survive.

Dog is absolutely correct.

This is why you give to the needy. You could be one paycheck away from being one. Really think about it. If your paycheck didn’t show up how long until you are are homeless? And once you are homeless how do you find a job?

@johnpowell You check out the services available to the homeless in your area. Even small towns have people who help people get jobs and even non-residents can get their mail at the shelter. Many of the homeless people I’ve worked with have jobs, but they just don’t bring in enough to stay out of the shelter.

I have used food stamps on occasion, and in the old days, there was a government food handout similar to the WIC program, which I used. I also worked with a food and clothing co-op that gave out food in exchange for work.

I have: eaten at : free meals given to the homeless, at various churches and non profit organizations , runs the gamut between having to listen to a sermon, to standing in line with really aggressive drug people being served by surly people, to getting ‘food baskets’ or boxes. The salvation army had really good ones. and another one called loaves and fishes had ok ones- you get all goverment surplus tinned salmon, to some weird tinned asian vegetable. We used to get nicely decorated bakery cakes, lots of pasta, bread from the bakeries that can’t sell it because of the use-by date. It’s alot of work to drive around to them, but if you work it right you can get a box about three times a weeks. The soup kitchens all have different hours so you can count on those another three days a week. I found the whole thing so depressing I just ended up stealing the food I needed. I ate much, much better.and don’t judge for saying this I know I know