Sunday in the Times

And here it is--Jason DeParle's article specifically on food stamps in Southwest Ohio has arrived! It originally ran in the Sunday edition of The New York Times on November 29, 2009. It is very well-written and even includes a quote from Tina, so check it out!

New York Times update

It has arrived! Jason DeParle's first article from his food stamp series has debuted. Here is the first installment of the series, with more articles to come shortly. This first article is pretty general, but does a great job in setting the stage on hunger and work support programs, like food stamps, across the country. The word on the street is that his articles on food stamp usage specifically in Southwest Ohio are coming soon!

Until then, enjoy!

Food Drive Round Up

As promised, here is your Thanksgiving Week Food Drive Round Up! Even with two days off, this week was full of food drive pick ups all over the region.

First up on Monday morning was a pick up from the Springboro Area Small Business Network. Despite its name, the location had a Lebanon address, which confused my GPS so much that General Paulette just couldn't put them on the map. Instead, we followed MapQuest directions, which led us to this cool old farmhouse on a very rural country road:

Turns out the food was being stored in the garage of this house, so we were in the right place. With several more stops scheduled that day, we decided not to dawdle and just threw the bags of food in the back of the truck.

Of course we ended up paying for that later. Our next stop was at Summit Academy, a private school in Middletown. The school had two barrels and a ton of overflow food--all located in the school's basement, with no elevator. A teacher sensed my nervousness about getting all of this food loaded before sundown, and recruited a bunch of kids on their way to martial arts class to help carry the food out. They even brought us the barrels!

Alex and I needed to construct some boxes and organize the food from our last stop, so we had the kids set the food down in the parking lot next to Gus. Here they are:

After a bit of a delay in Middletown getting Gus organized and loaded up, we were set to pick up 9 barrels from an organization called Catnip 'N Carrots. (For more information about this organization and their food drive, click here.) Once again, Alex and I found ourselves in a residential neighborhood where the food was stashed in a friendly woman's garage. Somehow, we got all 9 barrels into the truck.At this point, Gus was very full of food and barrels, so we went back to Shared Harvest to drop off the food and get some lunch. By 12:45 we were ready to go back out for 3 more food drive pick ups.

Our first stop Monday afternoon was to a PNC Bank near Fairfield. Sadly, their food drive wasn't too successful and I was able to lift and carry the barrel+food without any assistance. Keep in mind, I'm not that strong, so it wasn't a whole lot of food. Still, every little bit helps.

Next we drove to Sacred Heart Elementary School, a private school in Fairfield. Alex and I had delivered 3 barrels to this location just last week, so we didn't anticipate a large amount of food.

We were wrong. This is what we found when we arrived:

It literally took Alex and me HOURS to pack and load this food into Gus. In addition to the three barrels, we filled 15 boxes as well. By the time we had finished, Shared Harvest was closed and we still had one more stop!

Our last stop was to Petland in Fairfield. After the massive response from Sacred Heart, we were a little disappointed to find a completely empty barrel inside Petland. We were just about to take our empty barrel and leave, but the employees asked us to leave it for a little while longer with the promise of more food next time we came back. By the time we returned to Shared Harvest, everyone else was long gone (except for Holli!) so we had to wait to unload and weigh the food.

On Tuesday morning, Alex had a doctor's appointment for her ankle, so I accompanied Holli to 3 local Kroger locations to empty the contents of their food drive barrels. We ended up working so fast and so efficiently, though, that we decided to go ahead and pick up at all 8 of our locations listed for the day. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera, so I don't have any pictures. But at the rate we were packing boxes and loading barrels, I don't know if I would have had time to take any pictures anyway!

So here's the totals from all of the food drive pick ups this week.

Monday, 11/23
Springboro Area Small Business Network: 180 lbs.
Summit Academy: 655 lbs.
Catnip 'N Carrots: 370 lbs.
PNC Bank: 16 lbs.
Sacred Heart Elementary: 1166 lbs.
Petland: 0 lbs. (so far!)

Tuesday, 11/24
Kensington Apartments: 100 lbs.
Camelot East Apartments: 235 lbs.
Tanfastic: 105 lbs. (so far)
Progressive Rehab.: 80 lbs.
WellPoint Anthem: 529 lbs.
(And contents from barrels at three Kroger locations--but I don't know their weights right now!)

All in all, 3436 pounds of food came through Shared Harvest from area schools, churches, and businesses' food drives. In two days. Wow.

What some people may not realize, is that this food, although collected before Thanksgiving, was not distributed for the holiday this week. In fact, this food will not be distributed for a couple of weeks. Staff members at the foodbank have to go through every box and barrel, item by item, to make sure everything is safe to eat, which can take a little while. The food that went out this week to our partner pantries was most likely collected in late October/early November, and this round of donations will probably make it out in time for Christmas. Thus, the food collected between now and Christmas will probably be distributed in late December/early January. Of course, this isn't a bad thing--people will still be hungry long after the Christmas lights are taken down, so please keep donating! Your donations will make a difference at any time of the year.

Just a little Food Drive 101.

Thanksgiving Cheer

On the eve of this Thanksgiving, I found myself where no one really wants to be: standing in the checkout line at the grocery store. No, scratch that. It was really about 70 checkout lines at 8 grocery stores, to be exact.

Yes, today was spent touring half of my 15 Kroger stores to monitor the Check Out Hunger coupon placards that I put up two weeks ago. I visited the first half yesterday, and for some reason, I honestly believed it would be better to save half of my stores for today--the day before Thanksgiving. Much like the 1993 movie Groundhog Day, I had a bizarre sense of déjà vu all day. No matter my location, each Kroger visit went the same way: crawl through traffic, scan parking lot, park in the closest free space to the entrance (which was always a half mile away from the store).

Once inside, I stopped at the Customer Service desk to check in the with managers and make sure there weren't any problems. (And yes, we've had some problems.) Last week when I did my Kroger rounds, I discovered that the barcode on some of the green $3 coupons have not been scanning correctly. Apparently, the green barcodes are too sophisticated for the simple checkout scanners to read. To combat the issue, Kroger Advertising suggested making copies of the $3 coupons on white paper so the scanners could more easily read the barcode. So today, before I set out, Alex helped me make more than 140 laminated white copies of the $3 coupon to distribute to the cashiers. But not all of the cashiers--some stores haven't had any problems reading the green coupons' barcodes.

To put it simply, in addition to replacing any empty coupon pads, I had to reeducate some cashiers on the new procedure with the white paper coupons, all while fighting through the crowds of stressed out Thanksgiving chefs purchasing their last minute ingredients. My patience was stretching pretty thin, and by the time I visited my last Kroger store in Lebanon, I was relieved to program my GPS (General Paulette Surefire) for home.

I'm home now, patiently (okay, not so patiently) waiting for Taylor to get off work so we can make it to Urbana tonight for Thanksgiving dinner with my extended family tomorrow. I've been so busy and stressed out lately that the next 4 work-free days will provide some much needed clarity during this holiday weekend. Like many college-aged kids from cushy middle-class homes, I have always taken Thanksgiving for granted. I am embarrassed to admit that I have taken more time to cut a piece of pie than to really reflect on what this holiday is all about.

This year is different. After seeing and experiencing poverty for the first time, Taylor and I are so grateful for all of our friends and family who have enriched our lives by offering their support and love this year and always. I know that this year, for the first time, I will celebrate Thanksgiving with more than just a full stomach, but a full a heart, as well.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Stay tuned for a Holiday Food Drive round up on Friday.

The Letter

I knew this day would come but I didn't know it would be so soon.

I got a letter from Butler County Job and Family Services last Friday. It reads as follows:

This is information about your benefits. Please read all pages.

We have made decisions about your cash, food, or medical benefits. You can appeal if you disagree with any of our decisions. This notice explains our decisions and how you can appeal. You can reapply at any time if we denied or stopped your benefits.

If you need translation or other help to read this notice or to communicate with us, contact your caseworker. You will find your caseworker's name and phone number below the Mailing Date above.

We will STOP your FOOD ASSISTANCE on 12/31/2009.

The people affected by this action are:
KAITL B (INELIGIBLE) TAYLO W (INELIGIBLE)

Reason: INCOME IS MORE THAN THE 130% GROSS INCOME STANDARD
We based this action on OHIO ADMINISTRATIVE CODE, Rule 5101:4-4-11

Yes. Because Taylor's gross income went up from $7.35 to $10.15/hour, our food stamps are stopping at the end of this year. Cold turkey. And it's funny, really. When Taylor and I first got our food stamps, I dreaded going through the check out line with our EBT card. Now I dread going through without it. Stigma or not, our food stamps helped us get on our feet this year. Not only were we able to afford quality, nutritious meals, but we were also able to put the hundreds of dollars we would have spent on food over the past 7 months towards other expenses, making it easier to pay down credit card debt and even build a small savings account. As of January 1st, though, we'll have to add food purchases to our limited budget. And to make matters worse, we'll be adding Taylor's health insurance premium and my car insurance premium into the mix, as well. Oh, and did I mention our wedding coming up in less than 4 months? It has its share of expenses, even with my parents footing a majority of the bill.

To prepare for this onslaught of expenses, we're putting as much money as we can into our savings and dramatically decreasing our spending. We anticipate buying less fresh food and more frozen and shelf-stable foods that tend to be a little cheaper, which should help lower our grocery bill.

Still, I'm nervous. Food stamps stabilized our household, and even though Taylor is making more money now, I'm nervous that our household will fall behind without them. I'm nervous that January 1st will mark a step backwards for us.

And remember how I mentioned that the holidays usually trigger a "VISTA slump" among VISTAs? Well, this isn't helping. Last Friday marked my 5-month anniversary as a VISTA. And to be completely honest, I'm not sure if my VISTA-ship was the best idea. Now more than ever, I find myself feeling down about how little I'm contributing to our household financially. As the breadwinner of our family, Taylor has had to shoulder a major burden to keep us afloat. He's taking 11 hours of pre-nursing classes and working 39-40 hours a week in some pretty tiring shifts. He's even considering joining the Oxford volunteer fire department to bring in a little extra money on the weekends. He's working so hard and doing so much that I just wish I could do a little more; bring a little more money to the table to make our lives a little easier. But because I'm a VISTA, I'm barred from working a second job--not even have a morning paper route.

To put it simpy: it sucks. It just sucks.