I visited the House of Charity in downtown Minneapolis today...

[Shananigans]

serving the lunchtime meal to those coming to the food center. What a great experience! I highly recommend it to ANYONE!

[Sugarbleus]

1. I applaud you for that...

It is a sobering experience for those who have no clue too. I've served the hungry and you're right, it's a humbling event.

I've heard that even some in suburbs are having to go to food banks these days.

So, "Poor" meet the "New Poor". I fume when self righteous fools make statements like: they (the hungry/poor) are lazy or screwed up so they get what they deserve... :grr: Now we see even working class families having to reach out for help. To those self centered, ignorant, callous souls who say such things, I say watch out because you could easily be sitting on only your thumb one day--------and you WILL deserve it.

Whadda country

[no name no slogan]

3. True about the 'burbs, even 20 years ago

Growing up in Maple Grove in the 70s & 80s, I volunteered a couple times with a local foodshelf in Osseo. You'd be suprised at the amount of people in the suburbs who are "food poor". Not just single parents, but two-income households where both parents can't afford to put food on the table because of medical bills, unforseen expenses, etc.

Hunger is a very real problem in this country-- and with all the cuts to government social service plans of late, it's gotten even harder for charities to keep up with demand.

We have enough dinero to blow billions on a war in Iraq (and 'misplace' $9 billion in the process) but still can't feed our own population.

Like you said, Whadda country.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. When I volunteer at my church's dinners for the poor, I'm struck by

the increase in the number of people whose descent into poverty is obviously recent, definitely not the typical street population.

[Sugarbleus]

4. "Food not Bombs" should be one of the foremost slogans going

round today. What a shame and a scandal we've come to this. Think we'll ever hear of this on Nightly News??? :eyes:

Additionally, I was chatting with a poster in the poverty subforums where he explained how enormous the military/pentagon budget was going to be. Something in the neighborhood of $500+ b!! He/she was able to extrapolate that amount into the cost of building modest bungalows for around $75,000 for 6.8 Million people into the foreseeable future...

Talk about WASTE!!!! I'm FLOORED by it.

[no name no slogan]

5. Not to mention the several trillion the DoD can't account for

Which is ALSO scandalous. I've heard they've tried to do an independent audit of the Pentagon, but because things are so screwed up it's impossible. They have approx. $3 trillion in materiel and $$ that they cannot account for, last I heard.

That's a three with twelve zeros after it: $3,000,000,000,000.

IMHO we should be playing this up. No more new weapons programs until we find out where all the money/stuff is.