hunger – Hank Kalet

On food drives and poverty

Matthew Yglesias at Slate makes a compelling argument against the traditional food drive — but it’s one that, in the end, I can’t support. The argument — that donated money makes more sense — has some validity in larger communities, but in areas with smaller food banks, money can create a strain.

Organizations like Rise in Hightstown and the Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton rely on both food and money, with money going a lot farther toward meeting the needs of local communities because they can buy in bulk. But smaller organizations like the South Brunswick Food Pantry (which also has a trust fund that collects monetary donations for other services) and Skeet’s Pantry in Cranbury do not have the manpower or economies of scale to be able to take advantage of bulk buying power.

The greater issue is our societal reliance on food banks and soup kitchens to plug holes in the safety net. Poverty is a social issue and is created by larger cultural trends with impacts that reach out beyond the immediate families into local neighborhoods and beyond into the larger community.

Relying on private organizations to address larger societal problems is destined to leave us chasing our tales on the poverty issue, always a step behind, the solution just a step out of reach.

Send me an e-mail.
Read poetry at The Subterranean.
Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.

Please ‘Rise’ to the occasion

I spent a couple of hours this morning with the fine folks from Rise: A Community Service Partnership at the East Windsor ShopRite as part of our Patch-Rise food drive. Most people are gracious and helpful — we’d collected some food and about $30 in cash in less than two hours. There were some, however, who not only declined to help, but were downright nasty about it.

It’s an odd dynamic. There are far too many people who view efforts to aid those less fortunate than us as encouraging the poor to stay poor, as if anyone wants to remain in poverty when they have a chance to be self-sufficient. The dismissiveness and nastiness that we were met with by some is truly disheartening.

Thankfully, most people are generous and wan to help their neighbors. If you are one of the generous ones, stop by the ShopRite on Route 130 in East Windsor before 7 tonight or between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. tomorrow and make a contribution. The people at Rise and those they help will be grateful.

Taking to the road to help the hungry

Mobile food markets are a good idea, but flawed in the proposed form. Relying on the nonprofit sector once again to provide for the poor leaves the plan — and the poor who we are supposed to be helping — at the whim of donors. Hunger is society’s problem and efforts to address it should be paid for by the society as a whole, which means it should be a government program.

Send me an e-mail.
Read poetry at The Subterranean.
Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.

Once again, community comes to Food Pantry’s aid

Patch photo by Davy James

No one can say that the South Brunswick community does not care about its own. With a heavy push in the final week, the township Food Pantry exceeded its goal and collected nearly $50,000 in cash and $15,000 in food over a 10-week period.

That means the pantry should receive additional cash from the Feinstein Foundation, which challenges anti-hunger agencies across the country to raise funds and collect as many food donations as possible. The township is now eligible for a cut of the $230 million pie.

Kudos to the community, especially in such difficult economic times.

Send me an e-mail.
Read poetry at The Subterranean.
Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.

Political World: Fix the safety net

Today’s installment of Political World on South Brunswick Patch focuses on the social safety net and the need to help our neighbors.

Send me an e-mail.
Read poetry at The Subterranean.
Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. It can be ordered here.
Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.