If you are in the USA have you or anyone you know well (people you see every week or enough that they a part of your life) using SNAP benefits?
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Diapers are always needed and also cat food. Cat food isn't covered by snap but it always went FAST when we had it. People want to take better care of their pets.
Anyone who says poor people can't feed their cats can jump in the east river and I'd be happy to help them.
@futurebird @MCDuncanLab I remember when I was actually #homeless and very badly #insane, I went to my local Citizens Advice Centre for help to fill out a form, and when they discovered I hadn't eaten for several days, they gave me a food parcel.
But what broke me is that they asked if I had and pets, and when I said I had cats, they added cat food. That felt SO HUGE.
On living rough with cats
We're all familiar with the image of an urban rough sleeper with his mongrel on a string. Rough sleepers commonly have dogs, and it's easy to understand why. A familiar animal — an animal which offers some affection, some uncritical regard, and, at night, some warmth — has to help a person cope with the extremely tough life a rough sleeper has to cope with.But you don't typically see rough sleepers with cats. Cats are different from dogs; they are much more self sufficient: specialist individual predators, able to feed themselves adequately in most British landscapes. A closely related species is even native. Cats don't, in fact, need us. When they choose to live with us it's from choice. That choice is certainly based on some simple pragmatic considerations. If we have the resources we can provide regular palatable food. If we have homes, we can provide comfort and warmth — which cats love — and a degree of security. We also, if we have homes, provide stability of place — a fixed base, a hub for a hunting ground. Cats do like a familiar hunting ground.
The Fool on the Hill (www.journeyman.cc)
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This is why I think it's important to try to accept donations of physical items even though it's not as efficient. It's an important experience for the *donors*
But when being a donor one can be aware of that, and grow.
But it's like when you cook something and bring it to a person who lost a loved one. That's not really for them. It might be for you.
That’s what I’ve been trying to tell people. If you have stuff to give, do it. But the folks at the food bank can probably stretch you money further than you can.
Not “it’s bad “ but “cool, but there’s a better way,”
I do think for some (I’m thinking of my kids, for example) giving food items is easier to grasp. And it helps point them toward “community cares for community “
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That’s what I’ve been trying to tell people. If you have stuff to give, do it. But the folks at the food bank can probably stretch you money further than you can.
Not “it’s bad “ but “cool, but there’s a better way,”
I do think for some (I’m thinking of my kids, for example) giving food items is easier to grasp. And it helps point them toward “community cares for community “
If the giving part is important see if you can be the person who gets groceries for someone in your building or neighborhood who could use help with shopping.
I used to do this for a few people in our building and I kind of miss it and may see about getting back to it.
The social part is a little stressful but that is something I'm working on.
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That’s what I’ve been trying to tell people. If you have stuff to give, do it. But the folks at the food bank can probably stretch you money further than you can.
Not “it’s bad “ but “cool, but there’s a better way,”
I do think for some (I’m thinking of my kids, for example) giving food items is easier to grasp. And it helps point them toward “community cares for community “
@Bfordham @futurebird @paulc @roytoo We don’t have available cash to donate but foods I have stocked up on in the past we’d be happy to share. Unfortunately food banks here won’t take them. So waiting to see requests come up in NextDoor.
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If you are in the USA have you or anyone you know well (people you see every week or enough that they a part of your life) using SNAP benefits?
@futurebird My friends are off SNAP now, but during and just after their college years it supported them and their baby. (Both worked as well as going to college.) It showed me how vital SNAP is, in the absence of better alternatives (living wages, UBI, free food…)
Tangentially, I heard another person say they were at fault, because despite their needing help with food, they had a smartphone. … which I gave them.
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@Bfordham @futurebird @paulc @roytoo We don’t have available cash to donate but foods I have stocked up on in the past we’d be happy to share. Unfortunately food banks here won’t take them. So waiting to see requests come up in NextDoor.
@cobalt123 @Bfordham @paulc @roytoo
Is there a place in your building or neighborhood where you could put a box and invite people to do an informal mini-pantry?
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@cobalt123 @Bfordham @paulc @roytoo
Is there a place in your building or neighborhood where you could put a box and invite people to do an informal mini-pantry?
@futurebird @Bfordham @paulc @roytoo My son thinks we could put a box of food out on the corner sidewalk with a sign to take what you need. I’m thinking about it still. We in Phoenix are still getting up to the low 90°s.
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@futurebird @Bfordham @paulc @roytoo My son thinks we could put a box of food out on the corner sidewalk with a sign to take what you need. I’m thinking about it still. We in Phoenix are still getting up to the low 90°s.
@cobalt123 @Bfordham @paulc @roytoo
A temperature controlled spot would be better.
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I have an uncle who tells the same story from the 80s where he saw a woman from a family who he "knew" was on food stamps buying a bunch of steaks and ribs at the butcher. This story is so old that there still was a butcher in the little Pennsylvania small town.
"And I was standing there with my chicken." he'd go on all indignant.
Dude is on social security and a US steel pension and owns his house. A few years back I got sick of that story and said something.
@futurebird @hakona @MCDuncanLab So I know this is beside the point, but is there like a genuine hierarchy of meat? Like, do meat-eaters consider some animals to be like objectively gold, silver, and bronze-level meat? Like, not just personal preference?
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@futurebird @hakona @MCDuncanLab So I know this is beside the point, but is there like a genuine hierarchy of meat? Like, do meat-eaters consider some animals to be like objectively gold, silver, and bronze-level meat? Like, not just personal preference?
@spacehobo @hakona @MCDuncanLab
Yes. Red meat is generally more expensive than chicken. Fish is complex, some fish is fancy some isn't.
But as Speed demon says the prices generally reflect these differences.
