I sat in the Library for several hours yesterday and was heart broken by the casual conversations I heard almost 10 different times. Each time it was about being hungry and/or not having enough food. They were disabled people, parents and kids, elderly, and one homeless person. I know Wayne county has a hunger problem. I hear the reports at work. I see the people coming in for help. I get the stats from food drives. I see the community needs surveys, yet it still shocked me to hear these people just openly talking about it with each other as they entered/left the library on a Friday afternoon. I know all the resources that are out there to help people with food. Why are there this many that are still hungry? Dont they know about them? Is there a reason they cant get there - Times, location, transportation? It cant possibly just be pride. I would think hunger overrides pride any day. Im sure some people will say they get food stamps and they probably sell them but Im here to tell you food stamps arent what they used to be. I see elderly and disabled folks that get less than $800 a month in social security and they only get $18 in food stamps, families in which both parents work at fast food but cant get more than 30 hours because of the insurance fiasco and they get less than $60 for a family of 4. I work at a helping agency. I collaborate with all the other agencies in our county. I conduct a community needs assessment every year to see what are the top needs, but Ive realized what we arent asking is how those solutions should be delivered. Churches, agencies, and state run programs set things up for how THEY can run the program based on their volunteers hours, office locations and hours, state regulations, etc. Often our hands are tied because of these things, but could we do a better job if we knew those answers? Could we help more people in a more impactful way? I know Im going to start asking these questions. Im just going to need help. I have a lot of ideas and Im going to need donated money that doesnt come with restrictions, but I determined to get agencies together to make a bigger, better difference. And Im not just talking about hunger. Im looking at everything we struggle with on a daily basis. I love that we have so many places that are here to help people in Wayne County, but instead of bandaiding situations lets put ourselves out of business by providing the solutions so people dont need us. There are so many great churches and generous families here. Im always amazed at what they do here and on mission trips around the world. If ANYONE is interested in helping me find better solutions please contact me on here or at Community Action Wayne/Medina 330-264-8677. (Sorry this was so long but I ve been thinking about this all night. Hopefully my ranting doesnt get me fired!)
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 12:35:53 +0000
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