This was copied and pasted from our local school district website...
June & July, Safford USD Summer Food Program: Safford is once again participating in the National Summer Food Program. We will be serving Hot Breakfasts and Lunches and Bagged Lunches at several sites throughout town. This is a great program where all area kids 18 and under can get free breakfasts and lunches. Please look out for menus and site locations in the local paper in May, June and July. This year we will be posting the weekly menu every week in the Eastern Arizona Courier. Remember, there are no forms to fill out for this program. Kids just need to come to one of the sites and consume the meal on site.
Warning: This will probably not be the most eloquent post but I have to get my feeling out.
My kids came home with a flyer yesterday stating that they will again be offered free breakfasts and lunches throughout the summer.
Last year we participated in this program a handful of times when it was convenient for us (and I remembered that it was going on)... It was fun, we got to see some friends and I didn't have to make or clean up lunch a few times.
Then shortly after school started here in our little community, we hit a recession; industrially speaking. The mine where most of the people are employed here had to make some cut backs to be able to stay afloat...This continues to be the case after almost nine months of careful management. There have been other companies here who have also made cut backs and generally speaking the community is suffering. Our school district had a meeting at which they discussed how they would make certain cuts in order to contribute their share to the state's deficit problem. From what I know, there won't be many people who lose their jobs but some will and other cuts have been made.
SO WHY THEN, I ASK...IS THE DISTRICT OFFERING FREE FOOD TO ANYONE 18 AND UNDER FOR TWO MONTHS???
Summer comes every year...we know this. Meaning that people have time to plan. If you cannot afford to take time off work to be there with your kids, you either have a day care or family members taking care of them for you. Part of this responsibility is feeding them. Not making our deficit bigger by taking free meals from the tax payers. Put that money to better use by keeping some of the cut programs and or people who lost their jobs.
Last year I freely participated in this program when it was convenient for me. This year, you couldn't pay me enough to participate; no matter how convenient. Indeed this summer it would be much more convenient for us with our own personal cutbacks but the principle is more important. We are in economic turmoil and this is just one more way that the government can "give us whatever we want" without anyone considering the repercussions.
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have." ~Thomas Jefferson
15 years ago
5 comments:
Very well put!
I agree!
hey mon. my suggestion is this. go. eat. enjoy. don't worry about lunch money and breakfast money for 2 months. these kinds of programs are funded thru government grants, often times applied for and designated for years to come, regardless of what the economy is doing. you pay taxes, no? you pay tithing, no? why not use this resource as a blessing in tight times? i know i'm not in the same situation as you, and i hope i don't speak out of turn. good luck!
Yeah, we have the same program down here. We also went a few times last summer when it was convienent and fun for the kids to see some friends (but also after Kenny was laid off). I know for a fact there are people in our old ward who greatly benefited from this program and whose children may have gone hungry otherwise. (Many due to job loss and other unforseeable circumstances.) I also know while Kenny was out of work last summer it was nice not to have another thing to worry about. It seems to me these programs are needed MORE when family finances are stretched. I say use the programs that are available, don't let your money go to waste! You never know when you may NEED the programs yourself.
Seriously, you must not know how the gov't works....the money will be there whether it is used or not...instead of seeing this as a negative program, look at it as a positive thing, go and help transport the kids whose parents are having to work 2 or 3 jobs to make up for the money lost by losing their regular jobs, so that they will be able to at least have 2 meals a day. You may not need the program this year but there are enough people who do need it that it would be great if this was offered everywhere..shoot, I'd be more than willing to not only contribute my tax dollars but actual food if this was in our area...
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