As we chat so enjoyably about $1,500 Macs and $600 image-editing software, my buddy Khal S. makes a good point in comments: “Don’t forget to save a little cash for your local food bank.”
Natural Grocers-Vitamin Cottage, the grocery I patronize most often — and not just because it sponsors a cycling team — has a nifty point-of-sale deal that supports the Care and Share food bank here in Bibleburg. At checkout you simply select the amount you’d like to add to your grocery tab so that some other hungry folks can get a little sumpin’-sumpin’ too and presto: You’ve engaged in an instant, painless act of basic humanity. What the hell, you were already buying something anyway. Couple more bucks won’t kill you.
I’ve been kicking in a few bucks every time I go grocery shopping, and we plan to write additional solstice checks to Care and Share and the Marian House soup kitchen. Can’t give it all to Apple and Adobe. Last I looked, those folks were sleeping indoors and eating regularly.
Mad Blog Media 
Patrick:
Love the fact that, even though we be meager little heathens, we can still think of others at this time of year. Always chaps my hide when the “holier than thou” crowd comes out of the woodwork this time of year in order to make a show of doing something for the little guy. (Come to think of it, sounds like the US Congress, but I digress). Thanks for keeping it real. Have a great solstice, saturnalia, or a helluva Friday night. You’ve earned it!
Jef
Not to rain on the parade, but the title of this post caught my eye. Here in SacTown there is a homeless “charity” which utilizes the moniker of “Loaves & Fishes.” Not that there is anything wrong with that by itself. The issue I have with this ‘organization’ is that while they provide a place for the homeless, less fortunate, or just plain loony to congregate.
Now I am not advocating NOT giving at any time of the year, but I do find it ironic that this phrase is usually referenced to the reason why one should NOT necessarily give alms to the poor. Wasn’t it some dude named Jesus who said: “You can give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. You could teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime?”
Maybe if we taught the poor, less fortunate, or truly crazy (Fux News ‘commentators’ included) to deal with society’s nuances, then there would not be a need for food banks, homeless shelters, or a serious division of the class structure.
Just a thought…
Sorry James, Jesus never said that. Truthfully, the author of that little quote is unknown. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is reported to have said, “You will always have the poor with you;” (Mt. 26:11) but the context was somewhat different.
James, Bruce … as a younger dog, I frequently took advantage of my fellow man, selling drugs, applying for and receiving food stamps, panhandling, shoplifting, hitchhiking, tapping food banks, sleeping in church pews, collecting unemployment and in general acting the fool, though I had a honky middle-class support system I could have tapped at any time, if I were only willing to pay the toll of taking that particular road.
Many years later, a whole lot older and a wee bit wiser, I don’t mind paying back into the system I manipulated — I give spare change to panhandlers, subsidize food banks and soup kitchens, and in general try to repay some of the interest on my massive karmic debt.
Some undeserving sorts may benefit as a consequence. So be it. Others may get back on their feet and lend a hand to someone else who’s struggling.
With Congress giving billions to fat cats on Wall Street and stiffing even the guys on Main Street, it falls to us to help the poor. Its human nature that we remember to do this around Christmas and Thanksgiving and I suspect the charities factor that into their annual fund drives.
Good argument for having a chunk of change taken out monthly for the local food bank or as Patrick does, add a few bucks each checkout. Down in Santa Fe, Whole Paycheck and Vitamin Cottage both do this.
If we are quoting scripture, don’t forget this one:
“A Jewish man was traveling on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”
Also many of us can donate in a very unique way. Bike Parts. Many of the homeless and semi-homeless need transportation and many towns have someone who is already helping them and just needs parts. Here in Bibleburg it’s Peter. Every so often survey your garage and see what parts or bikes you haven’t used in 5+ years gather them up and run them to whoever you local bicycle helper is…. Maybe you’ll get to see a re-covering alcoholic on your old bike soon.
Rush Carter
CS West Bikes
Hey, Rush — has Peter had any luck finding a larger space for his bike clinic? Brian Gravestock was telling me the other day that the demand for his services has more or less doubled.
Another thing a lot of the “invisible cyclists” (re: Patrick’s piece on Las Vegas or Dan Koeppel’s invisible riders in LA) need are lights. Even inexpensive ones help. I think BikeABQ was working with the Police Dept. down in Duke City getting lights to poor riders.
On this post’s note, here’s a call out to all you Springs residents: We at Wheels Of Change are holding a clothing/food drive for the homeless. It started last Wednesday, and we had a get-together Saturday night at Trinity for donation purposes, but it goes through this Friday at the three downtown dropoff locations: The City Building, Worner Center at CC, and Old Town Bike Shop. So far we’ve about filled up one room in our house with an amazing quantity of donations. After picking up the last of the donations on Friday, we’re going to round up our volunteers on Saturday, load up all the panniers and trailers we can find, and ride on down to Tent City to distribute what we have to give. So far we have about eight folks, plus Sandhya and myself, to help transport/distribute the goods. If you can, please donate that old sweater you never wear, or maybe some dried/canned food. If you’re interested in volunteering a couple of hours on Saturday, we’d love to have you! For more info on it all, go here:
http://wheelsofchange.net/content/homeless.htm
Thanks!
Spent the better part of last week locked up, getting my head rewired. Being a numbers guy, I couldn’t help but notice that somewhere around 75% of my fellow vacationers had no means to pay their bills, which ran around $1,100 per night MSRP, and just a $30 co-pay with TriCare. Amongst those with “insurance” (which in most cases isn’t really insurance but is partially pre-paid health care up to a point … which isn’t “insurance” at all), I heard anywhere from $100 to $750 a night. What an effing racket.
Also worth noting, amongst the male patients, somewhere around 8 out of 10 were military vets.
Yep, lots of folks needing a bit of help these days.
“Head rewired?” That sounds grim. I hope you had a good electrician and that the lights are back on.
Meanwhile, Herself’s insurance company just sucked $326 out of her paycheck for reasons we cannot divine, just in time for solstice, and it seems our “health care” will cost 34 percent more in 2010 than it did this year. Makes a guy want to visit his sawbones a couple times a week just to get some value out of the rotten deal. “Hey, doc’, this look weird to you? No? OK, cool, see you Thursday.”
And Joey, good on you for the vittles-and-duds drive. Gonna be a lot of homeless folk wearing old U.S. Postal kit come Saturday? The Liberal Store in the Depot Arts District is taking clothes and canned goods, too.
Hey Patrick…good post and thanks for reminding us all that there are many in much worse straits than some of us…As it gets colder being homeless is particularly difficult…i think i do give what i am able for the same reason (karmic debt and all that shit) Still want a new imac tho dammit 🙂
We all do what we can, as we can, whenever we can. Seems to be a good way to keep our world moving and not dropping too many folks along the way.
Thanks, Patrick, for the reminder and guys also for the examples and thoughts. I’ll step up a bit more this year.
Patrick,
I haven’t heard if he’s found a bigger space or not. I’ve got some excess parts that I need to run down to him so I’ll check then.
Rush
We have a local bike co-op here in DulMn that repairs, rebuilds, and teaches people how to do the same to their own rides. I’ve got a couple of boxes of parts, some wheels and tires etc. that are going there instead of on Craig’s list. Being “aged” out of a job more than a year ago, I’ve found a new appreciation for those without. I’ve gotten stimulus funding to go to college for a new career, but paying the bills is still tough on unemployment. Lucky our house payment is still low enough to afford, or we’d be living in my van down by the river.
It’s amazing to me how close many of us are to the ragged edge. Anyone with half an ear can pick up a half-dozen Steinbeck stories in the grocery store, the pharmacy, the grog shop — anywhere folks are trying to get by on a couple of part-time jobs and a shitload of ramen noodles.
My income has declined steadily over the past few years, thanks to various downsizings, cutbacks and what have you, but I’m still earning, kinda, sorta. And thanks to Herself, our heavy debt is about as low as it can go — one house payment, one car payment, and no credit-card debt. But it wouldn’t take much bad news to put us into a riverside van.
Miss Mia Sopaipilla and Turkish would not like that. They hate motor vehicles the way Darth Cheney hates the living.
The point being: give what you can when you can. And be weary of scams…because this is the time of the year for them. Sort of like the bumper sticker I saw today plastered on a nice, clean truck: “Don’t take Christ out of Christmas.” Ironic then ain’t it that if you did, you’d be left with “mas.” Which is what?
As in Roberto Duran’s famous “no mas”.
Good works all. I get pretty heavily involved with the Canadian Pacific Holiday train for hunger, 2 of them that travel North America every December with a rolling medicine show of top notch entertainment, and solicit donations of food and money for the local food pantries in each town they stop. Very cool sight to see this sucker pull up to an Amtrak depot! http://www.dellsholidaytrain.com/
lights are shining bright, thank you!
but i was pretty lucky. my better have has been watching me and knew when i was really in trouble. lots of folks out there in much worst condition, with no safety net. so i’ll be making the investment in the karma bank this holiday. told the family that unless you’re still wearing PJs with feet on them, santa steve is skipping you this year in order to maximize donations to the truly needy.
We have several groups of friends who have agreed with us that our mutual gifts to each other are donations to support organizations such as food banks, animal shelters, and the like. With many of us the far side of fifty, its not like we need more junk under the tree.
The one with the most shit when they die does not win, but rather the one who has most successfully divested him or her self and gone out of this world with a minimal negative footprint on the planet. I’m afraid that’s a tough challenge to most of us.
A local LBS – Amling’s Cycle and Fitness (http://amlingscycle.com/ ) has been running a Toys for Tots ride for 7 years. Every year (well last year’s was canceled due to freezing rain and slick/icy roads) 60 plus cyclist show up to pull 30-40 trailers of toys (more than 700) into Chicago. Generally my bike club partners chip in enough for 4-5 full trailers.
The owner Joe puts a lot of time and energy and risk into this. If you donate enough for a trailer he gets the toys, he also buys the trailers and then has the risk of having to sell them over the next year. I don’t think the distributor has ever taken used trailers back.
There are lots of ways to help.
Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10lQ9k0xFXc&feature=channel
Full disclosure, it’s my son’s journalism project. (Patrick, if I point him to your blog you think he’ll change majors?)
The best part is the 5 car Chicago PD escort running rolling road blocks of rush hour traffic from Niles to the end point bar.
The Catholic Church is so schizophrenic it amazes even me. If Catholicism was the Marian House in Bibleburg, the Liberation Theology leaning Jesuits (go read Gustavo Guiterrez) just back from Central America that I broke bread with at UH Manoa in 1987, or some reasonable facsimile thereof, I would be a regular at Mass. Heck, my widowed Sicilian grandmother used to walk me halfway across the old West Side of Buffalo to attend Mass. Some things stick.
But with so much of the U.S. Church tied up in right-wing politics, I can barely stand to drive or ride by a Center of Catholicism. I got into a shit-fest with the BombTown Church when I told the priest that if we couldn’t stand the heat of being criticized for being a Center for Weapons of Mass Destruction, we should get the fuck out of the kitchen. The line went dead.
Life goes on.
Don’t know how long this lasts, but every time you include #NoKidHungry in a tweet, Domino/C&H sugar will donate $1 to @sharestrength.
Pat, take a look at Urban Peak as well