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8:47 am
February 22, 2010
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Buckeye girl and I were wondering what is going on in your local communities.
I'll start out by saying that a young high school student saw a need for a free dinner for those who are struggling in this economy. Her high school Honor Society started a one evening a week free meal…it has grown to 5 evenings a week, 52 weeks a year. It didn't take long before local churches and businesses were volunteering to prepare and serve meals. On average abt. 75 people an evening are served.
Our church also has a community meal every 3 or 4 months just for socialization…no cost. Several people in the congregation meet to cook and the whole community is welcome. We also provide rides for some of the elderly.
At Thanksgiving time we have a Senior citizens Thanksgiving dinner…transportation or carryout dinners are provided for those who need them. This is also free of charge and just for socialization.
What's your group doing? Any sewing groups?
7:13 pm
February 10, 2009
Online
That's awesome Miss Judy, we have two churches that each host a community meal once a month which is free, they'll accept donations though, so as soon as the holidays are over, I'm going to start going so my dad (93) can 'visit' with folks, and I'll help out if need be or just drop a few bucks in the hat. He's a very sociable sort so he'll really enjoy it.
9:52 pm
August 24, 2011
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Our church is the location of the food bank in our town. They do a weekly meal that they invite clients of the food bank and anyone in the community to come eat.
The animal rescue group we volunteer with gives pet food to people who can't afford it for their animals to keep people from having to give up their pets.
10:05 pm
December 14, 2010
Online
We have a food pantry at our church. I have tried to generate interest in cooking classes for the people that use our food pantry but it doesn't seem to work. I hear a lot of reasons why but most of them I don't accept. Anyone with ideas for teaching those in need of food how to make it feed the most meals I would love to hear.
10:18 pm
February 8, 2009
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I'm blessed to be an officer of my local American Legion Auxiliary Unit. We've adopted two Veterans in our local Veterans nursing facility and we buy them gifts for Christmas, their birthdays, other holidays. We are also collecting new toys plus things for older kids that will be taken to the WVU Children's Hospital for distribution ON Christmas morning for all the kids that are there that day.
Dede
7:30 am
June 2, 2010
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Ross said:
We have a food pantry at our church. I have tried to generate interest in cooking classes for the people that use our food pantry but it doesn't seem to work. I hear a lot of reasons why but most of them I don't accept. Anyone with ideas for teaching those in need of food how to make it feed the most meals I would love to hear.
I'd also be interested in ideas to help others make their food go further. My daughter is a registered dietician and she is finding the same thing. No one is interested in learning to make their food go further. She even put together a cookbook for her clients and so far no one has used it. She works with low income families so the need is great.
9:50 am
August 24, 2011
Offline
I would love to learn how to make our food go further!
11:51 am
December 14, 2010
Online
If you have 8 people to feed and have a bag of potatoes a pound of ham and some milk and flour and a couple of onions . You can make scalloped potatoes with lots of potatoes and thin slices of ham cut into small pieces. A big pot of soup can be made with the leftover bones from a roast.
A friend was over for dinner this past Sunday and she said at thankgiving her Aunt simply put the turkey carcase in a plastic bag and tossed it . Suzanne said that she retrieved it before it hit the bottom of the trash can. There is always a lot of food left on a turkey carcase.
If a small fryer size chicken is boned and cut into small bite size pieces and floured and seasoned and baked in an oven it can feed 8 and the bones can be used to make chicken vegetable noodle soup.
A little ham added to a skillet full of potatoes, onions and carrots makes enough hash to feed a bunch.
When you are poor eating meat that hasn't been combined with other food is a wasteful luxury.
I don't like to contribute to food pantries because they expect for items that I won't buy for my family because they are not cost effective or they are just plain bad cooking.
People at the grocery store pull the big, loose, dark green leaves off the cabbages and leave them behind I buy them for stuffed cabbage.
That combination uses more weight of cabbage than of meat and you can mince and season chicken for the meat part. If you don't have a grinder just freeze the meat soft frozen and start slicing with a sharp knife. If you just keep cutting the big pieces in half pretty soon you have a coursely minced pile of meat that you can mix with seasons and form into ball and wrap in steamed cabbage leaves and cook in a little water on a low fire. They shouldn't boil. While your potatoes and carrots are cooking.
Cook one potato and one carrot for each person and make certain that everyone gets a fair share of the cabbage rolls.
10:09 pm
December 14, 2010
Online
This is how food can be made to feed many: This 4 1/2 pounds of pork. I sliced some pieces about a half inch thin and wrapped it around some seasoned sausage ground from the same pork butt.
I prepared these for our holiday dinner this Sunday past. There were ten people at table and we ate two of the three rolls. Today I sliced the third and took it to add to a lunch table set up by a group at church.
There was quite a bit of other food on the table and I brought some of this back home.
7:28 am
March 30, 2009
Offline
I don't like to contribute to food pantries because they expect for items that I won't buy for my family because they are not cost effective or they are just plain bad cooking.
A reason for the things that food pantries ask for may be because of their state laws. After moving here, I was shocked to find out how limiting the laws can be. When we lived in Oh. our parish would gather home cooked casseroles, side dishes, and cookies each month for the shelters.
Back to the original topic….our parish always has a food barrel to gather food and another barrel to gather baby supplies. This month there was a big push within the classes to gather bags of groceries. These went to the same area that the teens and some adults went to in the fall and helped winterize their houses. We also have a coat drive each year. I'm always amazed in how much people bring. Oh, our parish also does a tree with children's and shut in's needs and desires for gifts. Every tag/list was taken this year!
7:55 am
September 1, 2008
Offline
We collect food for the pantry in town, support missionaries, Africa University, support a family at Christmas and Thanksgiving with food, clothes, gift cards for gas and toys. You can also give peanut butter and jelly to pantries, and soap, laundry detergent, toothpaste, toilet paper and deopoderant – also if you dont want to buy the food.
If pantries made it a must to attend a cooking class or how to stretch your dollar, before they got their food they might attend. Understanding these persons is a challenge at times. I have worked in agencies that required something of the people and some where food was just given without much contact. I have also done vouchers to the local store in town and they bill us.
we have an agency that gives rent assistance, utilities, medical help and so on. there are rules though about how often you get that help so there is help for others too. sometimes it depends on your philosophy and theology of those in need and how you view them- as to how you help them. People on the street often need medication and cannot live like you and I do – pay rent, balance a checkbook, make good choices and they need help just to survive. If you have ever worked in homeless shelters – you get to know they are not mainstream and frankly many of them dont want to be held to that. Good thing to have the community meal and shelter. we also support several women's shelters where they go when they are being abused.
8:30 am
September 1, 2008
Offline
also dont forget the dogs and cats. CNN did a recent article about shelters refusing pets and how people have to surrender their dogs when they lose their jobs etc. My sister has a nonprofit in Houston called RESCUE BANK. They now warehouse their donations at the Houston Food bank. You have to be a rescue no kill shelter but they help anyone who needs food for their pets and have fallen on hard times. They have a satelite office in Dallas and Baton Rouge as well. They helped with katrina to rescue pets and with othere disasters. They air lifted pet food and supplies into Vermont when they were rained out and all roads were closed. They now only charge groups for freight costs. So the group can get thousands worth of food for about 100. A small town near me in a rural area has a food truck and people donate food for families there who cant afford to feed their pets. check it out in your area.
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