http://rutlandherald.com/article/20140712/THISJUSTIN/707129971
Food services seek help
July 12,2014
Volunteers sought
for food services
SPRINGFIELD — The community food shelf and a new program that feeds almost 300 children a day are looking for volunteers to keep the services going.
The Springfield Family center is seeking help preparing meals for children whose families struggle to put food on the table, especially during summer vacation.
The new program coordinator for the Lunch at Home program, Kristle Sylvester, said the demand is high for preparing and delivering meals to local homes.
If the effort proves unsustainable due to a lack of volunteers, she said, the program will likely be shut down or scaled back.
The community food shelf also has a variety of open shifts. Volunteers are needed to help the center’s clients and verify their information.
Shifts are from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 12 to 3 p.m.
Anyone interested in volunteering time for either of these programs can contact Stephanie at 885-3646 ext. 210 or at stephanie_sfc@vermontel.net.
do you get the food for free? why should people work for free, oh wait a minute, why don't ya make the welfare people work there, earn thier keep
ReplyDeleteYou expect too much from the poor. We have to do everything for them.
ReplyDeleteIf they're on foodstamps already then isn't this double-dipping?
ReplyDelete"The new program coordinator for the Lunch at Home program, Kristle Sylvester, said the demand is high for preparing and delivering meals to local homes. "
ReplyDeleteNow that all the convenience stores are gone, I do wonder what people do who don't have cars. Still can't they have a traveling van and a meeting time at various locations so people who need it can maybe walk half a mile? Do people really need to have it delivered to their front door?
Let me get this straight. With a myriad of child welfare programs including, EBT cards, WIC, 3-Squares, CACFP, Farm-to-Family, etc., etc., etc., K.S. can identify nearly 300 children that are being withheld food? The issue is not a lack of resources, it's flagrant, child abuse, and for her to condone it, is culpatory.
ReplyDeleteI also believe some summer camps get their lunches from this program. Hopefully it does not have to stop, as many children will be affected if it does. Wish I could help, but I'm at work during these hours.
ReplyDeleteThis is for kids. Most of the families also work.
ReplyDeleteI'm confused. They work? So why do they need assistance? The parent can't mix up a tuna fish salad or leave a sandwich in the fridge? Or are these children so small that they can't handle getting a meal out of the fridge that their parents left or making one themselves? If that is the case what are they doing home alone?
DeleteEither the kids are old enough to make their own meals or not. If the parents are so incompetent as to not be able to make a meal ahead of time, maybe these kids need more than just a meal delivery.
DeleteParents who work do not always earn enough money to cover all expenses. Companies should pay better and this would not be a problem.
I do not think you will understand this. Why don't you find something to do besides tear down anything positive happening.
If we stopped spoon feeding everyone, do you think that people would be in the streets just starving to death?? NO, they would do something for themselves and work for what they need. Stop creating government dependence!! And don't bother playing the "they are just children" card,,,,because that doesn't hold water either.
DeleteSo? My mother worked when she raised me. PB&J anyone? Or how abour a can of Spaghetti-Os?
ReplyDeleteSorry, I have one of those pesky things called a job, so I can't volunteer during those hours... There seems to be plenty of people sitting on their porches doing nothing during the day at the various section 8 housing developements around Springfield, maybe ask them to do it? BTW, what the heck are the food stamps being used for if there are so many kids not getting food? Someone should look into why there are so many hungry kids?
ReplyDeleteFood stamps are being used to buy food at the local Shaw's, and then returned a few hours later for "Cold Hard Cash"! The money is then used to purchased alcohol and drugs. That is only the "Tip of the iceberg"! The children's parents don't give a hoot about their children; someone else will feed them. They feel that these programs are entitled to them. Springfield wake up!
DeletePlease tell me this is not true! Are people really doing this at Shaws?
DeleteI suppose it is better than holding places up with a gun.
I do have to agree if the parents are working, they should be paying to feed their own children. Especially since they most likely are obtaining food stamps already.
This is such a wonderful town. Before I moved here i was never even aware that most of these social services even existed. And the plethora of them in Springfield is mind bending.
It is not true.
DeleteCommon practice in Spfld for addicts and other losers to use EBT and food assistance to barter for alcohol and drugs. When I once questioned, how do your children eat? Was told, just show up at the Family Ctr with a child in tow, and it's there for the asking.
DeleteThe system is broke. I am nearly broke. There are ample jobs out there for anyone wanting to work. If a child's parent squanders food away, that's a Social Services responsibility. Giving more to charity solves nothing.
It's a federal offence to feed animals in the national parks. Do you know why??? Because they become dependent on the food supply. What a weird concept...
DeleteI think what is being overlooked here on the comments is that these are for KIDS. If they have irresponsible parents who choose not to provide for their kids or are burdened with extra as the kids get free meals throughout the school year, these KIDS should not have to pay the price for their PARENT'S irresponsibility.
ReplyDeleteI am in no way condoning the way the system works, but don't hold children responsible.
You must be too young to remember when responsible parents actually too responsibility for their own children.
DeleteI agree. Children are just pawns in there parents hands to move about for their own ways and means. The trouble is that the children learn that this is a way of life and will repeat their parent’s behaviors and sins in the next generation.
Deleteyep.... children now learn that they are the property of the Government. They're learning that their life is only as good as the government allows it to be. At least for the children of democrats that is.
DeleteAnother blatant failure of government, resulting in a self-licking ice cream cone! Having spawned a massive array of wasteful social programs over the past 50 years that have aggressively continued to recruit new dependents to their rolls (as refugees from the progressive's moribund economy), the bloated, incompetent bureaucracy now must acquire the assistance of "volunteer" groups to subsidize them. Why? Because the bureaucracy and the bureaucrats that run it, think first and foremost of themselves (ensuring their own paychecks, bonuses, etc. are paid out first) before the "needy ones" that they supposedly serve. What a fraud.
ReplyDeleteIt is fraud! We all live in a modern day feudal system. I wished I worked a job that would enable me to vote myself pay raises, wonderful insurance packages, and perks galore! I should have listen to my mother and became a lawyer!
ReplyDeleteI have to join the general tone of the comments above; while I understand that the SFC is looking for free labor, there is no explanation as to who is paying for the food itself, which suggests that the lowly tapayer is taking it up the wazoo again after paying for all of the other "social services" enumerated above. I think at minimum, the SFC needs to do a much better job communicating its needs to a community, that is already "taxed" out.
ReplyDeleteThe taxpayers of Springfield want to certainly feed children and give them a better understanding of how one should life their lives. So don’t blame the taxpayers, they are good honest, hard-working individuals that are being taxed to death! Drive along route 5, down by the river, and see how many homes are for sale! Why? Taxes! Drive around town, for sales signs dot the landscape. Why? Taxes!
ReplyDeleteThe town, schools and State are continuing to tax, and tax again. What is the benefit of owning a home? Living in Springfield? Watching individuals commit fraud, lie, cheat and steal to get on public assistance! The taxpayers and the children of the parents that abuse the system pay the price!
Yes the children do need assistance and parents that want to be parents. Time to wake up and stop ignoring the waste, mismanagement, nepotism and breach of ethics of our public elected officials and school administrators.
Most of these complaints are about government waste, bad programs and lack of responsibility.
ReplyDeleteYet, when asked to volunteer to help out, feeding children, all you do is get mad.
We do not want a nation of starving or malnourished children. If you don't step up, the government has to. And that is why you have so many programs. Because people like you refuse to help.
If you don't like the programs, then you must do something differently. Like volunteer.
Hard to volunteer (not that we don't want too!) when you have to work 2-3 jobs to keep your head about water. Some of us pay our bills, pay taxes and aren't on public assistance! And most do volunteer in other areas. We all agree that we can't turn our backs on the children. We aren’t the problem, the parents that want to scam the system are! Once again the children pay the price for their parents sins, and behaviors!
DeleteWhen I was 11 years old (seems like 100 years ago now) both my parents worked. During the summer months I would wake up to a empty house, turning on the good ole Moe, Larry and Curly while placing cereal in a bowl, often topped with milk. I did this myself. After spending most of the morning at a playground with my buddies I'd return home to place so bologna or ham or tuna etc between two slices of bread. Sometimes I'd open a bag of chips with that. After to quickly return outside to see what I missed. Fast forward to today, I can proudly say cereal is still on my menu most mornings and while I may stop at a local restaurant ordering something a bit better than bologna, a sandwich with chips still fit the bill. In between came degrees of honors from high school and a four year college, plus success in business. And to think it may have all started with pouring my own cereal while watching the Three Stooges. I guess the Stooges have been replaced with government handouts. I'm glad I won't be around to see what all this sows 30 years on.
DeleteThe good news is that many of these children will pay back this money when they are on prison work crews for the Springfield Regional Development Corp and Springfield On The Move. Its a win-win situation for some...
ReplyDeleteThese programs are abused. I know of a woman with 3 kids who goes to the salon for nails and hair and works at a good job. HER kids get this program and they are all in their teens.
ReplyDelete