Something I always wondered, remember the free cheese and stuff the government gave away

[RB TexLa]

In the town I grew up in they just told everyone to come down to city hall and get some cheese. Was this the norm or did most places follow some kind of procedure based on need?

[Kookaburra]

1. My town did the same thing

You didn't have to sign up for anything. Just come and get it.

[SoCalNative]

2. It was SUPPOSED to be for low income

ie seniors and people who were on government assistance like food stamps or welfare.

[RB TexLa]

3. I know it was.

[Heidi]

4. That happened in US towns I lived in as late as 1998.§

I always _hated_ that there were these short articles in the local newspapers about "commodities distribution" and then those who needed the help were earmarked as "poor" or "welfare queens" just by showing up to get help. In one town I lived in,the local newspaper even ran photos of people picking up commodities. People ought to be able to get help without their need being made a public spectacle.

[jwirr]

5. I remember those days and I think there were a few guidelines about

poverty but what kept many people from getting it was pride. You had to go to the local courthouse to pick it up and everyone was watching so many people just stayed home. That program was an early form of food stamps and still exists in some areas where you can opt between food stamps or commodities. The commodities consist of cheese, canned and fresh vegetables, flour, canned and fresh fruit, fruit juices, pastas, meats (including buffalo burger sometimes) and other basics.

[RB TexLa]

9. I guess we didn't have that pride affliction. I guarantee you, every house in my little town

people were slicing cheese off that big ass block.

I remember having the cheese, and I remember the canned fruits were very strange.

[Arkansas Granny]

19. Where I live the commodities were given out even after the advent of

food stamps. I'm not sure what the requirements were to receive the commodities, but I seem to remember it being a USDA program, not a HHS program. I could be wrong about that because it's been a long time ago.

[Gormy Cuss]

30. Both are /were USDA programs.

Food Stamps were a program of the Food and Nutrition Service within USDA. The surplus food was under the USDA commodities distribution program.

[ropi]

6. i remember that...

my grandma worked with handing it out. i thought it was mainly there for the senior citizens and if you were below a certain yearly payscale, but i could be wrong. i was a kid at the time.

and i recall that the pb was vile!

[lucretia54]

7. Was it the WIC program?

The WIC program gave out milk and cheese to families with young children and pregnant women.

Of course, nowadays, children are raised on Mountain Dew.

[RB TexLa]

10. Just commodities distribution, I think it was supposed to be for WIC recipients

but we always had enough for everyone in town. Nobody on WIC went without.

[eShirl]

16. No; a college roommate's family used to get the cheese, and he was the youngest.

His family always gave it to him/us because we were starving students.

[jwirr]

26. What most of us are talking about was not WIC. WIC gives you coupons

that are cashed in for various healthy items to feed your children under 5.

[doctor jazz]

8. I recall seeing huge boxes of it in the basement of city hall, they couldn't give it away.

The mayor was a friend of mine and we were farting around downstairs and there it was...I took some home but now I can't recall if it was any good or not.

[jwirr]

27. In our community the wealthy were glad if you would share with them

because it was very good cheese.

[Fire1]

11. The first distribution was before the name change to WIC.

In Michigan it was for 'ADC welfare recipients,' only. Aide to Dependent Children.

[depakid]

12. That "cheese" was nasty; you had to be pretty damn hungry to eat it

As a poor and lowly undergrad with a meager stipend, I got some of that cheese once....

Don't think there were any questions asked. As I recall, the program was meant more to support dairy prices than as a public assistance program.

[Fire1]

15. I don't know what it was like in your state but here, recipients

were selling it, trading it and some friends of mine were giving it to their friends (me, for one.) That cheese was the best I've ever had which is quite different from the cheese distributed to present day WIC. Now, THAT, is nasty.

[depakid]

21. This was in Oregon in the early 80's

This wasn't actual cheese- it was "processed cheese food product" or something like that. You could ruin a pot of refried beans or mac & cheese by adding that stuff in.

I think we ended up eating about half of it on sandwiches- because we couldn't give it away. At the time, a big block of low end cheese (actual cheese) was only around 2 bucks and for a little more, you could get the cheap Tillamook cheddar- which is not too bad.

[doc03]

23. We were on strike for over three months back in the mid 80's

and most of the cheese our Union was getting for our food bank somehow ended up being sold to restaurants. I did get one box of that cheese and I thought is was very good, it made great grilled cheese sandwiches.

[eShirl]

18. we used it for toasted cheese sandwiches & to melt it into soups and those Lipton pasta/rice packets

3 starving students with a toaster oven and a hot plate

[Broken_Hero]

39. The current cheese(from what I've seen the past 10yrs or so)

reminds me of a generic velveeta type of cheese, just a little more hard/firm than velveeta though....

[Frustratedlady]

13. We used to have butter and cheese distributed for the needy in the 1970s, I believe.

However, they then had a program where they paid farmers to dispose of their dairy herds, which cut down on over-production. That may be why there isn't as much given out.

Too bad, as the food banks could sure use some now.

[doc03]

25. We were on strike in 1985 for over 3 months

and again in 1996 for 10 1/2 and our Union received cheese, butter and I think peanut butter for our food bank. Very little of it actually got down to the rank and file I know one of our Union officials that had two freezers full of the cheese in her basement. Some of it also ended up in restaurants in Youngstown.

[bananas]

14. Apparently it's still in operation

"The surplus government food program is alive and well"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=230x4277

[leveymg]

17. 1983. Santa Cruz, CA. Nice, buttery USDA surplus cheddar. Great with local white wine and

crusty French bread. Then we went surfing at Light House point, down the road.

We were broke, but happy.

[Freddie Stubbs]

20. Government Cheese:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_cheese

[Hannah Bell]

22. something wrong there. gov't cheese predated the 80s.

Section 32 of the Agriculture Act of 1935.

To bring stability into the marketplace, Congress passed P.L. 74-320 on August 24, 1935.

The object of this legislation was to remove price-depressing surplus foods from the market through government purchase and dispose of them through exports and domestic donations to consumers in such a way as not to interfere with normal sales.

This law provided the basis for donating surplus commodities (and later funding) for federal domestic food programs. USDA originally defined eligible outlets for these commodities, which included schools (for lunch programs), nonprofit summer camps for children, charitable institutions, and needy families.

The Agricultural Act of 1949.

Additional authority for commodity donations was made available to the Department with enactment of the Agricultural Act of 1949, and subsequent amendments.

Section 416 of the Act made certain commodities acquired through price-support operations by the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) available for distribution to needy people. CCC commodities were made available to:

(1) school lunch programs;

(2) the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Federal, State, and local public welfare organizations for the assistance of needy Indians and other needy persons;

(3) private welfare organizations for the assistance of needy persons within the United States; and needy persons outside the United States...

http://www.fns.usda.gov/FDD/aboutfd/fd_history.pdf.

[jwirr]

31. All three of those entities still recieve the cheese in many areas. nt

[Hannah Bell]

37. i know, but the wiki article says gov't cheese started being distributed in the 80s.

late 40s/early 50s.

[Two Americas]

41. was just about to post that

Thanks Hannah.

[damntexdem]

24. Honk if you love cheeses.

Cheeses saves.

What would cheeses do?

[Matariki]

28. You know - Ronald Reagan giving away food to poor people, I never trusted.

I always suspected it was laced with swine flu or uranium.

[jwirr]

33. Our government has a reserve of food stuffs stored in case of an

emergency - commodities come from this reserve and is distributed before the expiration dates of the food items.

[Matariki]

38. I know, I know. I was talking about my paranoia during the Reagan administration

You heard about 'government cheese' a lot back then.

[lonestarnot]

29. I remember the cheese deal.

[Sparkly]

32. It was also supposed to help subsidize dairy farms, wasn't it?

:shrug:

[jwirr]

36. Yes just as all the food programs are supposed to do. I think *ss tried

to get rid of many of them. And I think our emergency reserves were more or less depleted by that administration. Let us hope we do not need them any time soon.

[Gormy Cuss]

34. There was an income eligibility threshhold.

If they told everyone to come on down, either your community qualified as predominantly income-eligible or someone ignored the rules.

[LostInAnomie]

35. My grandparents used to get it.

That was the best damn cheese.

[mackerel]

40. Where we lived Catholic Charities was in charge of distribution

my Dad was the director so he'd bring home the last block. My Mom would get so mad! It's not Dubliner that's for sure.

[SeattleGirl]

42. My family got gov't food in the tin cans with black lettering when I

was in first grade.

I have no idea how one qualified for it; I never thought to ask my parents when I got older, and they are both gone now.

But poor as we were, we did have food, thanks to whatever program that was.