"The No. 1 request is for gas bill payment"

[Liberal_in_LA]

Food pantries scramble to keep up with demand

Read more: Food pantries scramble to keep up with demand | freep.com | Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com/article/20100811/NEWS05/8110335/1318/Food-pantries-scramble-to-keep-up#ixzz0wiFlNzk0


A record number of Michiganders are turning to public agencies, private organizations and religious institutions for help. Those agencies are being fueled by staff and volunteer support, government funds and donations.

But as needs increase, the fuel is running low.
Calls for assistance to the United Way of Southeastern Michigan's 211 hot line are expected to top 408,000 by the end of this year, surpassing last year's record of 393,439, according to the most recent statistics from its downtown Detroit office.

"The No. 1 request is for gas bill payment, followed closely by food, and third is rent payment assistance," said Kristen Bolds, operations manager for 211.

Unemployment is the biggest driver of need, said Gerry Brisson, a vice president for Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan.

"The month of July we distributed 3.2 million pounds of food; that compares with 2.4 million pounds of food in July of 2009," Brisson said. "We're planning to see double-digit increases in need each month.

"Until jobs come back, people will be running out of resources. They have to depend more and more on emergency resources because their own resources are just not there."


Read more: Food pantries scramble to keep up with demand | freep.com | Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com/article/20100811/NEWS05/8110335/1318/Food-pantries-scramble-to-keep-up#ixzz0wiFaE3JQ

[Donnachaidh]

1. This upcoming winter is going to be HORRENDOUS on the people getting squeezed

And our government cuts 14 BILLION from food stamps.

Wonder how COLD it's going to get in the northern states before the November elections?

[HillbillyBob]

2. Its miserable to have no heat in winter in a 30s stone cottage

Spent a winter with broken windows, no insulation and a dead furnace..up in the mountains near Asheville NC. We did what we could with plastic over the windows, but the place was a sieve, and the basement was a moat.
Yea I know is not as long as winter further north. I grew up in WV/Md mountains and recall some bitter cold there.
I really feel for those who are in such a squeeze, been there, done that.

We were able to scrape up and get a kero heater, we still have and we still use it as its less expensive to use instead of the now dead furnace here.
It does get pretty cold there 20 degrees even with the kero heater it was in the 50s in that house many nights and colder when it was windy. It was better than being homeless all together but it was a cold and hungry winter for us.
Now with all the sealing and insulated curtains the 23,000 btu heater is too much at times, except for those nights that it gets into the teens its still cold in here, but way better. We put a metal pan of water on top of the heater to help keep the humidity up and always be careful with the fuel and kids and pets.

I have posted many times about all the little things I did to keep the heat in and take advantage of the sunshine..I know not everyone can and this is a modular home with little consideration to energy savings..granted it started out ahead of many older homes as far as construction goes. It still needs much more insulation.

If it had not been for Second Harvest food bank we would have starved that winter. We have gardens here..or trying to grow enough to get us through the winter, we were trying to get enough going so we could donate some fresh food to them..too hot too dry for most of our crops to do much again this year. What we are getting will help us some.

So when are we going to get mad enough at the Rs to do something..and yea I m at a loss as to what we are to do too.

[Donnachaidh]

8. Bob -- cold is cold, no matter where you are.

I grew up in Maine with oil heaters - I here ya with the problem of cold.

I'm not looking forward to cold here. I'm in a red area that still plays as if there is NO problem going on. I do know that even though last winter was fairly mild, the Liheap programs got nailed and ran out of money early on, and if this year is colder it's going to be far worse. As we've been lucky enough to be able to forego the food banks, I don't know how they are right now. But winter is going to tell the tale - in many areas in the country.

It's past time for the government to get off their cushy asses. WAY past due.

[Canuckistanian]

3. You hear of grocery stores giving food to food banks

And clothing stores will sometimes give to charities.

But when was the last time you ever heard of an oil company that gave away free fuel for the poor?

[OneGrassRoot]

4. Great point...

:grr: and :cry:

[RandomThoughts]

5. To specifically answer that exact question, it was reported that happened a few times.

It was posted on the web years ago that exact thing was in many articles regularly.

There were articles of Venezuela giving away discount heating oil to poor Americans.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1157172,00.html

So if you ask when the last time I heard that, last year, year before that, a few other times.

Although that does not mean it happened, just because it is in some news article, although it might have.

[OneGrassRoot]

6. Haven't read link yet but, you're right, I recall Citgo specifically...

making the offer a few years ago.

[Canuckistanian]

14. I remember that from 2006

But then I think they discontinued it.

But what about the giants of petroleum? Exxon? BP? Shell? They've made $billions and taken millions of tax credits to the bank.

Where are their discounts for the poor?

[NNN0LHI]

7. Citgo Petroleum Corp.

[Canuckistanian]

13. Was that free?

I seem to recall that it was discounted, not free.

[JNelson6563]

9. Citgo

They do it.

[Odin2005]

10. But, I thought Chavez was TEH EVIL!

:rofl:

[Statistical]

12. ever heard of an oil company that gave away free fuel for the poor? Yup

http://www.massresources.org/pages.cfm?contentID=41&pageID=14&Subpages=yes

[Odin2005]

11. This winter is really gonna suck.

My mom is probably gonna have to keep her thermostat at 60F all winter because she can't afford enough propane.