Look at the note this women at this link shares... It made me gasp... Food shortage requires that

[midnight]

she eats one meal a day so her two children have enough to eat....


http://civic.moveon.org/c4/occupy/other99/index.html


The Other 99%: Share your story!
Make your letter

Inspired by "We are the 99%" we are encouraging people to help put a face to the 99%. Take a picture of yourself holding a handwritten sign that describes your situation in one sentence, for example: "I'm a single mom, who's going back to school." or "I'm unemployed and the bank keeps threatening to take our house, I don't know what my family is going to do."

Below that, write "I am the 99%."

Take a picture of yourself holding the sign

Try and show at least a part of your face, and make sure your handwritten sign is legible.


Upload your picture

Your Name *

Your E-mail *

Street Address

Your City

Your State

Your Zip *

Upload Photo

Make sure your handwritten letter is legible.
The higher-resolution your photo, the better.

[mahina]

1. I did that for years.

Years.

[sam11111]

2. Einstein was an active Socialist (i expanding on ur sig line)

[midnight]

6. You are an amazing parent and I hope you and your children never experience that again...

[mahina]

10. Thank you, but nothing more than others live with daily

and I was grateful to have what we did.

Never thought in a million years I would end up raising that child, or any child, alone.

One reason I advocate for WIC every chance I get. I don't even want to think where we would have been without it.

Now I'm an employer, with 16 people I'm responsible for, and lots more outside our company who depend on us. It still feels a little similar.

Aloha!

[midnight]

11. Your gratitude sounds like it spread. Keep up the awesome work.

[juajen]

33. I am still doing it. With love, I might add. NT

[Quantess]

3. Hmm... what should my note say?

K & R

[Quantess]

4. One more kick

[midnight]

7. Thank you , Thank you....

[aikoaiko]

5. I'm feeling rather gluttonous right now.

:(

[midnight]

12. Did you get three meals today.... It sure does make you think....

[aikoaiko]

14. Yes, I did. And yes, it did make me think.

[calimary]

18. No kidding. It should make us all think.

To those who see no reason for a social safety net, I say, explain it at the Pearly Gates.

[ceile]

8. K&R!

Mine would read something like "My student loan payments equal my rent"

[Sonney2020]

9. K&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Parents are amazing!

[SpiralHawk]

26. k

and r

[onethatcares]

13. in what is supposed to be the richest country in the world

people are starving.

do what you can, feed who you can.

sometimes I wonder about places like Feeding America when I see that the ceo makes 400k a year and bennies to boot, when I see that they have teamed up with conagra I wonder why should I send them my money.

so I'm left with handing out a few dollars to those hungry folks I see or I've worked out a deal with a close by mini mart, if someone comes in and says, "onethatcares sent me", they get a sandwich and a milk, water or soft drink of choice (sorry I can barely afford my own beer). I know it's not a lot but it works for me.

Peace

[Honeycombe8]

15. I sympathize, but would want more information before going all out...

and bringing out the handkerchief.

What does she do for a living? Was she laid off? What financial condition was she in, when she decided to have the second toddler? How much does she eat in that one meal, and what is it? (I can tell her how to eat for pennies a day, if she wants. And it's healthy.) Her hand doesn't look skinny to me...does she eat McDonald's every day? It's not how often you eat, it's how many calories you eat. If she eats fast food, she might very well be eating more calories than I eat in a day. She could cook at home, healthy foods, and spread out the meals to be three a day.

Does she get child support from her husband? If not, has she filed that with the local District Attorney? They'll go after deadbeat dads. Does she have any family that could help her during these trying times?

There are people who truly have fallen on hard times and need help. A woman I know suffered a stroke early in life and will be in a nursing home the rest of her life, the home and healthcare paid by Medicaid and Social Security Disability & Medicare. Other things like that. But before I start crying, I need more information on this one.

In the end, what she really needs in the long term, after getting short term help, is a better paying job and daycare. Short term help won't help much, if she doesn't solve the long term problem.

Instead of sending her a sign that says, "I was young and dirt poor once, without a nickel to my name, and no prospects for a better life, without a caring family, and with a car I needed to push to get it started---and no windshield wipers (I held the wiper on the windshield with my left arm stuck out of the driver's window)," I could maybe send a sign that says, "How I crawled up out of the gutter to become a decently paid middle class person; you can do it, too!"

[999998th word]

16. Good! bootstraps-rugged individual, or just lost? This is DU.

[Honeycombe8]

27. I don't cry over everyone who says, "poor me." There are truly people in

unfortunate, desperate situations. I save my sympathies and money for them.

Just holding up a sign that says "I eat only once a day so I can feed my kids!" is just a soundbite and a plea for sympathy to rouse people to a cause. It doesn't mean anything.

People who are really desperate and down on their luck don't have time (or computers) to be fooling with movements where they send out signs of themselves pleading for sympathy with a one sentence soudbite, but through which they will get no real help.

Besides, eating only once a day doesn't mean anything. She could be eating 2,000 calories in a Taco Bell meal. That's overeating for a grown woman who is not a bodybuilder.

My sign could legitimately read, "I have never been on a vacation in my entire adult life!" Or my sign could read, "I only eat 1,200 calories a day!" Or my sign could read, "I drive a 14 year old clunker!"

Shameless appeals for sympathy with no facts, taking away from the attention that should be paid to people who are truly in desperate situations.

[Desertrose]

17. :FACEPALM:

"Her hand doesn't look skinny in the picture??"

"What financial condition was she in, when she decided to have the second toddler??"

"How I crawled up out of the gutter to become a decently paid middle class person; you can do it, too!"


O M G

Seriously??

[999998th word]

20. .

[999998th word]

21. She's either lost or an olltray-redstate is that way>>>>>>>

[Honeycombe8]

30. As I told another poster, don't be a sucker for anyone & everyone saying....

something pitiful on a sign. That's easy for anyone to do. Save your sympathies and attentions for those who really need it.

Some lady with a chubby hand flashing a sign that covers her no doubt chubby face that says "I've eaten only once today so that my kids could eat!" (while hiding from you the fact that she ate 2,000 calores at Burger King...more than she should be eating, instead of cooking some healthy meals at home three times a day)....

Don't be a sucker. She qualifies for food stamps, for one thing, since she has two kids. Even if she's working. Secondly, it doesn't matter how many times a day a person eats. What mattes is calories. She may eat more in that one meal than someone else eats in three. Are you thinking she's eating a bowl of gruel? Think again.

Go down to the local nursing home. You'll find young people there with mental problems, mental disabilities, physical disabilities, and/or who have had strokes. All no longer able to care for themselves. You won't find them on the internet flashing signs for shameless appeals for sympathy. They have larger problems to wrestle with. And they don't have computers, either, usually.

Do something great this Christmas. Buy a Kindle for someone in a nursing home. You know, they have little way to get reading material. And they can't afford to buy books. Even if they could, they are not able to leave on their own and go shopping. They don't have computers to do online shopping, and what packages they do get are stolen, unless they're sent via FedEx requiring a signature.

Kindle has tons of classics that a user can download for free. Out of copyright books, like Shakespeare, James Fenimore Cooper, Mary Shelley, Robert Frost, etc. And it's easy to hold with one hand (some people don't have the use of both hands). Touch screen would be great for someone like that. You can also make the font large, which helps those with vision problems.

That's what I'M doing this Christmas.

[Honeycombe8]

28. Don't be a sucker for a "poor me" soundbite. There are people who really

are in desperate situations who deserve your attention.

Some lady with a chubby hand flashing a sign that covers her no doubt chubby face that says "I've eaten only once today so that my kids could eat!" (while hiding from you the fact that she ate 2,000 calores at Burger King...more than she should be eating, instead of cooking some healthy meals at home three times a day)....

Don't be a sucker. She qualifies for food stamps, for one thing. Secondly, it doesn't matter how many times a day a person eats. What mattes is calories. She may eat more in that one meal than someone else eats in three. Are you thinking she's eating a bowl of gruel? Think again.

Go down to the local nursing home. You'll find young people there with mental problems, mental disabilities, physical disabilities, and/or who have had strokes. All no longer able to care for themselves. You won't find them on the internet flashing signs for shameless appeals for sympathy. They have larger problems to wrestle with. And they don't have computers, either, usually.

Do something great this Christmas. Buy a Kindle for someone in a nursing home. You know, they have little way to get reading material. And they can't afford to buy books. Even if they could, they are not able to leave on their own and go shopping. They don't have computers to do online shopping, and what packages they do get are stolen, unless they're sent via FedEx requiring a signature.

Kindle has tons of classics that a user can download for free. Out of copyright books, like Shakespeare, James Fenimore Cooper, Mary Shelley, Robert Frost, etc. And it's easy to hold with one hand (some people don't have the use of both hands). Touch screen would be great for someone like that. You can also make the font large, which helps those with vision problems.

That's what I'M doing this Christmas.

[Le Taz Hot]

23. Just what she needs,

a self-righteous overlord telling her how to run her life. :eyes: :wtf:

[Honeycombe8]

31. She's asking for help, isn't she? I mean, she's on the internet asking for

sympathy and protests on her behalf?

Give a man a meal, that does him fine until the next meal. Teach a man how to fish, and he can eat for life.

If she has two kids & not enuf $ for food, guess what? She qualifies for foods stamps...in all the states, I believe. There is simply no reason for her to eat "only once a day." If she cooks up a couple of large pots of soup, gumbo, potato salad, etc., she and her kids will eat on not very much money for a month, with at least three meals a day.

She's playing you all for a sucker. Which takes away from genuine hardship cases.

But hey, if you want to send her a check without knowing why the deadbeat dad isn't helping to support his kids, or without knowing why she's not applying for and getting food stamps (which you and I have already paid for her to have), that's your business. As for me, I'm saving my checks for those who really have been met with unfortunate circumstances, can't do anything about it, and genuinely need help, even if it's only a few niceties that they could otherwise not afford.

[City of Mills]

24. How do you eat healthy for pennies a day?

I need to cut down on my expenses...what do you do? Is it the same thing every day?

[Honeycombe8]

29. It's not easy. But it can be done.

Ironically, it's healthier than most Americans with money eat.

The secret is dry goods. Beans in bags (not in cans), pasta in bags. Buy them on sale or in bulk, if you have the cash to buy in bulk. They keep a long time.

I can make a large pot of the best darn black bean soup with a couple of bags of black beans. It is delicious. It makes a LOT of meals. It gets better the next day, and it freezes well. You can add chopped onions (which are cheap) on the top, or peppers, or anything else.

You have to use coupons for box goods. And you shop sales, and go to more than one store. You don't have the luxury of going just to one store and getting everything you need.

You can eat spaghetti one day, black bean soup another day, whole grain rice (cooked from a bag) mixed with any sort of veggies another day. You can buy raw chicken, in family packs AND on sale, and make a big pot of chicken soup (you use the bones to give more flavor). Potatoes of any kind are cheap, AND you can find them on sale sometimes.

If you want to buy fruit, you have to buy limited fruits, and only when they are on a good sale. Otherwise, you have to buy limited frozen fruits, or canned fruits on a good sale. There are bags of generic frozen veggies in every store, I think.

On and on. It's dry goods, with a spattering of cheaper meats bought on sale, with some boxed goods bought on sale AND with coupons, with fruits & veggies bought only on good sales or generic frozen or canned on good sales. Frozen foods have the same, or more, nutrients & anti-oxidants as fresh, because they are frozen soon as being picked.

Of course, if that woman is really poor and has two kids, she qualifies for foods stamps in all of the states, I believe. I got food stamps for one month decades ago. I never ate so well as when I had those stamps. I could buy beef and other things that I never could afford before. You can buy more food with food stamps than living on a meager wage.

This is what poor people do. That is what I did. You have to know how to be poor, I guess.

[tinkerbell41]

32. As someone who pulled myself up

into a solid middle class life from foodstamps only to find myself 21 yrs later back looking down the same hole, I am appalled at your comments. You have no idea what the circumstances are. Sometimes the bootstraps have been cut!

[Luminous Animal]

19. This is already being done. Why is Moveon ripping off a spontaneous initiative?

http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/

[Quantess]

25. Why the snark toward moveon.org?

Their effort to do this is the first I had heard of.

[Liquorice]

22. Where is the father of the toddlers? She should be getting child support. nt