Thieves steal 2,000 pounds of food from Salvation Army

[n2doc]

PORT ANGELES -- Thieves stole 2,000 pounds of food from people who need it most.

Last week, somebody cut the lock off of a Salvation Army storage container crammed with staple canned goods, and stole a month's worth of food.

"They took some of the stew, some of the peanut butter, some of the fruit and corn," said Ernie Rider.

The food was meant to feed families in the region, from Forks to Sequim. Twelve hundred Clallam County families rely on these resources each month.

"It's going to hurt'em 'cause they aren't going to get as much at a time, because we are missing so much," Rider said.



Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/komo/article/Thieves-steal-2-000-pounds-of-food-from-Salvation-2223631.php

[no limit]

1. It's sad we have to rely on the Salvation Army to feed people in this country.

[1776Forever]

2. This is terrible news - When the Conservatives do it there is silence:( Hope they get a huge

donation to replace it!

Food stamp cuts could put food banks in a box
Published: Saturday, October 15, 2011, 5:45 PM
By David Sarasohn, The Oregonian The Oregonian

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/david_sarasohn/index.ssf/2011/10/food_stamp_cuts_could_put_food.html\

...As the congressional supercommittee focuses on cutting $1.5 trillion from the long-term deficit, the $700 billion projected over the next decade for food stamps is on the table. The long-term plan from House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., takes $121 billion from the program, and turns it over to the states. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., a power on both agriculture and hunger, is proposing sizable cuts. At the end of the week, the leaders of the House and Senate agriculture committees, which oversee food stamps, were preparing their proposal to the supercommittee.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, visiting Portland recently, warned The Oregonian's editorial board against taking a big budget bite out of food stamps, pointing out that most of the families helped by the program include children and/or senior citizens.

...It's also an idea that unnerves people running hunger programs at ground level.

"That would just be devastating," said Bristol. "Any cuts in food stamps just force more people to our door."

[pipi_k]

3. Sort of a stupid statement in the article...

"PORT ANGELES -- Thieves stole 2,000 pounds of food from people who need it most."


How does anyone know the people who stole the food didn't ALSO need it?


Oh, wait...no...it was stolen by the 1%, right?

:eyes:

[no limit]

4. Even if they needed it they are scumbags.

A person in need doesn't steal 2,000 pounds of food.

[Lyric]

5. It's entirely possible that they intend to distribute it to others in need.

I'm not saying that I think we should all go steal from the SA, but sometimes their return policy is hard to bear. You can only get food assistance every few months. If your kids are starving and it's too soon to go back, then I can see how someone could be driven to do this. And from personal experience, people who are in dire straits like that tend know others who are as well. I can easily see someone doing this and sharing out the food with other families that have fallen through the cracks in the "charity" system.

Morality is not black and white. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt until I see proof otherwise.

[pipi_k]

7. I disagree

with your statement that "a person in need doesn't steal 2000 lbs of food".


If someone is in dire enough need, with no hope for an end to the need, then that person will likely steal all he can get.

Maybe the person has 8 or more kids. Or maybe the person lives with an extended family.


There are other possibilities besides just the obvious "they are scumbags" one.


Also...2000 lbs of food sounds like a huge amount, but unless it was all just boxes of noodles or bags of chips (both filled mostly with air) it was most likely canned goods.

Which, as anyone who has done a bit of shopping knows, can add up to many lbs if it's all in the same bags.

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. Yeah, it may sound like a lot, but that's only @ 84 cases of

16oz cans - maybe two pallets. A family of 4 or 5 could require app. 1/2 case a day, four cans x 3 meals/day. That means it would last them less than 2 months.

[pipi_k]

12. Exactly...and if the head of the family

has been out of work for months, or even a year or more, they aren't going to have much hope for the near future.

Even two months would (IMO, anyway) seem like a very short time that food would last...

[haele]

6. No, it was probably stolen by a crooked wholesaler looking for a fast buck -

And the food is probably already on the shelves of local convenience or other cheap food stores that otherwise cater (in slightly better times) to those very same people who are now going to the food pantry for their families.

This was an organized theft by people who knew what they wanted and where it was going. This sort of thing happens in "third world" countries all the time. I highly doubt that the food is going to a homeless encampment or shelter.

Haele

[pipi_k]

8. Maybe...maybe not.

There are many explanations as to the type of person(s) who stole that food.

But if the article SAYS it was stolen by people who didn't need it as much as others, then dammit, that must be the TRUTH!!!

Because the guy who wrote that article SAID SO!!!


:eyes:

[haele]

11. No matter what the article says, loading at least two pallets of food items

means that the person that did that had to have a large truck - of a 10 ft U-haul size or more and at least a dolley.
2,000 lbs of food items is not something that disappears into the back of a ratty old station wagon or pick-up, and takes more than a few people to liberate it without attracting notice.
I've been part of humanitarian supplies disbursal - and the logistics involved with loading up even just a thousand pounds of food and disbursing it. Unless a homeless group got ahold of a U-haul and grabbed 6 to 8 strong adults to quickly load up the boxes and pallets into that truck, you wouldn't get that much food to disappear in one trip.
And taking more than one trip to steal food is inviting the police or the local premises security forces. If you're desperate for food, you go in, grab and load up what you can, and run.
That's why I think it was an organized raid for profit.
Most dumpster diving and opportunistic desperation five-finger discount trips frankly wouldn't appropriate more than would fit in perhaps two shopping carts, or the trunk of a Buick or small pick-up. Maybe about 500 lbs of food, if it were all cans.

And that's why I think it was a theft for profit. The article had nothing to do with my opinion other than bring the situation to my attention.

Haele

[pipi_k]

13. Given enough time

I would bet a regular person using a pickup truck (or two or three if the person has friends) could do the job

My Dodge Ram pickup has carried one ton of wood pellets in the back...

[TheKentuckian]

9. Sadly, this is most likely.

Probably some desperate souls got a few bucks to give some greedy fuck super cheap inventory.

It is possible that this food actually went to those who need it but that isn't probable.

[elocs]

14. Something similar happened in April, 2010 in my city:

http://www.wxow.com/global/story.asp?s=12259759

La Crosse, WI (WXOW)- A group that helps struggling families put food on the table, is the target of thieves.

Someone broke into the WAFER food pantry in La Crosse, stealing hundreds of pounds of frozen food.

Sometime between 1-o clock last Monday afternoon and early Tuesday morning, someone took more than 500-pounds of frozen food totaling about $1,500 from a freezer in the backroom at the WAFER food pantry.

According to WAFER Director Heidi Blanke the freezer was full to the point where no more food could be added, since they had just received a frozen food donation from Wal-Mart Monday morning. But by Tuesday morning that freezer was close to empty.

There is no good way to spin this. Whoever did this and the Salvation Army theft were lowlifes. There is food available to those in need and the larger the family, the more food they will get. You don't steal food intended for those who are hungry and in need. No excuse.