Why A Snow Day Brings Tears To Some American Children

[Playinghardball]

No one in America should cry from hunger . . . especially children.



Found on No Kid Hungry’s Facebook page/moveOn.org

[NEG]

1. Where are their parents?

[Tien1985]

2. Not making enough to feed them lunch

Probably have a little breakfast and supper but skip out on lunch. It's not unheard of. My grandparents never had lunch for my mom and her sibs.

That's poverty.

[NYC_SKP]

74. "NEG" has been shown the door, served the pizza, left the building. (nt)

[Tien1985]

82. Hope they don't come back

Too soon!

[Scuba]

3. They're working poor, also doing without lunch.

[gkhouston]

4. Working a minimum-wage job. n/t

[Gormy Cuss]

29. or more likely, working at several part-time minimum wage or under-the-table jobs

and still not making ends meet.

[gkhouston]

51. And not getting any benefits. n/t

[LonePirate]

5. Is this a serious question?

What fit and economically able parent would make their kids go hungry?

[Tab]

18. Um, maybe they're not economically able

consider that?

Chances are the kids participate in a free lunch program at school. No school = no lunch.

[LonePirate]

21. The poster seemed to be suggesting the parents could feed the kids on snow days.

Obviously the parents cannot do that, most likely for economic reasons. If the parents could feed their kids, they would.

[tavalon]

69. They aren't able to afford it

It's called poverty. You might have read about it?

[Scootaloo]

71. Yes, it's a serious question

DU is one of the few places outside of Ricki Lake where "WHERE ARE THE PARENTS?!" is a boilerplate response to any sort of child issue. As if parents are magical creatures whose presence makes everything all right.

Maybe for those people so privileged as to have grown up in a two-parent middle-income stable family? Personally I can't relate, so when I see "where are hte parents," my response is "the parent is probably at work, dickhead"

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. Are you serious?

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the so-called "compassionate conservatism" in action.

[Odin2005]

9. THEY ARE WORKING!

Enjoy your pizza.

[Nevernose]

11. Busy being poor n/t

[WillyT]

14. Starving In Another Part Of Town

[proud2BlibKansan]

34. +1

There's another one at the bottom of the thread.

Fun times here lately, eh?

Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2137648

[piratefish08]

17. probably hungry at THEIR min wage jobs.

[alphafemale]

20. Where are the parents of hungry children?

Skipping even more meals themselves, I'd imagine. Maybe sucking purloined packets of ketchup.

Where are the parents?

Are you sure YOU are in the right place?

[Playinghardball]

22. They're working at WalMart on minimum wage..

[heaven05]

23. wtf?

you need to find another outlet. Poor people don't have a lot of options. Kids who shed tears on a snow day could be part of a homeless family living in a local shelter. Where is your compassion?

[lpbk2713]

24. This dipshit is dining on pizza now.

The irony is too much.

[Wind Dancer]

27. Sailing on their yachts...

..in the Caribbean, of course!

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. Some are in prison. Some are working 2 or 3 jobs.

Most are doing the very best they can under difficult circumstances.

I really don't care though where their parents are. If a kid is hungry, I don't ask them why. I just feed them.

[NOLALady]

54. Working.

[gollygee]

63. Going hungry alongside their kids

where do you think they are? Eating caviar while they watch their kids go hungry?

[ljm2002]

72. Are there no work houses?

[Lars39]

7. Where's your humanity?

Empathy? Sympathy? Compassion?
On edit: sorry, talking to visitor first out of gate.

[Nye Bevan]

8. I never thought of that.

Children who are eligible for free school lunches should somehow be provided for on snow days. I wonder if there are any districts which have figured out how to do this.

[DollarBillHines]

15. That's a good point

The schools know how many "free" lunches are allocated - they get paid for them. Since the vast majority of "free" lunches are virtually MRE, why couldn't the Processing Centers (formerly called Cafeterias) just warm them up and send them away?

[TexasBushwhacker]

42. Free lunches aren't any different than regular lunches

They are hot meals with protein, vegetables and fruit. All the kids have debit cards to pay. For kids that get free lunch, their debit cards are charged up by the school district. For kids who pay, their parents charge their card up through the school districts website. That way no one has to worry about carrying money and no one knows who is getting free lunch or breakfast and who isn't.

[Igel]

16. It would be tough.

If school's just cancelled before it starts, often the parents have to arrange for last-minute day care. School's closed, food's never prepared. They'd have to have the employees go in and have the parents drive them or pick up the food. Awkward. And if there's really a good reason for the snow day, dangerous.

But don't forget to include the kids who get free breakfasts.

If school's begun, it's likely that the cafeteria workers are told to stay home. The snow days I remember all were announced before lunch was being made (so no lunch) or kids were sent home after lunch.

If announced before lunch, you have the same problem as if the entire day's cancelled, but it's even more inconvenient for working parents. If the kids are sent home after lunch, no prob.

[liberalhistorian]

77. The largest district in my state,

Sioux Falls, has a great "backpack" program where they provide backpacks with snacks and meals in them for needy children to take home on the weekends, since many of those who qualify for the reduced-price or free lunches don't eat much outside of school lunches. The community provides the funding and food through fund-raisers and donations and volunteers pack the backpacks several times a year. I believe they are expanding that to include snow days, which are quite common here in this state. Other districts in the state have started to take notice and have either implemented their own programs or are laying the groundwork to do so. Frankly, all districts in every state should have such a program.

[Nye Bevan]

83. Excellent. I suspected that someone, somewhere would have this figured out (nt)

[historylovr]

85. Now that's a good solution.

Would be wonderful if it were implemented across country, I agree.

[Odin2005]

10. This makes me want to cry!

[pansypoo53219]

12. raise minimum wage. start paying LIVING WAGES.

40 hrs at ONE job used to be enough. then we needed TWO JOBS. HOW DO YOU LIKE TAX CUTS NOW???

UNION BUSTING. it started under reagan. the slippery slide back.

[lpbk2713]

13. They probably go home to a cold house too.

I hate what our world has become. Particularly the way it impacts
those among us who are the least able to help themselves.

[KG]

19. america! fuck yea!

[cer7711]

25. Shame on us.

Last edited Sun Jan 6, 2013, 02:04 AM - Edit history (1)

We are one of the richest countries on the planet, yet have one of the highest (and growing) poverty rates in the western world.

There is no excuse for stories like this. But there is a reason: trickle-down, Ayn Randian sociopaths wielding political power, an ever-widening gulf between the haves and have-nots.

This is capitalism's end-game.

Our move . . .

[jtuck004]

26. Deceptive picture. Every Friday has the same effect, little food 'til Monday for many. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

35. Not with the Back Snack Program

Kids take home a backpack full of groceries every Friday.

http://www.harvesters.org/WhoWeAre/Index.asp?Reference=BackSnack

[jtuck004]

39. Yes, those are good programs, but they serve one small area, while there are 47 million

people on food stamps, even with all these food-bank like programs, and that's not all the need that's out there. On the other hand as we move forward toward enclaves of wealthy people surrounded by tar paper and tarp neighborhoods, it will be handy to have the distribution already in place.

It's good work, but a sorry substitute for good jobs.

Thanks for the link.

[proud2BlibKansan]

40. I believe it's an active program in several states.

[jtuck004]

44. Sorry, I just got that off their web site. Still, I think the parents would do better to

mow it down and march on D.C. - this is helping keep them under the thumb of the wealthy, keeping things as they are.

Now if they would insert I.W.W. posters into the backpacks, maybe little red songbooks...

[BigD_95]

28. This is some sort of joke, sad joke

This is one left thing I'm against! Sorry I will be mean spirted.

1st I'm completely against giving kids breakfast at schools! 100 % against it. No one will convene me that has to happen. If a parent can't give their kid some oatmeal or a bowl of cereal in the morning then they ain't fit to be parents. Kids need to be placed else where or parents fined / jailed or both. That's child neglect and its a crime. Basically it's lazy parents. I know because my wife does childcare and she watched kids where the parents aren't responsible enough to get up early & Feed their kids so they just tell them to get breakfast at school. Teachers don't like it cuz it's a waste of time and then my kids bug me cuz they see other kids getting breakfast then they want it.

Lunch. I do believe in school lunches for kids tht can't afford it. I'm 100% on board with that program. But parents can feed their kids lunch only some freaking snowfalls. Give me a break. Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches don't cost that much. If u need help get food stamps. There are gov programs and churches out there that will help. These parents are just lazy. No parent let's their kid go hungry and money isn't the issue. It's a crime and parents should be help accountable

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. Wow.

I've taught very poor kids for over 30 years. Poor means no money. Their families can't afford to feed them. That's why they're poor. Before we had breakfast at school, I fed several kids every morning before school. Paid for the food myself. I still keep food at school for kids who are hungry. Crackers, peanut butter, granola bars, juice, dry cereal. Whatever is on sale and can be stored easily I buy weekly at the grocery store.

I really don't care if they are hungry because their parents are irresponsible. That doesn't make these children any less hungry. Besides, they are kids. They can't help it if their parents aren't doing what people like you think they should be doing. So I feed them.

It's called compassion.

Your post just makes me sad. I have a hard knowing that anyone - and especially someone who has registered and joined Democratic Underground - really feels this way.

And please, promise you will NEVER go into teaching.

[BigD_95]

45. Ur missing the point

1st again if they are poor they can get food stamps which means try can afford breakfast.

& ur right if the kids didnt eat because of lack of parents being a parent. I'm ok with feeding as long as a note is sent home to. The parents with a warning. After the 3rd note is sent home then they should be fined. If they are fined so many times then put the parent in prison. Just like if parents don't send their kids to school.

It's time to stop sugar coating the fact that parents aren't doing their #1 job. Being a parent. Teachers get blamed for failing schools. BS it's the parents not the teachers. This is just another case of parents being lazy.

[proud2BlibKansan]

46. Have you ever tried to live on food stamps?

You can't feed a family. No way. Plus, families with school aged children are given reduced amounts because ---- the kids get 2 meals a day during the week at school.

Your suggestion to fine the parents is ridiculous. They don't have the money to be paying fines. If they could afford a fine, they wouldn't be eligible for food stamps. And if they aren't eligible for food stamps, their kids don't get free meals at school.

Unlike you, I have actually been in these children's homes. I see how they live. THEY ARE POOR. These kids are not hungry because their parents are lazy. 95% of them work much harder than either you or I do. I have nothing but admiration for most of them. I don't know how they survive without fighting constant anxiety and depression. I know I'd be a basket case if I had to live like they do.

[NickB79]

66. We grew up poor, on WIC and foodstamps

And there was NO FUCKING WAY we could have lived on that alone. We were poor family farmers, working our asses off to grow YOUR food and living below the poverty line doing so.

The only thing that got us through was growing a huge vegetable garden, raising a flock of chickens, and occasionally having one of our pigs and cattle butchered and frozen every year.

Even today, now that I have a good job, a nice house, and disposable income, I can't let food go to waste. I stockpile our pantry with canned and dried goods, "just in case". I grow a vegetable garden that gets a little bigger every year. I've planted fruit and nut trees instead of shade trees. I built my own chicken coop for fresh eggs.

We rarely had nothing when I was a kid; there was usually a pot of vegetable stew to eat, even if we'd had it for dinner the past 5 days straight. However, just the knowledge that we were so close to the edge had a profound impact on me. It scared me. Nothing has ever scared me more than the thought that one day there might not be food.

Now I look at my 3-yr old daughter, hold her tight, and sometimes burst into tears at the thought of her not having food one day.

[Gormy Cuss]

89. It's amazing how that sense of food insecurity never leaves most of us.

My family always had something to eat but sometimes the choices were pretty minimal. Canned vegetables with macaroni or homemade soups were common. The school breakfast program didn't exist in our area. There were subsidized milk "snacks" served but no one got the milk for free -- if you didn't have the few cents to buy it you had to sit there quietly through snack period. I did that everyday for years --the subsidized school milk cost more than the powdered milk we drank at home.

I don't worry about buying food anymore but I still can't stand to see it go to waste. I save the tiniest portions of leftovers and eat them for lunch or throw them into the soup pot. We grow about 70% of the vegetables and about 40% of the fruit that we eat and STILL I need to see a stockpile of goods in the pantry. All this and I haven't lived on food assistance in decades.

[gollygee]

73. Food stamps don't pay enough to feed a whole family for a whole month

And really you're going to fine them for being poor? And send them to prison for being poor?

This issue is way more complicated than you're allowing for.

[RC]

32. Your empathy is noted.

You really need to visit the poor side of town more often.

[ellie]

37. Wow.

That's all I have to say. Wow.

[nc4bo]

38. So the parents are lazy, shiftless, irresponsible pieces of shit so take it out on those kids?

What if they are not, which I'm sure the majority are NOT.

Those kids will be the ones in charge of taking care of this country in a few years. I want them to be as healthy and happy as they can. If it means they get a decent breakfast and lunch at school, fine!

You're a real peach..........a gem of a humanbeing and attitudes like yours make me want to

[bread_and_roses]

41. Are there no workhouses .... (n/t)

[MadHound]

76. You obviously don't know a thing about teaching, kids, and food.

The reasons that schools give out free breakfasts is because a meal in the morning helps students achieve their best during the day. It has been proven time and again that a kid who goes without breakfast does worse in school than a kid who does eat breakfast.

Second, those who get the free breakfast, those families are means tested, ie have to prove that they and their family are desperately poor, poor enough to qualify. The rest of the kids getting breakfast, they pay for it. Having seen some crazy morning times in a family household, yes, I can see mornings where it is simply easier and more efficient to tell the kid to have the school breakfast. Frankly, I'd rather the kid get the school breakfast than a stop at the local Mickey D's where they will get stocked up on mostly empty calories.

Third, I'm a teacher, and speaking as a teacher, in consultation and conversation with my fellow teachers, I can assure you that the teachers do like the free breakfast program, because they get kids who are thinking about the subject at hand, learning, rather than their empty stomach.

Fourth, teenagers need a lot of food because they are growing, and even if they get a breakfast at home, an hour later they can be hungry and need to get a breakfast at school. It is simply amazing how much teenagers need to eat. I come from a tall family, and when my cousins and I were teenagers, we hit an all you can eat place one day, and basically wiped out the entire buffet table in one sitting(there were five of us). We weren't trying to be mean, or drive the place out of business, we were simply HUNGRY. Didn't matter, we were still told not to return.

Fifth, you're assuming these people are lazy, but have you ever experienced serious poverty? Have you experienced serious poverty while raising a family? Let's take the example of a single mom, working two minimum wage jobs, trying to raise two kids. Even if she is getting food stamps(which have been cut, again and again in the past thirty years), and other government and charitable aid, there still isn't going to be enough monetary and in kind aid to keep food on the table. You say she go down to the food pantry or something, when? Remember, she's working two jobs. She should get some sort of government assistance, right? Except the income she is getting from her jobs kicks up into an income bracket where she doesn't get all the help she needs. So basically, she's left to fend for herself, raise her family, pay the bills, all on a budget of less than $2,000 a month. Hell, once you take out rent and utilities, that money is just about gone. So what, the kids should starve because you think this mother is lazy?

I suggest that next time, before you shoot off your mouth on such an uninformed screed, you educate yourself. Better yet, take a walk in their shoes before you speak.

[Iggo]

79. Please proceed...

[Capt. Obvious]

88. Don't take this the wrong way

but you are a monster.

[proud2BlibKansan]

30. We feed our kids on early dismissal days.

Probably for this very reason. Sometimes we hand them a sack lunch as they leave the building. But we do feed them.

[dsc]

60. same here

if the kids come to the building we have breakfast and lunch no exceptions.

[xmas74]

64. If there is an early out at my daughter's school

It's always at 12:30 for middle and high school and 1:30 for elementary and preschool. I think it's for that reason - to be sure the kids get breakfast and lunch before they leave.

Our district also offers the backpack program. A friend used it during her divorce a few years ago with her girls and said it really helped. She received free lunch at the time and the school sent it home one weekend,telling her that there were no applications and to only call if she didn't need it. Our district also automatically qualifies all summer school students for free breakfast and lunch, no application needed. If your child attends summer school they get two free meals and a snack before they leave. And the district opens up a school after the summer session offering a free lunch to anyone under the age of 19 .

I'm glad the programs exist but hate that they are needed in the first place.

[Ishoutandscream2]

81. We do that as well. Sack lunch, too.

[ellie]

36. That there are hungry people in this country

makes me ill, especially children.

[Earth_First]

43. Did the bus to Crazytown let off at this thread?

Some of the responses are absolutely jawdropping.

[BigD_95]

47. I'm from cray town

Because parents should take responsibility for their own kids!

I don't think so

[Earth_First]

48. No, you're a fucking heartless jackass. n/t

[Earth_First]

50. The average per person benefit in the US is $133.85 per month

Or less than $1.50 per meal.

While I am sure you have plenty of experience feeding a family on $1.50 per meal, I'm willing to be those who actually do it find this incredibly difficult to do.

I'll gladly pay more taxes to feed a hungry child; whose circumstances are of no fault of their own. In fact, I'll pay your share too so that you will shut the fuck up about it, and we won't have to hear how coldhearted an individual you could possibly be...

[BigD_95]

56. Do u not hear a fucking thing!

R u them damn stuck up on how good of of a person u think u r ?

I'm all for raising the amount of money for people can get for food stamps. I'm all for lunches at school! Can u hear that?

But give the money in food stamps ! Let the parents be responsible for feeding their kids! Why is that such a hard freaking concept for you to get? Feed your own kids in the morning! If you don't then a fine follows . I'm not against helping people out or giving them the ability to feed their kids but seriously feed your own child in the morning. If it snows parents should be feeding their own kid lunch.

You know it's a concept thts been in place forever !

[TexasBushwhacker]

65. I agree. Snow days are to be expected and prepared for

If your kids normally get free lunch and breakfast, those are meals you don't have to pay for. Having a loaf of bread and some peanut butter and jelly isn't that hard. For the record, after paying into the system for almost 40 years, I'm now disabled and living on the equivalent of minimum wage and my budget for food is $130 per month. Is it easy? No. It takes planning but it's absolutely doable.,

[grilled onions]

52. Don't Forget The Dysfunctional "Family"

They may live with say a mother and her boyfriend who may not exactly share the food with the little ones. In large case scenarios there may be kids and adults that they live with that resent others "horning" in on their food stash. Kids today live with many challenges and rarely will they complain to others for fear of losing a roof over their head or punishment from others in the "family". The so called Cleaver family rarely existed in the fifties and exists even less now. I always wonder how many of those kids who take home food on a weekend actually get to eat it. I wish I could have confidence that they at least get a share of it but how can you prove it? This is the only country where we have people with more space for cars then many have just to live in. Where people will leave food on a plate and never even think of a doggie bag and can't grasp the idea that many in this country go hungry every night.

[billbailey19448jj]

53. this is so heartbreaking

If we were to cut down on our military budget by a few percentage points, we'd be able to feed millions of hungry kids in this country. Alas, the MIC wouldn't like that. A sad state of affairs.

[Quantess]

55. How much does anyone want to bet, those "pull your bootstraps" trolls in this thread

also are "pro-life", opposed to abortion, opposed to comprehensive sex-ed in school, and opposed to contraceptives being covered by health insurance?

[cer7711]

59. Bingo!

You know it.

Also: How many of these posters were themselves the beneficiaries of government help at some point in their lives?

[Quantess]

62. Thanks for reminding me:

[proud2BlibKansan]

61. +1

[Demo_Chris]

57. I believe something like one in five US children got to bed without food every night...

Snow days matter. That's their food. Which is why summer lunch programs are so critical. Tonight, in America, one out of every five kids will go to bed hungry. Imagine having to take turns eating, and tonight it's not your turn. Imagine the taste of that generic food bank dry cerial -- imagine how delicious it is -- and imagine your hungry sister watching your every mouthful. It's her turn tomorrow, and tonight the food is seasoned with guilt.

Something like one in ten have no actual family home -- they are living in someone else's apartment, their family's car, or the local shelter. One out of every ten kids you see. You cannot tell just by looking at them of course. They are going to school with your kids or grandkids. They don't have a sign saying "homeless kid" on them. They are wearing much the same thing as anyone else. They don't tell their friends, they just never invite them over to their house. If mom or dad or both get sick, their only healthcare is hope and prayer.

Their parent's, who are lucky to have a 17K a year Walmart job (most don't even have it that good) just saw their paychecks get smaller when the "holiday" was ended. Their checks got smaller so they could pay into someone else's retirement, as it seems a safe bet that by the time they hit "retirement" the age will have been raised yet again, perhaps several more times, and the benefits will have been eroded away to nothing. Note that the age only goes up and the benefit only goes down. Always.

They don't have a political party that represents them. No one is fighting to lift them out of poverty. No one is fighting to increase their benefits -- they are debating how much to cut them. No one is fighting to bring jobs home -- they are fighting to pass more free trade agreements to make it easier to ship the few remaining jobs away. No one is fighting to lower the SS age, they are proposing we raise it. And so it goes.

The folks who earn 250K and above got a nice permanent tax cut. These folks, who earn as much in a month as a Walmart worker earns in a year, they got a permanent tax cut. And a good number of them were on here just the other day talking about how a quarter of a million a year isn't all that much money.

You want to help these people? Demand REAL PROGRESSIVE action out of our party leaders. We give each other high-fives over this fiscal cliff nonsense and our leader's amazing negotiating prowess, but ignore the fact that he never once demanded we help these people. He never tried and we didn't care. We are outraged that there are fifty million guns in America, but ignore fifty million American's living in poverty. We get all in a lather over how many fucking bullets are in a magazine, but refuse to count hungry children. We are blowing over $600,000,000,000.00 (six-hundred-billion) on our military this year alone, and yet we cannot ensure poor people here have food.

These people need our HELP and if we don't do it no one else will. It's not someone else's job, it's our job and our responsibility.

[Island Blue]

58. If a snow day (or around here a hurricane day)

keeps kids out of school all day then yes, they certainly do miss out on lunch. But in my county at least (and I'm assuming the rest of NC as well) if kids are getting out unexpectedly early (because it suddenly starts snowing heavily, etc.) the school serves lunch, even if it's at 9:30 a.m. They have to. Otherwise it cannot be counted as a school day. I'm very happy that that happens.

My county also has a wonderful program called Food for Thought that provides meals for kids in need on weekends. The program is funded mainly by local donations. It certainly doesn't solve the problem of childhood hunger, but it does offer some help kids in need.

[NickB79]

67. Think that's bad? Consider Christmas break

WEEKS without school lunches.

Here in Minnesota, we have a program called Meals for Minds that gives out food to poor families during the Christmas break period: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/12/21/social-issue/holiday-break-school-meals-hunger/

Earlier this week, Kalema Flowers was already thinking about what she'll feed her four kids over break.

"The holidays, it's a lot rougher. Because you have to make so much meat," Flowers said. "Because they're not in school, they have to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

Flowers relies on free school lunch for her kids. Her family receives food stamps but without the pantry, Flowers said there wouldn't always be enough.

"I don't know what I would do. I don't know what it would turn me into," Flowers said.

[Heidi]

70. Kick!

[NYC_SKP]

75. Kicking your kick. And this OP is really just part of the story.

Most of the kids we work with in my programs are in that free and reduced lunch program demographic.

Hell, most of the kids in this city are, and ours are in the lower quartile of that demographic.

The nutrition aspect is just the tip of the iceberg.

Their health care is third world, their emotional home and neighborhood environments are beyond depressing.

It's just plain horrid, yet their little personalities manage to stay cheerful, most of the time.

So sad, but also inspiring in a way.

They deserve so much more.

Happy New Year, Heidi--

[yardwork]

78. Heartbreaking and inexcusable.

We spend trillions on military contracts and our children are starving.

[LisaLynne]

80. So true.

Our priorities are so messed up. We wouldn't even need to choose between the two -- just cut military spending to something reasonable. We could do so much good with that money.

[yardwork]

84. The U.S. spends more on "defense" than all the other countries combined!

We don't need all that to "keep us safe." It's a scam to put money in the pockets of military contractors.

[historylovr]

86. K & R

[Starry Messenger]

87. This country shouldn't have children going hungry.

My mom grew up in poverty with little food and it leaves a cruel mark. There are so many resources in this country, feeding children should be a national priority.