[Adak]

Originally Posted by Stormieweather

I have a few problems with Adak's statements.

First, a community food program does not usually ask for financial information to prove you "need" their services. If you are there, you usually need it.

Thanks for backing me up on this. They don't check your income level, and people DO take advantage of it. You did not - but others DO. That's the point.

Secondly, asking for a SS# in order to make a purchase these days is a BIG no-no. If anyone (other than insurance or creditors) ask me that, they don't get my business.

Tell that to Sears in El Cajon, CA. Tool department check out clerks. (I like most Craftsman Tools). They did it twice in a row, on separate days. Since my complaint, (and I assume the complaints of others), they have changed their policy.

Thirdly, as a parent with two children attending public schools, I can testify that it is absolutely not true that 90% of the kids get free lunch. In order to get reduced or free lunch, you have to fill out and sign a financial need application form. According to the FDOE data report, the actual number is 41%.( FLDOE free lunch). That actually ties right in with the number of children living in low-income families - 44% (Child Poverty). In my poverty days, my kids got free lunch. Now that I'm no longer unemployed and poor, they do not.

I didn't say 90% was an average figure. I said the program was being massively abused, and some schools have 90% enrollment in the free lunch program, which is total crap. Low income, doesn't mean the family can't pack a damn lunch for their child!

Additionally, as a former poor person, I can absolutely state that asking for and receiving "aid" is the most humiliating and degrading thing I've ever done. The very moment I could manage to make ends meet without it, I dropped it like a hot potato. There was absolutely none of that *wink wink nudge nudge* that you are referring to...more like, you lazy, stupid, dumb person who is getting a free ride while I, the person who signs off on your aid, is working hard and earning mere peanuts. Let me see how many ways I can make you feel subhuman to compensate for my disdain!!

Sorry you were treated that way. But again, this wasn't about YOUR experience. It was about the way these programs, as a whole, are being abused, and have no reasonable controls, and are wasting our money. The number of kids enrolled in free or subsidized lunch programs, exceeds the number that actually need it, by several orders of magnitude.

Which do you believe is cheaper and more efficient?

1) A bag lunch from home:
Sandwich, an apple or other fruit, and a small bag of chips

or

2) A selection of hot and cold foods and drinks: pizza, salads, sandwiches, rice, potato, meat, fruit, milk, chocolate milk, soda, fruit juice, and milk shakes, etc. All catered or served up by professional food service companies. Add in the cost of hot and cold serving tables, commercial refrigeration, and at least a basic kitchen, and you have a LOT of money tied up in lunches! (Actual menu will vary from day to day, of course).

There's simply no comparison. No way that "free" lunch costs less than $5 per lunch. More probably, $7.50 - $10.00
The bag lunch from home - probably less than $3, AND the taxpayer doesn't have to pay for it.

The idea that low income families can't afford to give their kids a healthy lunch is CRAP. They've been doing it for decades, and what? Now they're suddenly too strapped for it, even during the Clinton years?

What next? How about giving them the latest Nike sneakers, as well?