tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10838182.post1488129873544527607..comments2023-10-31T05:56:45.788-07:00Comments on LutheranChik's "L" Word Diary: At the Fair...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10838182.post-18221150358353549462007-10-15T08:57:00.000-07:002007-10-15T08:57:00.000-07:00Very true.Sometimes they don't even have access to...Very true.<BR/><BR/>Sometimes they don't even have access to potable water. I went to a workshop once where one local single mom talked about having to live in an uninsulated hunting cabin with no indoor plumbing, and water from a hand-dug well outside that was so polluted even the dog wouldn't drink it. The kids had to go fetch water from a neighbor's pump down the road. She finally got assistance from the government, but the red tape involved was so daunting that she said she almost gave up...a caring social worker hung in there with her and finally got her enrolled in the program.LutheranChikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02685566332651377907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10838182.post-39272802950688883262007-10-15T07:59:00.000-07:002007-10-15T07:59:00.000-07:00Even more basic than menu-planning and cooking fro...Even more basic than menu-planning and cooking from scratch, I've found most of the free food giveaways assume the recipient has a kitchen. In my neck of the woods, many if not most of the poor do not. They may be homeless, they may be camping out in someone's garage or a state park, they may be renting a room somewhere. But many/most do not have a fridge, oven or stove.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10838182.post-89823896011270943732007-10-15T06:51:00.000-07:002007-10-15T06:51:00.000-07:00One humorous observation about class differences: ...One humorous observation about class differences: Two of the presenters at this shindig were offering free massages and opportunities for yoga instruction. I'm not kidding. I'm sorry, but someone on Medicaid who has to spend 4 hours on local rural public transportation to get to the doctor -- assuming that there IS a doctor in that particular specialty, in that area who accepts Medicaid patients (in our area the nearest Medicaid dentists are 2 counties away, which makes them inaccessible to anyone without private transportation) -- isn't going to be signing up for yoga class down at the community center. Sometimes there's a kind of mind-boggling naivete among service providers.LutheranChikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02685566332651377907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10838182.post-23569935569089217982007-10-15T06:48:00.000-07:002007-10-15T06:48:00.000-07:00And a lot of this wonderful free food assumed an a...And a lot of this wonderful free food assumed an ability to menu-plan and scratch-cook that, frankly, some of these people probably don't have, either due to developmental disability or substance abuse. <BR/><BR/>As I sat at my table, I kept thinking of Jesus' words, "You'll always have the poor with you." That's a concept that violates our American optimism and middle-class up-by-the-bootstraps ethic, but...IMHO there are always going to be people who simply can't make it independently. They just can't; they don't have the tools. The best we can do as a society is to help them maintain these "least of these" a decent standard of living -- adequate food, shelter, healthcare, an opportunity to do <I>some</I> kind of meaningful work -- and intervene in their children's lives so that their children's potential to achieve more in society isn't thwarted by their parents' limitations.LutheranChikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02685566332651377907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10838182.post-4694275742368570632007-10-15T06:02:00.000-07:002007-10-15T06:02:00.000-07:00It can seem baffling when people turn down good st...It can seem baffling when people turn down good stuff -- food, info, or help. I think there is growing research about cultural differences between middle and lower classes. That's what your riled up tax payers don't understand.CoGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03906941758037110965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10838182.post-90370228546156134692007-10-14T18:26:00.000-07:002007-10-14T18:26:00.000-07:00Wow. Your fairs are better than ours.Ditto what an...Wow. Your fairs are better than ours.<BR/><BR/>Ditto what anonymous said about working at a food pantry.zorrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00301856272073306968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10838182.post-85968847435257570682007-10-14T15:51:00.000-07:002007-10-14T15:51:00.000-07:00I second the idea that you were doing God's work, ...I second the idea that you were doing God's work, even if you did go home depressed. <BR/><BR/>I used to work at a food pantry. We got all kinds . . . from the people who got mad because we didn't have Doritos to the people who all but clapped their hands for joy over a five-pound bag of cornmeal. When the overwhelming size of the problem and its systemic nature got me down, I just kept reminding myself of the Benedictines: "Let all visitors be received as Christ."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10838182.post-84870125078288126182007-10-14T09:51:00.000-07:002007-10-14T09:51:00.000-07:00It takes all kinds, doesn't it? In the sermon tod...It takes all kinds, doesn't it? <BR/><BR/>In the sermon today, the 9 went to the temple without going back to thank Jesus, but maybe they said their thanks to God at the temple.<BR/><BR/>You were doing God's work yesterday in spite of everything.LoieJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01977264499770654307noreply@blogger.com