Food pantry rant

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

Arrgh. It's that time of year again when we are stepping up the drive for food for the needy at our church. I love helping and have gotten the kids involved and they are getting into it as well. Here is my biggest pet peeve.

Because we are asking for donations for our food pantry, please do not feel it neccessary to take the opportunity to clean out your own pantry and donate all your expired food. It would be more appreciated if you just donated 2 or 3 current items than 3 bags of rice and beans from 2004.

You cannot imagine the amount of expired items that we have to dump. It makes ourt work that much harder.

Thanks for letting me vent and thanks for remembering your local food bank.

 

[mickeyboat]

We collected and donated boxes of Girl Scout cookies last year for the food pantry at the family homeless shelter in our area. I think they were all gone before we even left the building!

Thanks for the reminder. If you don't want to eat it, neither will someone else.

Denae

 

[CEDmom]

I imagine these are the same people that donate their kids stained clothing and broken toys. Just because people don't have much doesn't mean they'll be happy with other peoples junk.

 

[mrsltg]

I imagine these are the same people that donate their kids stained clothing and broken toys. Just because people don't have much doesn't mean they'll be happy with other peoples junk.

MTE!!! If something is so damaged I won't put it on my kids anymore I won't donate it for someone else's kid either! However, do donate clothes like that to your local animal shelter or rescue home. They use the stuff for crate liners or bath clothes.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Beets, I am donating all my beets!!!!

I'm kdding. It must be frustrating and it's a good reminder that we shouldn't give what we wouldn't want.

 

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

MTE!!! If something is so damaged I won't put it on my kids anymore I won't donate it for someone else's kid either! However, do donate clothes like that to your local animal shelter or rescue home. They use the stuff for crate liners or bath clothes.

Sad to say, but some of the things people try to pass off as donations are atrocious. It's easier for them I duess, then just waiting for the right day to put it to the curb.

I brought over a bag of stuffed animals to the SPCA last week and the women said "these are to nice to go to the dogs" I was cracking up. Please take them.

 

[Hedy]

Sad to say, but some of the things people try to pass off as donations are atrocious. It's easier for them I duess, then just waiting for the right day to put it to the curb.

I brought over a bag of stuffed animals to the SPCA last week and the women said "these are to nice to go to the dogs" I was cracking up. Please take them.

 

[NeedaVacation03]

Arrgh. It's that time of year again when we are stepping up the drive for food for the needy at our church. I love helping and have gotten the kids involved and they are getting into it as well. Here is my biggest pet peeve.

Because we are asking for donations for our food pantry, please do not feel it neccessary to take the opportunity to clean out your own pantry and donate all your expired food. It would be more appreciated if you just donated 2 or 3 current items than 3 bags of rice and beans from 2004.

You cannot imagine the amount of expired items that we have to dump. It makes ourt work that much harder.

Thanks for letting me vent and thanks for remembering your local food bank.

AMEN!!! I have helped run the food drive at our church for many years and that is the one thing that makes me crazy. Some of the things I have seen I would have been embarrassed to even bring to church. I just can not figure out what some people are thinking. All we do is go through it and throw it away. I just try to look at it as a teaching lesson to the kids that are helping sort the food. I am hoping they learn from this and not let it happen in their house. I am just thankful for all the generous people who help out!!!

 

[Green Tea]

This is a suggestion for schools, to help both the schools and the food pantries. If you participate in Campbell's Labels for Education and General Mills Boxtops, this is something we did in our community. We spoke with the food bank and explained the 2 programs schools participated in and asked them about accepting donations of cereals with the box top removed and soups with the front label off but the name clearly written on the can in perm. marker. They were thrilled, especially with the cereals since those are aparantly treats, something they don't normally purchase for the clients. Now, I think with soups it might even only be the upc that has to be cut off.

It was an amazing success. Every class tried to beat on another with the most items brought in. We did it between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We filled huge display cases with the donated items to show just how generous the school children were.

The food bank was filled, the children felt good, and the school label programs had a banner year. Everybody won. Parents even had fun sitting around and clipping the eligible portions off the cans and boxes each afternoon before pick up time.

 

[Camicar]

We had the same experience at our church food drive too.

Makes me really wonder what kind of Christian thinks a hungry person deserves no better than a dented, rusty can of peas that expired FIVE years ago.

Yup, makes me wonder.

 

[Tazicket]

I'm always amazed that the food pantries wind up with 17,000 cans of Garbonzo beans. I agree - if you wouldn't eat it - don't donate it to something like that.

 

[SavvyMom]

There's almost always a sale at the grocery store - 5 cans for 2.00 or whatever. That's what we do. We buy the sale items and send some to the drive. As far as clothes for charity - if an outgrown item has one light stain I'll send it for play clothes (I've bought them!). If it's too yucky for my kids to wear, I toss it. I never thought about sending them to an animal shelter. Thanks for the idea!

 

[SavvyMom]

By the way, don't forget that your local library will usually take books you have and don't want any more. Even if they can't put them in the stacks, they can sell them and use the money to buy more books.

 

[wowsmom]

Our old school used to collect food donations for the holidays. The nurse was the one who organized it, etc. I was talking to her one day (we were friends) and she was telling me about/showing me some of the stuff they'd gotten - expired years ago, extemely dented, etc. She said one time, they even got a rubbermaid type container with food in it.

I used to really love Aldi when it was food drive time - I could go there, get 2 bags full of stuff (rice, instant mashed, gravy mix, canned veg and fruit, cake mix, pudding mix, etc) and spend less than $20.

 

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

. She said one time, they even got a rubbermaid type container with food in it.

:

That is so wrong, but I believe it. Last year around thanksgiving someone dropped off three turkeys that had expired the year before. They were frozen, but still, c'mon, I tossed them right out.

 

[Acklander]

Years ago, I was talking to a women who worked at a food shelter and she mentioned a problem that that towards the end of the month while waiting for goverment checks or WIC or whatever (I don't remember the specifics) sometimes the moms would water down the formula they were feeding their babies to make it last longer. The thought of this always bothered me so whenever they do a food drive I always go out and buy a few cans of baby formula.

 

[delilah]

This is almost as good. My husband and I would judge the science fair at my cousin's school. This was in northern Indiana, just outside Chicago. We live in the Indianapolis area, and we judge science fairs all over the area, in both public and private schools. As a special reward for our efforts, the school gave us each an expired can of soup. Obviously, somebody had donated a case of outdated soup to the Church/school, and the organizers thought it would be OK to give to the guest scientists they invited to judge the science fair. I almost would have preferred nothing but a Thank you to an outdated can of soup. So, don't donate anything for any reason to a charity that is outdated or otherwise unusable.

I have a hard time convincing my husband of this. We have a sofa and chair that my dogs have chewed. I was going to call the refuse company to pick it up, but my husband insisted that the homeless shelter would want it. I told him they wouldn't want it for the same reason we don't want it. It would cost more to reupholster the sofa and chair than it would to replace it. Finally, after a month of stalling, he relented and let me call the refuse company to pick it up. Some people, even people we otherwise respect and love will have these blindspots.

 

[Talking Hands]

Arrgh. It's that time of year again when we are stepping up the drive for food for the needy at our church. I love helping and have gotten the kids involved and they are getting into it as well. Here is my biggest pet peeve.

Because we are asking for donations for our food pantry, please do not feel it neccessary to take the opportunity to clean out your own pantry and donate all your expired food. It would be more appreciated if you just donated 2 or 3 current items than 3 bags of rice and beans from 2004.

You cannot imagine the amount of expired items that we have to dump. It makes ourt work that much harder.

Thanks for letting me vent and thanks for remembering your local food bank.

In case you are unaware. Raw rice has a virtually unlimited shelf life. Dried beans can be used far longer than the so called shelf life on the package although they will need to be soaked for a longer period of time.

 

[Glynis]

By the way, don't forget that your local library will usually take books you have and don't want any more. Even if they can't put them in the stacks, they can sell them and use the money to buy more books.

You can also take old children's books to your doctor's office. I know that our doctor is always grateful to have books for his waiting room, exam rooms, etc. My kids are always grateful to have something on their level to read or look at.

 

[disneyfan67]

I imagine these are the same people that donate their kids stained clothing and broken toys. Just because people don't have much doesn't mean they'll be happy with other peoples junk.

Those are the people who say they give plenty to charity, but do it quietly and without any attention drawn to them.

In the past month, I bet that I've seen that line used at least 50 times on some threads.