January 2011
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Bezerra de Menezes Food Pantry Report
When kids knock at your door Food Pantry, more than just food About Poverty, immigrants and the need for food recovery education
Bezerra de Menezes Food Pantry is a social program managed by the Bezerra de Menezes Kardecian Spiritist Center a 501(c)(3) educational and charitable organization, located in Miami Fl. Through its Social Assistace Department. BM Food Pantry was founded in February 2009 to provide supplemental food to families and individuals in need, in the Miami Dade County area. Our services and products are free of charge. We are a distribtion agency for the TEFAP program of the U.S.D.A. and also rely on private donations to fund this program.
Some of the BM Food Pantry volunteers
Social Assistance Dept of BM Kardecian Spiritist Assc. Luis Salazar – Director Members: Rita Salgado, Felix Abreu, Marlene Alencar BM Food Pantry Report: Gilberto Rustice, Luis Salazar BM Food Pantry Report is a bi-monthlly digital periodical distributed FREE to Donors, Government agencies, Volunteers and General Public. The main objective of this publication is to inform about the operation of the Bezerra de Menezes Food Pantry and to provide news and opinions on Poverty and Hunger advocacy.
Registration Table
You can send your comments fp@spiritist.com .
Marlene Alencar BM Food Pantry Volunteer
BM Food Pantry distribution day
Aout Poverty, immigrants and the need for food recovery education.
Too
often when we talk about the poor, people think on
some lazy people that are sitting all day at their government provided housing, just waiting for a check to arrive by mail to go get some beers, maybe that is what some people do. But there are others that get up very early in the morning to catch a bus, work 8, 10 hrs a day, in many cases, at the minimum wage rate of $7.25/hr. Temporary or unskilled workers ussually are paid the minimum wage. Now, try to balance your budget with that income, while feeding and sheltering your family. It will take a Larry Summers or Alan Greenspan to come up with a formula to achieve that. The Federal minimum wage it is been in effect since July 2009, now please tell me what product or service has continued without a price change since 2009? Those who work and receive tips then have a minimum wage of $4.23, so, waitress, valet parking and others services rely on tips from the public. Every day is a mistery at the gas station, every day is a mistery if you rely on tips, but everyday you know that somehow your quality of life is plummeting. South Florida has a large immigrant population, the history of the immigrant’s waves are exposed on the fabric of our communities, there’s always somebody that came yesterday, placing a burden on family, goverment and communities, but also stimulating an always growing economy. Immigration is good for everybody, as long as everybody participates and extends their hand to the new comer. The faster the immigrant can be assimilated the better member of the community he/she becomes. Bezerra de Menezes Food Pantry plays a very important role in South Florida. Our volunteer body is trilingual, English, Spanish, Portugues, but we are also tricultural, and we understand each one of the cultures in our community. We provide supplemental food to take home; through the Family Closet we provide clothings and small home appliances; and through our Spiritual activities, try to bring comfort to these tired souls that sometimes need more food for the soul than for their bodies.
We are moved by the stories of charity in the life of our spiritual mentor Dr. Bezerra de Menezes, who would give
anything when asked, he would pay for the medicines for a poor mother and in case of not having anything material to give he would offer a hug and a prayer. Just love in action. Mother Teresa was once asked, “Have you heard mother of the saying: Give fish to a man and he’ll eat one day, teach him to fish and he will eat everyday.” She replied:” Yes, I have heard of that, but my people are so sick and frail that I have to fish for them, you go and teach others to fish.”
BM caring volunteers :( Left-Right) Moema, Rita and Graziella
Today, there are enough resources to feed the world population; it is just a matter of distribution and human rights. The salvage and food rescue programs to local level have proved to be a success, consistenly providing support to those who cannot take care of themselves and saving tons of food from being disposed as garbage. We need to educate our families, local restauranteurs and grocery stores on how they can make a difference in the life of a family, a working family, our family.
Luis Salazar Coordinator BM Food Pantry Please, make your Tax Deductible Donation today.
Food Pantry, more than just food
We tend to think that poverty and hunger are minor issues in this country. However, they are not. Here are some statistics published by “Feeding America”: •
W
hen we go to a grocery store and buy food, we just get
•
food. Of course, we use the money we managed to earn to pay for it, the same money that could have bought something else. We then place that food in our refrigerators and shelves at our homes, and go to bed at night without any worries about hunger.
• • •
In 2009, 43.6 million people (14.3 percent) were in poverty. In 2009, 8.8 (11.1% percent) million families were in poverty. In 2009, 24.7 million (12.9 percent) of people aged 18-64 were in poverty. In 2009, 15.5 million (20.7 percent) children under the age of 18 were in poverty. In 2009, 3.4 million (8.9 percent) seniors 65 and older were in poverty.
Let’s remember that passage of the multiplication of the bread, in which Jesus Christ used his power, mercy, and benevolence to address the issue of lack of food to his followers at a point in history. We can’t yet multiply food, but we certainly can share a piece of what we have. The rewards for charity cannot be measured or fully explained in words. We were all born to be good, and reach perfection one day. Quite often, actions we take that reflect the impulse of the seeds of love planted on us by God, and tirelessly watered by Jesus Christ, bring us that sense of realization of our true self, the one that survives matter, and is being prepared to live in a world of happiness.
That food is just a material thing that our money can get, and some of it may be wasted. Those that come to Bezerra de Menezes’ Food Pantry, though, will certainly have a complete different experience. First of all, those people may be hungry, which is something most of our readers don’t experience. Or, they are in to get something to feed someone else at home, which might be hungry, which could be a kid, or someone sick. Secondly, the food people may get from the Food Pantry won’t just satisfy the physical needs of those waiting for the food. Along with feeding the body, such food will provide a major emotional relief for those that have to worry so much about whether they will have something to eat and to feed their kids and other dearly relatives. It will be no surprise if those that come to BM’s Food Pantry suffer from a high level of anxiety, or maybe even depression (without even knowing it). And, third, coming to BM’s Food Pantry, give them an opportunity to feel cared about, to feel the blessings of God meeting their prayers, and to get a sense of what charity can do to make easier for the needy to survive their atonements. In other words, the BM Food Pantry actions and people help the poor and the hunger to grow morally and spiritually.
Let’s thank God for NOT being in the receiving side of the Food Pantry, for not experiencing hunger, for not suffering for not having how to feed our kids and relatives. The BM’s Food Pantry is one way of doing that, in a language most appreciated by God: charity. The Food Pantry can’t survive on its own, and the consequences of that might be disastrous to so many families. The Food Pantry is only a reality to the extent that we, at the giving side of the table, help it meet its objectives. Let’s remember Mother Theresa, who said: “What I do is so little. It is like a drop in the ocean, but without that drop, the ocean would be smaller”. Yes, we can help, either by contributing with food or by working as a volunteer at the Food Pantry.
Gilberto Rustice Volunteer BM Food Pantry
When kids knock at your door
As
you probably know, 61% of the clients served by
Bezerra de Menezes Food Pantry are children. Some of them come with their parents to get their food. We can tell by their faces that they don’t understand much of what’s going on. Many, when they get into the actual Food Pantry room, their eyes open wider and look around for products they like -- the famous Chef Boyardee, Oreo cookies, Cereal, Juices and milk are within their favorites. They look at the products and inmediately look to the parents like advising them to get those. BM Food Pantry is a choice food pantry, meaning that every family, assisted by our volunteers, will pick the products that they like and consume, avoiding the waste of products; it is like shopping in a grocery store, just without the cashier at the end. There was a time when a mother visited us with her 8 year old daughter, and the girl was carefully watching everything, trying to not miss any detail of the operation. At some point, when the mother requested a certain product, the girl told her mom “Hey, enough! How are you going to pay for all this? The mother smiled and kept quiet, but our volunteer said to the girl: “Don’t worry. Your mom is going to give us a check”. The girl looked again her mom like willing to be reassured, but there was just silence. Kids know when times are tough, when money is short, but they play along; settle for a candy bar for dinner and a banana for breakfast. Meanwhile, parents are consumed by worries about what to feed their children. In many cases, the issue it is not even about nutrition, but about avoiding stomach aches, insomnia, dehydration, and even nightmares. We are so happy when we receive a donation of children’s products, because they appreciate it in a very special way. A three year old, after seeing a cereal box with Spiderman on the cover, grabbed it and kept it like saying “Ok, this is mine and I’m not leaving without it”. Another little one, around 7 years of age, insisted on drinking a pouch of CapriSun juice and his eyeballs would disappear of satisfaction. Sometimes we find those kids playing to be parents -- when asked if they want chocolate, they point to a pound of rice instead, just to realize later that rice is already in their box. Kids are considerate most of the time. They have seen their parents fighting, crying, and desperate. Also, they perceive that Bezerra de Menezes Food Pantry is there to help their family. They see how their parents are treated with respect, in a caring way, called by their names. This all means a lot to them, considering the violent world that we live in.
Young clients checking out the Toy Box, next to Maria one of the Food Pantry Volunteer at the Family Closet.
Little, simple toys and books are their favorite picks, they know that mom or dad will take care of the food, so they enjoy picking few toys and children books from the “Family Closet at BM Food Pantry.” So, when kids knock at our door, it is not precisely Halloween. Many terrifying stories might be going on in their homes. It is a family in distress that need a friendly and caring hand, to help them to keep their balance and to cope with the storm .
One of the more than 700 little ones, clients of the Bezerra de Menezes Food Pantry.