A few days ago at the park there was a lady giving away free lunches to all kids up to 18 years old. When I asked her more about what she was doing, she explained that Buffalo has a free lunch program for the children in the summer. At nine different locations throughout the city, food is handed out daily (or maybe just weekdays, I'm not sure). It sounded like a great idea in theory.
In theory, all of the children who are home all day without parents would have a place to get a healthy lunch. Or even those with parents who cannot afford to buy their children lunch, would have a free lunch. I know several children that would really benefit from this program. None of them live close to one of these nine parks. On the other hand, it is easy and convenient for me, and the other handful of moms who happened to be at the park that day, to get there.
The problem is, 90% of the people I saw getting lunches were people just like me. People that could clearly afford to give their children lunch at home. And before I make everyone else look bad for taking a lunch, I must admit that we also took one (and I felt guilty). The lady assured us that they always have plenty of lunches.
While I am all for feeding the poor, I'm not sure my tax dollars are quite doing the intended job. What do you think?
5 comments:
Matt's mom used to take her kids for the free lunch all summer long. He has lots of memories of doing this. Clearly they did not 'need' this, but I guess if others don't show up to benefit it, the food would go to waste.
Living in Buffalo totally opened my eyes to how messed up the public assistance systems are. I agree that the good intentions are there, but the common sense is not. It seems like so much money could be saved if they just thought a little bit.
I've debated this before. I don't think you should take the free lunch if you can afford to feed your children.... I mean, if you don't have the means to buy food, wouldn't you be on food stamps anyway? But I've been told that if no one ate it then the food would go to waste. But then I wonder.... if the food continually went to waste, wouldn't they reevaluate the program?
They do this same thing at the YMCA that we work out at, and it bothers me every time I see it. I see people I know out there with their kids, people I know that can afford lunches for their kids, just letting them go to town. I know the mentality is, "Well, they're providing it, might as well take it." But I've never been able to bring myself to do it. I figure if all of us who can afford it don't take it, then perhaps they will cut the program, which is what should happen in my opinion, and it can be part of the 3 trillion dollars we cut out to help balance the budget. (Oh, I see that Stephanie had the same idea as me...smart girl. :) )
This summer program does bother me.
I am not against helping the poor and needy (epecially the way the LDS church does it) but I think that this particular program gives some people the idea that they can just expect handouts. At my park, there is sometimes left over food and that bothers me...that is just wasted tax payer money. I don't think anyone who can afford it should participate...which makes me a total hipocrite because I let my grandkids have lunch there one day when we were playing at the park.
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