The Al Nelson Friendship Center in North Adams distributes about 78 tons of food per year, and increased demand will tug upward on that staggering number. The People’s Pantry, which serves 2,000 people per month in South County, had its busiest single day ever last Wednesday with 132 households, or about 400 people. The South Community Food Pantry in Pittsfield sees 16 to 18 new households per week. So many of these programs operate on the thinnest of margins, running on the fumes of sweat and tears from those willing to do the life-giving work of feeding their most vulnerable neighbors. Meanwhile, even as stubborn worldwide inflation has cooled off slightly, it’s still pushing food prices troublingly high for low-income households and the food assistance programs seeking to help them.įood pantries throughout the Berkshire community are sounding the alarm now, and we join their call for leaders and civilians alike shore up these critical community organizations likely to see demand rise even more in the near future. Additional federal benefits from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (food stamps) will expire in less than a month, so pantries likely will see more folks struggling to make ends meet and deeper need in those they’re already serving. It is an idea which hasn’t been disproved yet, a song the words of which have not gone bad.As the pandemic waned, the side effect of swelling demand on food pantries never abated - and it’s likely to get worse soon for both pantries and their patrons. Democracy is the score at the beginning of the ninth. “It is the feeling of privacy in the voting booths, the feeling of communion in the libraries, the feeling of vitality everywhere. “Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time,” he wrote. It is easy enough to say it was a different time, but it is a helpful reminder of how we might still see ourselves reflected in the idea of democracy. White wrote his essay almost eight decades ago. These simple thank-you notes for somebody who has helped the writer out in one way or another, often in some small way that did not seem small to the writer, are a reminder of how one should act and that life is not always about rabid political arguments.Į.B. One type of letter is a reminder that life in a small community can often be different than life in other places: the letter of thanks. Our leaders ought to be listening to those voices - especially those seeking election or reelection to public office. It also demonstrates a citizenry ready and willing to take up that great democratic tradition of civilly convincing their neighbors in the public square. Meanwhile, a massive influx of letters pertaining to a heated election season show a healthy share of Berkshire voters are engaged with these pivotal races that will shape the county’s future. The controversial North Street redesign, the debate over where to house Berkshire women inmates, the localized effects of economic and political uncertainty - all have been addressed thoroughly this summer in letters to the editor. And officials might be well served if they read the letters as the voice of the people.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |