BM Food Pantry Report
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Transcript of BM Food Pantry Report
6450 North West 77th CT Miami Florida 33166
Email: [email protected]
Bezerra de Menezes Food Pantry Report
When kids knock
January 2011
� Food Pantry, more than just food
� About Poverty, immigrants and the need for food recovery education
at your doorat your doorat your doorat your door
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.
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.
You can send your comments [email protected] .
BM Food Pantry distribution day
Some of the BM Food Pantry volunteers
Registration Table
Marlene Alencar BM Food Pantry Volunteer
Aout Poverty, immigrants and
the need for food recovery
education.
TooTooTooToo 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
WWWWhen 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.
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.
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”:
• 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.
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
AsAsAsAs 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 Capri-
Sun 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.