UAW Tends Garden for Food Banks
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You can usually find a good supply of canned and dry staples at community food pantries and banks. But fresh vegetables are sometimes hard to come by. But later this year, food banks in the Monroe, Mich., area will see a harvest of fresh produce from a just-planted community garden.
The garden is a joint project of UAW 723 and the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance (GEMA). This past Monday, union and management workers planted squash, cucumbers, green beans, peppers, tomatoes and onions in the 8,000-square foot community garden.
The fresh veggies are destined for community food pantries, the God Works Community Meals program and individuals who need help, says Michel J. Smith, AFL-CIO Community Services liaison with the Monroe County United Way.
Families Still Stream to Food Banks, and Budget Cuts Could Kill that Lifeline
AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer writes about the continuing need for community food banks and how this vital service for families in need faces the threat of budget cuts on the local, state and federal levels.
Over the past month, it seems that the news of a natural disaster striking a different area of the country has been a nightly occurrence. Whether a tornado or a flood, disaster announcements seem to be as much a part of the news as the wars or the economy. But what about those disasters that aren’t covered by the news and are happening around kitchen tables every night?
Last week on a trip to Pittsburgh, I volunteered with the newly formed Pennsylvania Wants to Work—an organization that advocates for the needs of unemployed and underemployed workers and brings them together around community volunteer activities and community service.
On this particular day, after a meeting with AFL-CIO Community Service Liaison, Joe Delale, I was told the group would be volunteering at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank (GPCFB).
This would not be a normal day of volunteering.
Approximately 45 minutes before the doors were to open for the second shift, a slow, steady stream of folks began to arrive outside the doors. They streamed in like so many Pittsburghers had done for so many years at shift changes at now-gone plants and mills. They arrived both in groups and as individuals—carrying with them children, boxes and carts for their food. As opening time approached, the crowd grew and grew, just as the storm clouds overhead had grown and gotten darker.
Stamp Out Hunger: Join Letter Carriers Food Drive Saturday
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With U.S. unemployment at 8.5 percent in March, the highest rate in 25 years—and expected to get even worse when April’s figures are released this week—the Letter Carriers (NALC) annual national food drive on Saturday comes at one of the most critical times in its 17-year history.
You can help “Stamp out Hunger” by collecting canned goods and dry food, such as tuna, canned meat, soups, pasta, rice and cereal, and leaving them in a bag or box by your mailbox. Your letter carrier will pick them up as they deliver your mail Saturday. NALC members will deliver the goods to local food banks, pantries and shelters to help needy families in 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions.
Last year, carriers collected a record 73.1 million pounds of food. But, as NALC President William Young notes, the drive must be even more successful this year.
Millions and millions of families are suffering—struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table. There are countless families that are destitute—many where a job loss has hit for the first time—and with little or no income to feed, cloth and house themselves.
