Conservative Catch-All

Unfortunately I doubt that anything will come from local farmers, more likely expansive operations with large packing facilities. Although the picture included in the above posted article shows organic vegetables there will be no fresh food in any boxes as proposed. Fruits, vegetables and meats will be canned, all items shelf stable. There are many citizens who eat Ethnic foods.
Urban dwellers and those in apartments are not normally able to grown things. Sure hope someone puts a lot more thought into this IF they even consider moving forward.

Porter, I cannot remember the date of his first marriage, but with less then 12 +/- years he was married twice, allegedly abused both wives and a girl friend. Someone asked why he was allowed to stay after the FBI had completed the background, because the WH allowed it and there are still 30-40 still working there with interim clearance. They have now put into place a new policy that anyone there with interim clearance can continue to stay, but new hires will need full security clearance. Big step in the right direction.
www.politico.com/story/2018/02/13/security-clearances-porter-white-house-407910

I've been affiliated with a major regional food bank for 10+ years now. Board member, volunteer, capital campaign - you name it, I've done - well other than hold a staff position. The absolute biggest issue in improving food quality, particularly around fresh fruits and vegetables and other perishables is distribution. We have phenomenal partners - supermarkets, dairies, farmers all donate generously. The issue is picking up, processing and distributing them quickly enough. It is much, much easier to distribute through our central warehouse and we have hours where families can come - but that of course requires the families to have time and transportation to come to the facility. We have 70+ different agencies in our 3 county service areas where we provide food to be distributed - they really, really have a hard time with the perishables. They much prefer shelf stable as their ability to process quickly enough can be an issue for many of them. I'll also say the clients for the most part prefer shelf stable - even when they come to the warehouse. Many of them are frankly much more worried about the relative spoilage risk between fresh and canned than the nutritional differences.

I do think the Food Boxes would be a benefit for those who are located in "food deserts". There are parts of my city that do not have decent grocery stores as an option to even use food stamps. They are forced to purchase at the local convenience stores, etc. Another thing I would like to see more emphasis on is community gardens, especially in those areas. There are some here, but not nearly enough to meet the needs that exist.

That is what we've found in our food ministry also.  The people that 'live in tents' or on the street around town have no refrigerator to keep things fresh.  We've even bought can openers for people because some people don't even have those.  

I'm fine with trying something even if it isn't the perfect solution. Something that does happen in business is fail forward. You try things hoping they work and if not maybe you can come up with another idea that works better then the current way. 

General we, complain a lot about the government and what doesn't work, but often there is little talk or action to actually try new ways. Again, general we, just keep complaining about the current or re-elect the same people and continue to complain about them

I realize it will cost money to try to fix things and I realize that no one solution will work for everyone. 

I couldn't agree with this more!!  We spend so much energy arguing about what will or won't work that we could instead spend on actually trying ideas out. 

The food box idea, though, I do truly worry might lead to waste, and depending on how it is implemented, could lead to more hunger as well.   It's not just the middle class that have dietary restrictions, for instance.  If we have to customize these boxes to meet the dietary needs of each family or household, it sounds like it would be extremely complicated, which in turn means it would likely require more time and money.  But if we don't customize them, then we're giving food to people that they won't use, leading to more food waste when we, as a country, already waste so much food.  Plus, if a household can only use half of what they are given, then we've made their food issues worse instead of better. 

Plus, distribution would need to work for everyone as well.  The ability to travel can be a real problem for people.  Currently, a person may have it worked out that a friend, relative, or neighbor takes them to the store every Saturday afternoon.  If they have to collect their box only on a weekday, can they get it?  That kind of thing worries me as well.

On the flip side, though, I do see the food desert issue which was brought up earlier as being a very real problem, and in those cases, the boxes might be very helpful...but again..only if people are able to get the boxes and to use the boxes.

And while I did just say we should try things, I admit to being very concerned about how we try to implement new ideas when it comes to people's food.

I think if the program was opt in and/or still allowed some choice in spending dollars at grocery store for perishables it might be ok. I fully support education and along with some sort of community garden perhaps a community kitchen? People can take classes and use equipment to cook meals/freezer meals if they don’t have the space or equipment. I think the biggest factor most on SNAP are facing is time so I’m not sure how that would factor in to education and using facilities.

I’m not totally against the box idea but I’m not sure it would be an efficient use of the budget. However, i would support rolling it out in a small area and seeing how it works. Could be great but I do think there needs to be room for choice to accommodate dietary needs and restrictions.

THey don't have anything like tjat in my area. The closest think would be a cullinary class - and that focuses more on catering and restaurants. 

They are elective classes.  Most kids don't take them.  I know in our area music (band, choir etc.) is an optional class that over half the kids take.  So the problem lies with everyone thinking some class is really important.  Financial literacy, home etc. technology, shop etc. are all vying for a place at the table.  There just isn't enough time to teach every kid all that they should learn in junior and high school.  My son took mostly AP classes to ready himself for an engineering degree, so he really missed lots of good solid classes that would have prepared him for life.  I think parents need to hold much of that responsibility since schools simply cannot teach it all to everyone.  I also know that some parents cannot teach what they don't know.  It is frustrating.

Times have changed. In our area, kids are so focused on AP classes and getting into the college of their choice. I'm pretty sure they didn't have Home Ec at DS's high school. As Darcy Collins said, our freshman take a semester of Health which includes sex education and diseases/prevention.

Times have changed: in 8th grade, beside English, History, Math, etc., I took Home Ec, typing and, in PE, square dancing with the boy's PE class.

Do you have any ideas on how to get people to actually participate in these classes? I have lived in public housing and worked for DSHS and the participation rate is what causes most programs and classes to stop. People just don't take classes. Even when they were given money in savings, for taking the classes, they didn't take any of the living/financial/career classes that were within walking distance of their houses.