Private Screening of "Food Stamped"
CitySquare exists to fight the root causes of poverty by partnering with those in need. Working together as a community, we feed the hungry, heal the sick, house the homeless and renew hope in the heart of our city.
From the beginning, addressing the hunger needs of our neighbors has been at the heart of our work. In 1988, CitySquare began as a small store front food pantry. It is from this humble beginning that the work of CitySquare has grown.
Please join CitySquare for private screening of Food Stamped and find out exactly how tough it is to adequately nourish your family on food stamps.
When: Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Angelika Film Center & Cafe (5321 East Mockingbird Lane, Suite 230, Dallas, TX 75206)
Food Stamped is an informative and humorous documentary film following a couple as they attempt to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet on a food stamp budget.
Nutrition educator Shira Potash teaches nutrition-based cooking classes to elementary school students in low-income neighborhoods, most of whom are eligible for food stamps. In an attempt to walk a mile in their shoes, Shira and her documentary filmmaker husband embark on the “food stamp challenge” where they eat on roughly one dollar per meal.
Along the way, they consult with food justice activists, nutrition experts, politicians, and ordinary people living on food stamps, all in order to take a deep look at the struggles low-income Americans face every day while trying to put three-square meals on the table.
To register for the showing click here.
Don't miss it!
[Brought to you by the Public Policy Department of CitySquare.]
13 comments:
I have a bit of an off the wall question, but it still relates. Take a young couple who are not married and have a young child or two. They both have jobs. Would they loose their food stamp benefits if they got married. I love the idea of food assistance for the poor, but I don't want a government program to have the unintended consequence of attacking marriage. I just don't have enough information. In this country of plenty no person should go hungry.
rcorum,
If they both have jobs, why are they receiving food stamps?
"Food Stamped is an informative and humorous documentary film following a couple as they attempt to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet on a food stamp budget."
Why don't they get a job? Perhaps to proud for minimum wage, but not to proud for charity!
rc, depends on what their total income might be; the SNAP program is means tested.
Anon, 12/41 and 44, they are just showing the challenges facing people on food stamps. I hope you never find yourself there.
Anons:
A minimum wage job will net about $12,500 a year. So a couple with 2min wage jobs may both be working, and if they have 3 kids they are still below the poverty line and may be getting food stamps. Not everyone who can't make it financially is lazy.
Objections to sound, "hand up" programs for low-income, unskilled workers and their families simply illustrate the difference in charity and justice. Those who castigate the poor, calling them lazy, etc. opt for charity largely because charity is a means to control; ultimately it is about power and maintaining that power. Systemic solutions take that control and power away from individuals for the good of the whole. Thus, the power nexus is changed and spread among the larger community. Watch it, mark it down, those who object the loudest to public, whole-community responses will champion charity as a better alternative, but it's all about power and maintaining it, even against the pressing needs of the poor. Vast numbers of these charity advocates may be found in church on Sundays. Geo Kildare
Anon 2:25, why do they have three children? Is this question a sacred cow that shouldn't be addressed. Stupidity
The social welfare system is routinely "gamed" by many.
Its even "gamed" by far left politicos under the guise of "compassionate socialism"
I wonder what Geo Kildare has been smoking?
The difference between charity and justice? Gosh I was almost tricked when you dropped "social" (as in social justice)!
Call it a non sequitur.
Geo Kildare aka LJ
No, I'm not G Kildare, but I agree with what he writes and have made his point a time or two.
Our complete obsession with individualism with little to no concern for collective action could eventually undo us as a society. Charity, while important, will never address the problems we face at a scale that has the strength to change things.
And, the continuing, almost exclusive focus on the individual and his/her choice, prevents us from coming up with great, community responses at a scale large enough to affect real change.
We've done it in the past with good success.
Food stamps were never meant to be the sole source of food for a family just as social security was never meant to be the entire retirement source. Both are just meant to assist. Geeze!
Anon 2:25:
No, it's not a sacred cow. If I could wave a magic wand, maybe they wouldn't have had 3 kids. But (in my hypo) they do. So are we just going to let their kids suffer because it might have been a mistake for their parents to have 3 kids? So their kids can go to school hungry, not learn, and continue the cycle of poverty? Not exactly compassionate, nor good policy.
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