DDD special - Child Poverty and Homelessness

Aired last week, this is the powerful CBS News 60 Minutes segment on homeless families in Central Florida that moved me and will move you to tears - you look at this and think how can this country allow families and children to sink to the pits of despair like this without any safety net....

You also know the two familes in this video are the strong ones - there are millions more who aren't. To see the young teenager at the end of the segment who still has faith in the American dream, when America has totally failed her and her family, is heartbreaking.....

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7389750n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox

And did you know Florida has 1/3 of the homeless children in the country? I guess our state is a magnet because at least you won't freeze to death like you will up North in the winter, but our institutions, aided and abetted by our solidly Republican Legislature, our  Governor and big city mayors, want to make being homeless a crime - they have cut [and cut again] funding for any social programs.....

Remember what happened in Orlando a couple of months ago when a church group was harassed and arrested for feeding the homeless in a park.....includes video of the police arresting the people feeding kids and the reaction of the crowd.....

Orlando police literally steal food out of the mouths of hungry children as they raid a feeding station and arrest 6 people for feeding the homeless.

In Orlando, it is a crime to feed the homeless without first obtaining a permit. The problem is the city only allows you to obtain two permits per year which effectively makes it a crime to feed the homeless.

In this video, an activist movement called Food Not Bombs, sets up a station to feed the homeless in Orlando.

As two homeless children approach the station and hold out their plates for food over 20 Orlando cops swarm the station and arrest 6 people. The police appear to have absolutely no conscience and literally take the food out of the mouths of hungry homeless children as the crowd begs them to at least allow the children to eat.....

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/07/05/orlando-police-steal-food-hungry-children-arresting-6-people-feed-homeless-33131/

And the new frontrunner for the Republican Presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich, had some words to say about child poverty.....read this from Charles Blow in the Times and decide for yourself if he is fit to lead this country.....

My opinion - of the pack of losers and flakes trying to get elected he is the one who should know better than to spout this evil and hate-filled nonsense.....

Newt Gingrich has reached a new low, and that is hard for him to do.

Nearly two weeks after claiming that child labor laws are “truly stupid” and implying that poor children should be put to work as janitors in their schools, he now claims that poor children don’t understand work unless they’re doing something illegal.

On Thursday, at a campaign stop in Iowa, the former House speaker said, “Start with the following two facts: Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of ‘I do this and you give me cash’ unless it’s illegal.” (His second “fact” was that every first generational person he knew started work early.)

This statement isn’t only cruel and, broadly speaking, incorrect, it’s mind-numbingly tone-deaf at a time when poverty is rising in this country. He comes across as a callous Dickensian character in his attitude toward America’s most vulnerable — our poor children. This is the kind of statement that shines light on the soul of a man and shows how dark it is.

First, as I’ve pointed out before, three out of four poor working-aged adults — ages 18 to 64 — work. Half of them have full-time jobs and a quarter work part time.

Furthermore, according to an analysis of census data by Andrew A. Beveridge, a sociologist at Queens College, most poor children live in a household where at least one parent is employed. And even among children who live in extreme poverty — defined here as a household with income less than 50 percent of the poverty level — a third have at least one working parent. And even among extremely poor children who live in extremely poor areas — those in which 30 percent or more of the population is poor — nearly a third live with at least one working parent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/opinion/blow-newts-war-on-poor-children.html?_r=1

So what do we as individuals do when we see families falling apart in our community, and hunger and homelessness all around us? It's not in the middle class areas of Mount Dora, but venture outside our bubble and it's there. 

Locally, there are a few organisations trying to help, but one that really needs our support is Lake Cares, our food pantry that supports the tri-city area of Mount Dora, Eustis and Tavares....they of course welcome your donations of food, but the most valuable thing you can give them is funding.

[And if you don't live in Central Florida there are food banks all over the country who need support.]

Lake Cares has relationships with some of the major food distributors in our area and gets supplies at excellent prices, so your check will be most welcome. 

They are feeding almost 4000 families every month....our neighbors, who need our help.

So instead of yet another Christmas present of Chinese junk from a big box store for your kids or grandkids, send Lake Cares a gift in their name. Sit them down and show them the 60 Minutes video and tell them you are sending their "third" present to these poor families, and 95% of the children will say wonderful. For the 5% who whine, disown the little bastards.

The Lake Cares online donation button doesn't work, so mail or walk in a [tax deductible!!] check.......

The state won't act, so it's up to us.....let's help our community.

 Lake Cares

 2001 W. Old Hwy 441

 Mount Dora, Fl. 32757

http://www.lakecares.org/home.html