ancona
Praying Mantis
Well, the wife has a sort of phobia about dates on food cans, insisting that she understands the food can be good for years after the expiration, but that as long as we can “afford” to replace the food, we need to rotate it out. So, two or three times a year, I go through the pantry and sift out a dozen or so cases of cans, several cases of boxed dry goods, bags of beans etc., then we go to either the women’s center [for abused women and their kids to get away] or the food pantry.
Well, my wife knows a lot of the staff at the food pantry and got a call from one of them the other day. The lady was in tears because they had actually run out of food, and she was turning away families with children because they had nothing to give them. Well the wife decided we needed to rotate early and had me load up a small truckload of goods to take them. Now, I don’t begrudge the donation mind you, but at first I was a little miffed about them calling and asking for our food. Several of them are preppers that I know from the neighborhood, so they knew we probably had some stuff we would give them, and it sort of hit me the wrong way, like my secret wasn’t so secret.
Anyway, we loaded up and went to the pantry. When we got there, we drove in from the service side and around to the loading dock. I helped them load the food on to three wheeled floats and in to the distribution area. Normally, we would have unloaded it and it would have been pretty carefully inspected first, but this time they simply asked me how the food had been stored and were we sure it was all good for consumption. We rolled the floats up front through the empty warehouse and right to the food line. There had to be thirty or forty people waiting, all of them with a slightly desperate look on their face, and none of them smiling.
We popped the cases up on the counter and began “making bags” of starches, proteins and sugars. I included twelve boxes of little Debbie snack cakes so there was a little bit of sweets in the bags as well. Each person was given one bag containing about a three day supply of stuff for about three people. We managed to give everyone a bag, but when we finished, they were back to running on empty.
I asked the operation manager what was going on, and why don’t they have any food. I always assumed that the grocery stores donated regularly to them and they got grants and such, but was told otherwise. They told me that there were two large food drives each year, and that the last two years it had gotten smaller and smaller, almost exactly inverse to our unemployment growth. She informed me that the only store to donate to them was Winn Dixie, and they ahd reduced their donations by half. To top it all off, some fucktard on the county commission got a requirement pushed through to treat this charity the same as a grocery store as regards licenses and inspections. Imagine that, some government bureaucrat standing in the way of something good,, just because he/she has the power to be a total asshole. As a side-note, this motherfucker just made the post-SHTF list of son-of-a-bitches that need disappearing.
Anyway, we left a little cash donation and I let them know I would put out the word that they need help and donations, as that is all I can really do.
Folks, I started out this day with a little bit of attitude because someone presumed I would simply give up my food because I had “plenty”, and ended it by feeling a little scared of what seems to be creeping up on us slowly but surely. Our unemployment rate is steadily climbing in my area and a lot of folks are running out of options. All it will take is one black swan to land on the bow of this sinking ship to push the whole ship under water.
I fully intend to double down on my food preps and load up on 5 gallon super-pails of wheat, rice, oats and beans. We are all one outside-the-lines event from financial Armageddon, and when the balloon goes up, and ATM’s no longer give anything out, and when the credit system seizes up, food will be the new currency. I see people shuffling through life, a five day supply of food in the pantry and a paycheck away from homelessness. I see businesses closing down everywhere I look and the lines at the Blake Avenue Government office getting longer and longer. It has been a long time since I have gone all the way through the grocery line at Winn Dixie without someone using an EBT [SNAP] card, and the rolls of people using them only grows larger.
Folks, I know I write a lot of doom stuff, but I assure you I simply observe things in the world surrounding me and do the math. It is clear to be that the financial Masters of the Universe have fucked it all up and they have leveraged the entire system so far out that it will take little more than a butterfly flapping its wings to bring it all down. If you haven’t finished your preps, I suggest that you do so now.
Sorry about the doom.
Well, my wife knows a lot of the staff at the food pantry and got a call from one of them the other day. The lady was in tears because they had actually run out of food, and she was turning away families with children because they had nothing to give them. Well the wife decided we needed to rotate early and had me load up a small truckload of goods to take them. Now, I don’t begrudge the donation mind you, but at first I was a little miffed about them calling and asking for our food. Several of them are preppers that I know from the neighborhood, so they knew we probably had some stuff we would give them, and it sort of hit me the wrong way, like my secret wasn’t so secret.
Anyway, we loaded up and went to the pantry. When we got there, we drove in from the service side and around to the loading dock. I helped them load the food on to three wheeled floats and in to the distribution area. Normally, we would have unloaded it and it would have been pretty carefully inspected first, but this time they simply asked me how the food had been stored and were we sure it was all good for consumption. We rolled the floats up front through the empty warehouse and right to the food line. There had to be thirty or forty people waiting, all of them with a slightly desperate look on their face, and none of them smiling.
We popped the cases up on the counter and began “making bags” of starches, proteins and sugars. I included twelve boxes of little Debbie snack cakes so there was a little bit of sweets in the bags as well. Each person was given one bag containing about a three day supply of stuff for about three people. We managed to give everyone a bag, but when we finished, they were back to running on empty.
I asked the operation manager what was going on, and why don’t they have any food. I always assumed that the grocery stores donated regularly to them and they got grants and such, but was told otherwise. They told me that there were two large food drives each year, and that the last two years it had gotten smaller and smaller, almost exactly inverse to our unemployment growth. She informed me that the only store to donate to them was Winn Dixie, and they ahd reduced their donations by half. To top it all off, some fucktard on the county commission got a requirement pushed through to treat this charity the same as a grocery store as regards licenses and inspections. Imagine that, some government bureaucrat standing in the way of something good,, just because he/she has the power to be a total asshole. As a side-note, this motherfucker just made the post-SHTF list of son-of-a-bitches that need disappearing.
Anyway, we left a little cash donation and I let them know I would put out the word that they need help and donations, as that is all I can really do.
Folks, I started out this day with a little bit of attitude because someone presumed I would simply give up my food because I had “plenty”, and ended it by feeling a little scared of what seems to be creeping up on us slowly but surely. Our unemployment rate is steadily climbing in my area and a lot of folks are running out of options. All it will take is one black swan to land on the bow of this sinking ship to push the whole ship under water.
I fully intend to double down on my food preps and load up on 5 gallon super-pails of wheat, rice, oats and beans. We are all one outside-the-lines event from financial Armageddon, and when the balloon goes up, and ATM’s no longer give anything out, and when the credit system seizes up, food will be the new currency. I see people shuffling through life, a five day supply of food in the pantry and a paycheck away from homelessness. I see businesses closing down everywhere I look and the lines at the Blake Avenue Government office getting longer and longer. It has been a long time since I have gone all the way through the grocery line at Winn Dixie without someone using an EBT [SNAP] card, and the rolls of people using them only grows larger.
Folks, I know I write a lot of doom stuff, but I assure you I simply observe things in the world surrounding me and do the math. It is clear to be that the financial Masters of the Universe have fucked it all up and they have leveraged the entire system so far out that it will take little more than a butterfly flapping its wings to bring it all down. If you haven’t finished your preps, I suggest that you do so now.
Sorry about the doom.