JUSIPER

 
Veterans' families depend on canned food drives

Posted by Sini

Amazing, from the San Diego Union Tribune, via Kos:

As the Iraq war marches toward its fourth anniversary, food lines operated by churches and other nonprofit groups are an increasingly valuable presence on military bases countywide. Leaders of the charitable groups say they're scrambling to fill a need not seen since World War II.

Too often, the supplies run out before the lines do, said Regina Hunter, who coordinates food distribution at one Camp Pendleton site. [...]

The base's list of recipients swells by 100 to 150 people a month as the food programs streamline their eligibility process, word spreads among residents and ever-proud Marines adjust to the idea of accepting donated goods.

At least 2,000 financially strapped people in North County qualify for food and other items given out at the center and a Camp Pendleton warehouse run by the Military Outreach Ministry. [...]

Also present were food-line veterans trying to make ends meet. Michelle Rankins counts herself as a reluctant regular.

“I do this for the kids,” said Rankins, whose husband is a corporal deployed in Iraq. “They need the protein from the bread. For me and my family – for a lot of the families at Camp Pendleton – this (program) is a necessity. I come every week.”

The president Christians elected started an unnecessary war. Now evangelicals get to have it both ways and "defend" the troops with donated food. One would hope Military Outreach Ministry doesn't slip Christian election literature in with the cans. But don't count on it.

10:50 AM |