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Saturday, March 31, 2012

NYC Mayor bans food donations to homeless shelters


[VIDEO] I had to find a news story about this "Nanny of the month". It makes me wonder what prompted this:
Outlawed are food donations to homeless shelters because the city can’t assess their salt, fat and fiber content, reports CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer.

Glenn Richter arrived at a West Side synagogue on Monday to collect surplus bagels — fresh nutritious bagels — to donate to the poor. However, under a new edict from Bloomberg’s food police he can no longer donate the food to city homeless shelters.

It’s the “no bagels for you” edict.

“I can’t give you something that’s a supplement to the food you already have? Sorry that’s wrong,” Richter said.

Richter has been collecting food from places like the Ohav Zedek synagogue and bringing it to homeless shelters for more than 20 years, but recently his donation, including a “cholent” or carrot stew, was turned away because the Bloomberg administration wants to monitor the salt, fat and fiber eaten by the homeless.
Some might argue this is necessary because ultimately the taxpayer will have to pick up the costs of taking care of those homeless in need to medical care. What they consume could cause health problems tomorrow. Of course the Reason.tv video above notes that the homeless also dumpster dive and that's not particularly health either. Also I've seen people on the train give homeless people junk food all the time when they claim they're hungry.

Sometimes the solution may be as much of the problem as the problem it hopes to settle.

There must be more to this story. Where can I find what prompted this? Better yet, where is the actual edict? I want to see it. Does it ban all donations to food pantries.

Video via Instapundit!

1 comment:

Jen said...

I think that most food cupboards and pantries are independently run so the city wouldn't be able to regulate their donations as closely as the food kitchens, which rely on government subsidies.

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