You Live On Skid Row. Are You Thumbing Your Nose At Any Donated Food That Isn't Thumbs-Upped By The Government?
Can we let grown adults decide whether they'd rather be protected from daily hunger -- or! -- the off chance that they will get food poisoning from corn bread made in some kind person's home?
Sure, it's possible that you would get some food-borne illness -- from food in a restaurant, by the way, or food prepared in someone's home -- but how often does that really happen...to any of us?
And if you're starving and living on the street...maybe, just, maybe, it's worth it to you to take the risk that grandma let the cornbread sit next to where she grows the listeria.
From FEE, Joseph Sunde reports:
For the past four years, Deliverance San Diego has been delivering hot meals to the city's homeless population every Friday, averaging 200 donated meals on any given evening. Now, due to new guidelines passed by the State Legislature of California, the non-profit is ceasing operations and will dissolve by the end of the month.Through their existing model, hot meals were prepared in volunteer homes and distributed on the streets.
"Volunteers from various churches gather at 17th and Commercial downtown to load four food wagons with chili, soup, cornbread, water, and other snacks," the group's web site explains. "We offer prayer and spiritual support, but one of the easiest things we do is get someone's name and remember it."
Charity Under Fire
Through the new requirements, set forth by the San Diego Department of Environmental Health, Deliverance would need to use licensed, state-approved kitchens, implement hand-washing stations, and meet a variety of other requirements.With a yearly budget of less than $7,000, according to the non-profit's treasurer, Deliverance determined it can no longer sustain operations without extensive and expensive organizational changes. "We're on a shoestring budget," explains volunteer Gary Marttila, "so working out all those logistics became too big of an obstacle to overcome."
It is so much safer having the homeless eat spoiled food out of dumpsters rather than food prepared in someone’s home. Good work San Diego.
Jay at January 31, 2019 1:50 AM
Make it difficult for charities to feed the homeless and maybe the homeless will go somewhere else?
Vickie at January 31, 2019 2:05 AM
And how many people have suffered foodborne illnesses from this service? If there were some kind of epidemic, this law would make sense.
Patrick at January 31, 2019 4:51 AM
Well, homeless is such a clean way to live that we need to protect this pristine population from germ-borne illnesses.
How long will it be before the San Diego Department of Environmental Health and the state legislature start regulating dinner parties?
Maybe the state should shift its focus to Marin County, with all those unvaccinated children running around.
My HOA has a chili and soup cook-off every year. My God, think of the diseases running rampant through the development because of unregulated kitchens without hand washing stations that are being used.
"Won't somebody please think of the children?!" ~ Helen Lovejoy
Conan the Grammarian at January 31, 2019 6:02 AM
That is why there are locks on the dumpsters Jay. After all, if someone eats food out of your dumpster and gets sick they can sue you and shut down your business.
Ben at January 31, 2019 6:51 AM
Don't be surprised if digging a little deeper reveals food joints complaining about lost sales behind the real reason for this.
Sixclaws at January 31, 2019 8:24 AM
The government agencies responsible for feeding the poor don't want private competition. They want to masquerade their ineffectiveness as justification for growing their little empires.
iowaan at January 31, 2019 10:25 AM
Is there a NIMBY component to this?
NicoleK at January 31, 2019 11:38 AM
Now you know why serious charities tell you to send MONEY.
NOT food of any kind.
They can buy in bulk far more efficiently than you can deliver old crap out of your pantry, and THEN the chain of custody provides protection against a lawsuit - a single one of which would bankrupt anyone.
Your old mushroom soup is trash. If it makes someone sick, that someone can and will sue whoever put it in front of them. You serve it at home? Great! I'm proud of you for being so frugal.
Gonna tell me you won't sue the supermarket if it's in date and makes you sick? Why do you think a charity is immune from some attorney and his hopeless victim? All he wanted to DO was eat a meal in peace and you poisoned him!
You have forgotten you're talking about a state in which people who aren't disabled sue businesses for not observing the letter of the AwDA.
Radwaste at January 31, 2019 12:08 PM
One of the local TV stations has an "investigative" reporter who does a weekly segment titled "Dirty Dining" where they "expose" a local eatery that got bad marks on its health department inspection. Many of them have been some of my favorite places to eat. My response to this is show me someone who got sick from eating there or shut the heck up.
This charity should go out among the homeless for one last week, with no food, and tell them, we'd love to bring you food, but the county health department won't let us. Next, work hard to spread the word before the next county elections, making sure to highlight which elected officials backed this new policy. Maybe find a way to register the homeless and get them to the polls. Maybe pass out pictures of the health department officials enforcing this to the homeless - tell them ask this person why we can't feed you.
bw1 at January 31, 2019 6:45 PM
Busy-bodies love to solve imaginary problems in ways that make life worse for everyone. F*ck em
cc at February 2, 2019 1:34 PM
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