Member-only story
Poor people should also have ice-cream
Do we punish them for craving more than the basics?
I used to volunteer at the Helping Place. It’s a local charity. Because I have engineering degrees, I helped them with their computer program. They would take donated computers, fix them up, load donated software, and give them to poor students. This helps poor kids compete academically.
When I first showed up, I was given a proper tour of the facilities. There was a huge food pantry where people came to get groceries.
When a poor person came looking for help, they were assigned someone who would talk to them about their situation. Sometimes we’d help them pay a utility bill. We almost always gave them groceries.
When I was taken on a tour through the pantry, the volunteer who staffed that area explained how they helped a poor person fill their cart.
“First we take them through the dry goods aisle,” he said. “Depending on family size, they can get up to 4 items from here. There’s rice, beans, pasta, cereal. If they have more than 2 kids, they can get an extra box of cereal. Also, here’s the bread section. We always have extra donated, so we let them take as much as they want.”
I saw packages of Wonder Bread sitting besides carefully wrapped artisan loaves. I also saw…
