Will the Lines Ever End?

Food banks became popular during the Great Depression when thousands of Americans lost their jobs due to the stock market crash. They provide free food, and sometimes a place to sleep in extreme cases, to people who can not afford it themselves. Mark Winne, in his article “When Handouts Keep Coming, the Food Line Never Ends”, argues that citizens need more and more help in providing food for their families and are increasingly becoming deeper in “food insecurity” because food bank organizations and the government focus on distributing the food as opposed to solving the problems of why people can not afford their food. Unfortunately, what Winne says is true in that the organization and the government are only repressing the problems when they should focus on fixing them. In the 1980’s the Reagan administration cut federal support for social welfare programs which caused an influx of donations and volunteers to food banks by citizens and companies. However, as food demand rose, food banks nearly exhausted their entire supply even as lines grew longer. Food bank directors became desperate and began accepting all donations no matter how inedible or nutrition less. Volunteers also returned because of the belief that they “do good” by feeding the needy. The biggest issue is that some food banks rarely check the validity of their recipients and whether they actually need the food, they just give it out to whoever is in line. This is very unfortunate because it takes away from those who do need the food, and creates a way for people who do not need it to receive free food and then tell other people about it, causing an endless cycle of greed and fraud. There is also something about food-banking culture and it’s relationship with donors that dampens the desire to empower the poor and take a more unified, public approach against hunger. Both recipients and donors are trapped in a web of immediate gratification that offers the recipients no