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Bezerra de Menezes Food Pantry Report

When kids knock

January 2011

� Food Pantry, more than just food

� About Poverty, immigrants and the need for food recovery education

at your doorat your doorat your doorat your door

Bezerra de Menezes Food Pantry is a social program

managed by the Bezerra de Menezes Kardecian Spiritist

Center a 501(c)(3) educational and charitable

organization, located in Miami Fl. Through its Social

Assistace Department. BM Food Pantry was founded in

February 2009 to provide supplemental food to families

and individuals in need, in the Miami Dade County area.

Our services and products are free of charge. We are a

distribtion agency for the TEFAP program of the U.S.D.A.

and also rely on private donations to fund this program.

Social Assistance Dept of BM Kardecian Spiritist Assc.

Luis Salazar – Director

Members: Rita Salgado, Felix Abreu, Marlene Alencar

BM Food Pantry Report:

Gilberto Rustice, Luis Salazar

BM Food Pantry Report is a bi-monthlly digital periodical

distributed FREE to Donors, Government agencies,

Volunteers and General Public. The main objective of

this publication is to inform about the operation of the

Bezerra de Menezes Food Pantry and to provide news

and opinions on Poverty and Hunger advocacy.

You can send your comments fp@spiritist.com .

BM Food Pantry distribution day

Some of the BM Food Pantry volunteers

Registration Table

Marlene Alencar BM Food Pantry Volunteer

Aout Poverty, immigrants and

the need for food recovery

education.

TooTooTooToo often when we talk about the poor, people think on

some lazy people that are sitting all day at their government

provided housing, just waiting for a check to arrive by mail

to go get some beers, maybe that is what some people do.

But there are others that get up very early in the morning to

catch a bus, work 8, 10 hrs a day, in many cases, at the

minimum wage rate of $7.25/hr. Temporary or unskilled

workers ussually are paid the minimum wage. Now, try to

balance your budget with that income, while feeding and

sheltering your family. It will take a Larry Summers or Alan

Greenspan to come up with a formula to achieve that. The

Federal minimum wage it is been in effect since July 2009,

now please tell me what product or service has continued

without a price change since 2009? Those who work and

receive tips then have a minimum wage of $4.23, so,

waitress, valet parking and others services rely on tips from

the public. Every day is a mistery at the gas station, every

day is a mistery if you rely on tips, but everyday you know

that somehow your quality of life is plummeting.

South Florida has a large immigrant population, the history

of the immigrant’s waves are exposed on the fabric of our

communities, there’s always somebody that came

yesterday, placing a burden on family, goverment and

communities, but also stimulating an always growing

economy. Immigration is good for everybody, as long as

everybody participates and extends their hand to the new

comer. The faster the immigrant can be assimilated the

better member of the community he/she becomes.

Bezerra de Menezes Food Pantry plays a very important role

in South Florida. Our volunteer body is trilingual, English,

Spanish, Portugues, but we are also tricultural, and we

understand each one of the cultures in our community. We

provide supplemental food to take home; through the

Family Closet we provide clothings and small home

appliances; and through our Spiritual activities, try to bring

comfort to these tired souls that sometimes need more

food for the soul than for their bodies.

We are moved by the stories of charity in the life of our

spiritual mentor Dr. Bezerra de Menezes, who would give

anything when asked, he would pay for the medicines for a

poor mother and in case of not having anything material to

give he would offer a hug and a prayer. Just love in action.

Mother Teresa was once asked, “Have you heard mother of

the saying: Give fish to a man and he’ll eat one day, teach

him to fish and he will eat everyday.” She replied:” Yes, I

have heard of that, but my people are so sick and frail that I

have to fish for them, you go and teach others to fish.”

BM caring volunteers :( Left-Right) Moema, Rita and Graziella

Today, there are enough resources to feed the world

population; it is just a matter of distribution and human

rights. The salvage and food rescue programs to local level

have proved to be a success, consistenly providing support

to those who cannot take care of themselves and saving

tons of food from being disposed as garbage. We need to

educate our families, local restauranteurs and grocery

stores on how they can make a difference in the life of a

family, a working family, our family.

Luis Salazar

Coordinator

BM Food Pantry

Please, make your Tax Deductible Donation today.

Food Pantry, more than just food

WWWWhen we go to a grocery store and buy food, we just get

food. Of course, we use the money we managed to earn to

pay for it, the same money that could have bought

something else. We then place that food in our

refrigerators and shelves at our homes, and go to bed at

night without any worries about hunger.

That food is just a material thing that our money can get,

and some of it may be wasted. Those that come to Bezerra

de Menezes’ Food Pantry, though, will certainly have a

complete different experience.

First of all, those people may be hungry, which is something

most of our readers don’t experience. Or, they are in to get

something to feed someone else at home, which might be

hungry, which could be a kid, or someone sick.

Secondly, the food people may get from the Food Pantry

won’t just satisfy the physical needs of those waiting for the

food. Along with feeding the body, such food will provide a

major emotional relief for those that have to worry so much

about whether they will have something to eat and to feed

their kids and other dearly relatives. It will be no surprise if

those that come to BM’s Food Pantry suffer from a high

level of anxiety, or maybe even depression (without even

knowing it).

And, third, coming to BM’s Food Pantry, give them an

opportunity to feel cared about, to feel the blessings of God

meeting their prayers, and to get a sense of what charity

can do to make easier for the needy to survive their

atonements. In other words, the BM Food Pantry actions

and people help the poor and the hunger to grow morally

and spiritually.

We tend to think that poverty and hunger are minor issues

in this country. However, they are not. Here are some

statistics published by “Feeding America”:

• In 2009, 43.6 million people (14.3 percent) were in

poverty.

• In 2009, 8.8 (11.1% percent) million families were in poverty.

• In 2009, 24.7 million (12.9 percent) of people aged 18-64 were in poverty.

• In 2009, 15.5 million (20.7 percent) children under the age of 18 were in poverty.

• In 2009, 3.4 million (8.9 percent) seniors 65 and older were in poverty.

Let’s remember that passage of the multiplication of the

bread, in which Jesus Christ used his power, mercy, and

benevolence to address the issue of lack of food to his

followers at a point in history. We can’t yet multiply food,

but we certainly can share a piece of what we have. The

rewards for charity cannot be measured or fully explained in

words. We were all born to be good, and reach perfection

one day. Quite often, actions we take that reflect the

impulse of the seeds of love planted on us by God, and

tirelessly watered by Jesus Christ, bring us that sense of

realization of our true self, the one that survives matter,

and is being prepared to live in a world of happiness.

Let’s thank God for NOT being in the receiving side of the

Food Pantry, for not experiencing hunger, for not suffering

for not having how to feed our kids and relatives. The BM’s

Food Pantry is one way of doing that, in a language most

appreciated by God: charity.

The Food Pantry can’t survive on its own, and the

consequences of that might be disastrous to so many

families. The Food Pantry is only a reality to the extent that

we, at the giving side of the table, help it meet its

objectives. Let’s remember Mother Theresa, who said:

“What I do is so little. It is like a drop in the ocean, but

without that drop, the ocean would be smaller”. Yes, we

can help, either by contributing with food or by working as a

volunteer at the Food Pantry.

Gilberto Rustice

Volunteer

BM Food Pantry

When kids knock at your

door

AsAsAsAs you probably know, 61% of the clients served by

Bezerra de Menezes Food Pantry are children. Some of

them come with their parents to get their food. We can tell

by their faces that they don’t understand much of what’s

going on.

Many, when they get into the actual Food Pantry room,

their eyes open wider and look around for products they

like -- the famous Chef Boyardee, Oreo cookies, Cereal,

Juices and milk are within their favorites. They look at the

products and inmediately look to the parents like advising

them to get those. BM Food Pantry is a choice food pantry,

meaning that every family, assisted by our volunteers, will

pick the products that they like and consume, avoiding the

waste of products; it is like shopping in a grocery store, just

without the cashier at the end.

There was a time when a mother visited us with her 8 year

old daughter, and the girl was carefully watching

everything, trying to not miss any detail of the operation. At

some point, when the mother requested a certain product,

the girl told her mom “Hey, enough! How are you going to

pay for all this? The mother smiled and kept quiet, but our

volunteer said to the girl: “Don’t worry. Your mom is going

to give us a check”. The girl looked again her mom like

willing to be reassured, but there was just silence.

Kids know when times are tough, when money is short, but

they play along; settle for a candy bar for dinner and a

banana for breakfast. Meanwhile, parents are consumed by

worries about what to feed their children. In many cases,

the issue it is not even about nutrition, but about avoiding

stomach aches, insomnia, dehydration, and even

nightmares.

We are so happy when we receive a donation of children’s

products, because they appreciate it in a very special way.

A three year old, after seeing a cereal box with Spiderman

on the cover, grabbed it and kept it like saying “Ok, this is

mine and I’m not leaving without it”. Another little one,

around 7 years of age, insisted on drinking a pouch of Capri-

Sun juice and his eyeballs would disappear of satisfaction.

Sometimes we find those kids playing to be parents -- when

asked if they want chocolate, they point to a pound of rice

instead, just to realize later that rice is already in their box.

Kids are considerate most of the time. They have seen their

parents fighting, crying, and desperate. Also, they perceive

that Bezerra de Menezes Food Pantry is there to help their

family. They see how their parents are treated with

respect, in a caring way, called by their names. This all

means a lot to them, considering the violent world that we

live in.

Young clients checking out the Toy Box, next to Maria one of the Food Pantry

Volunteer at the Family Closet. Little, simple toys and books are their favorite picks, they

know that mom or dad will take care of the food, so they

enjoy picking few toys and children books from the “Family

Closet at BM Food Pantry.”

So, when kids knock at our door, it is not precisely

Halloween. Many terrifying stories might be going on in

their homes. It is a family in distress that need a friendly

and caring hand, to help them to keep their balance and to

cope with the storm

.

One of the more than 700 little ones, clients of the Bezerra de

Menezes Food Pantry.