Food Box - Kosher West

amother

DarkRed

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 3:37 pm

amother [ RosePink ] wrote:

The groceries aren't doing this as a chesed. They are getting paid for it. And getting paid nicely. They can put popular food items in the boxes instead of random canned stuff that I have never seen anyone buy. They know what sells and people want. But it's obviously more lucrative for them to put the cheapest items that fit the criteria in the box. It's isn't free...our tax dollars are paying for it.

Exactly this

amother

Poppy

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 5:01 pm

Baltimore food box providers have been doing a fantastic job. We get tons of useful stuff. Chicken, ground beef, roasts, deli, shredded cheese, sliced cheese, checked cabbage and lettuce, grapes, apples, potatoes, onions, cholent beans, barley, applesauce, grape juice, apple juice, orange juice, baked goods, salmon, fishsticks, breaded fish fillets, pizza crusts, pizza bagels, etc. Of course plenty of milk. Sometimes there are weirder type items like sauerkraut or beets or other type items that you then just see being given away on all the chats. But for the most part you can clearly see the effort they put in to provide useful food for families - they don't just see it as a money making opportunity.

amother

RosePink

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 5:29 pm

amother [ Garnet ] wrote:

Sure, I pay between 150-200k in personal taxes per year.
I do not get free food boxes because it's usually all junk & I don't need to get a box to bother everyone on the neighborhood chat asking if anyone else wants it.
I definitely don't go online to complain abt the free boxes I don't have to get.

You sound really condescending. Be grateful you make so much money and can buy your own food and don't need to depend on food boxes. But don't look down on people who do. You have no guarantees you will be that wealthy forever. Money comes and goes.

Hashem_Yaazor

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 6:05 pm

amother [ Poppy ] wrote:

Are you getting these same items in this new round?

mimi4

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 6:10 pm

amother [ Garnet ] wrote:

lol

Notsobusy

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 6:21 pm

I can definitely see why op is upset. The box I got had so many more items in it and they were mostly useful. And I've seen some other boxes listed and they also have much more than what she listed.

Yes, it's all free government money, but the other boxes are also free government money. All boxes should be somewhat equivalent.

And to the op who pays up to $200k in taxes, I hope for your sake it's the truth. But if it is then you probably can't even begin to imagine how much of a difference these boxes can make to a family. Especially these days with prices so crazy high. Your attitude is really not nice.

amother

Garnet

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 7:31 pm

amother [ RosePink ] wrote:

I am not being condescending. I had many years of struggling. But I never would post online to hundreds (1000s?) of people with the attitude of OP or half the responses, practically screaming about a free service from the govt. Especially when there are countless other options and perhaps op should have done more research before she picked up the box.
It. Is. Free.
It is not owed to anyone.

amother

Seashell

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 7:38 pm

Her issue is that they are pocketing the money and giving people crazy cheap boxes, instead of using the money towards food for people they can actually use. I read that the Baltimore community made FIFTY MILLION dollars from these food boxes from the last go around. So if all you’re getting is white bread and some canned hot peppers that are going straight to the trash, that’s outright taking advantage of the free flowing money that the federal government is assigning for these boxes. So while yes it’s nice to get free food, it is also nice to get food that is in accordance to the amount of money that is being paid by the government for the food.

amother

RosePink

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 8:26 pm

amother [ Garnet ] wrote:

You definitely sound condescending.

Public school is free. Are parents not allowed to complain if they aren't happy with the education their child gets or about something the teacher did? School bussing is free. Can a parent not complain if the bus comes 2 hour late every day. Free has nothing to do with it in this situation. The vendor is supposed to give a box worth a certain amount of money/with a certain amount of food because that's what they are getting paid for. If they don't it's wrong.

amother

Leaf

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 8:35 pm

Be happy you are getting a free food box.
We live in an area where there are no longer food boxes.
For the time that there were food boxes, it was incredibly helpful. We are really struggling financially and those boxes helped us so much, no matter what was in them.
I can't even buy myself a candy bar to cheer myself up after a tough day.. that's how careful we need to be financially.

Hashem_Yaazor

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 8:42 pm

amother [ Seashell ] wrote:

There are audits. If they're not meeting criteria, they won't get reimbursed.
If you read the fine print on Baltimore boxes (covidfoodbox.com) you will see a lot of what they put in isn't from the USDA program but to "help the community"... They're giving more attractive boxes and not being reimbursed for all of it so that the community will benefit and they will too by more people wanting boxes which leads to more revenue. It's a business move, not just chessed. No institution has an achrayus to use their own funds to make the boxes more attractive.

amother

Poppy

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 8:46 pm

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

Are you getting these same items in this new round?

Yes. Well, not all since it's only been a couple of weeks but just this week from 2 different pickups I got frozen broccoli, shredded cheese, grapes, juice, milk, fruit cups, deli, fishsticks, tea biscuits, frozen fish fillets, canned corn, frozen pizza, mangoes, danishes, almonds, could be I'm forgetting items. The preview for next week included whole chickens so they seem to even be giving raw items (unless the chickens are cooked but they have not done that previously).

Amother, where did you hear the $50 million figure from? That's staggering but does that mean the profits from the program or is that including all the expenses?

amother

Wine

Thu, Jul 21 2022, 9:38 pm

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

I thought as much in terms of these boxes being supplemented by community funds in some ways.

I also find it strange that imamothers bend over backwards sometimes to not be viewed as being judgmental of people and yet there are so many posters evidencing such hostility towards the providers of the boxes in terms of they bilking the system and pocketing money.

If anyone is at all familiar with the economics of a school lunch program the actual cost that is provided per meal is pretty meager and so if the money is not supplemented, then the content of the boxes is going to be equivalent to school lunches or the food that is given out daily for people who visit the feeding sites. And that is not even taking into consideration whether certain foods are more expensive because they are kosher.

amother

Candycane

Fri, Jul 22 2022, 2:16 pm

amother [ Poppy ] wrote:

I'm sure every community program has its pros and cons, but after waiting 2 hours for the TA box, we only got a few of the items, most of which was the stuff we wouldn't have gone for. We made a calculated decision if it was worth the wait based on the menu, and decided yes. So was it disappointing? Yes. But I'm not complaining about the program.

Do all the other communities post menus so families can decide if they're interested? If it's stuff you don't want, don't go that week.

I also appreciate that milk is now separate from the boxes here...

cupcake123

Mon, Jul 25 2022, 7:06 pm

I waited untill I got my second box to post because I wanted to be sure.
I'm getting the kosher west box from bnos devorah. It is fabulous! They come in 2 separate boxes one for frozen/fridge items and one for dry stuff like bread cereal... I love that because everything stays cold!
The actual items are great and useful I got frozen mango, whole wheat crackers, salmon, pastrami, bagels,yogurts .... lots of great goodies. Pride of the farm milk which I only use!

amother

Ultramarine

Mon, Jul 25 2022, 7:08 pm

cupcake123 wrote:

How many days is it for

amother

Junglegreen

Mon, Jul 25 2022, 7:16 pm

cupcake123 wrote:

Where can I sign up for this?