Sometimes you get an email or a letter that describes a situation far better than one could imagine and that is what just happened when I opened an email from Jeannie Jaybush who runs Baby Corner in Seattle. We have shared their work several times in this diary– Baby Corner serves as a resource for local social services who deal with families (with few economic resources) that have a new baby and cannot afford many of the items needed to help with caring for a new infant (or older siblings). Jeannie, a co-founder, is one of the angels who run the program.
Read what she says-it is a little frightening.
Hi Naomi,
…thank you for the sox & pj’s. We were down to giving each kid 4 pairs of sox. And with the number of little sox that can be lost in the dryer 4 pair ain’t gonna go very far. It’s wacko here again. We only rarely give out grocery store food cards. Usually totals about $500+ per year. Since the economy tanked the requests have more than doubled. Food stamps have been cut, people are out of work & the food banks don’t have enough to go around. When a food card is needed I usually give it to the nurse or social worker & tell them to go to the grocery store & get the food & take it to the baby.(Then they’re supposed bring me the receipt.) That way they KNOW that the kids are getting the food that they should be eating & not just junk. On Tues. afternoon I stopped at the grocery store & got 4 more food card for $25 each. By10:45 AM I’d given away $75 of the $100. In the first 6 months of 2009 we gave out almost double what we gave out all year in 2008.
Is it just me? Or is something very wrong. The nurses are getting more cases of serious & severe malnutrition. One family has 2 teenagers that are the size of 6 & 7 year-olds. At the dawn of the 21st century in the USA? Grocery store cards help, but they surely are not the answer to all of this. It’s scary to watch some times. Makes me realize how close all of us are to a disaster. (I honestly didn’t mean to dump on you this way. I’m just trying to figure out what to do differently that would help stop this runaway problem.)
And, now you’ve read the longest e-mail in history. Guess I have to learn to not be so wordy…thanks for understanding!
As always,
Jeannie
We doubt that the situation is Seattle is much different than anywhere else. We are just happy that donors have allowed us the opportunity to help places like Baby Corner as they work on the true frontline.
