Extending compassion to those in need at holiday
More than three cheers and several rounds of applause for the Redlands-based East Valley Association of Realtors and Affiliates serving the Inland Empire. This year the association’s fundraising committee went more than the “added mile” in planning a gala fundraiser event at the magnificent Redlands Burrage Mansion that is designated as a Redlands historical landmark. The committee’s mission was to raise funds for the association’s annual Thanksgiving distribution of turkeys and holiday trimmings to put food in the tummies of needy seniors, children and the homeless.
The annual fundraiser benefits the nonprofit food bank facility known as The Blessing Center, also known as Joseph’s Storehouse in Redlands. Each year preceding the Thanksgiving holiday, turkeys and holiday food trimmings are loaded onto trucks and transported to designated distribution centers in the Inland Empire. Year-round, The Blessing Center assists the needy with food, clothing, language and job search skills, resume writing, computer training and much more.
Each year, the East Valley Association of Realtors and Affiliates proves it is more than a trade association of professional real estate service members as it extends a compassionate outreach to serve San Bernardino and Riverside County communities. In doing so, the association lives up to the time-honored landmark motto of the National Association of Realtors: “Do unto others what you would want others to do unto you.”
— Joan Marie Patsky, Beaumont
Cut in food stamps will cause new problems
A $39 billion cut in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps?
Although it’s true that some people take advantage of government welfare money up to a point, I disagree that it is a fair decision to cut $39 billion because, as recent research has shown, “one in seven people in the U.S. receive SNAP and/or are underemployed in July of 2013,” according to USDA data and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Evidently, the usage of SNAP is common, but if these families qualify for it, who’s to say it is not of vital importance to them?
“Yes, the federal government has budget problems, but children didn’t cause them, and cutting anti-hunger investments is the wrong way to solve them,” said Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus campaign for children, a child advocacy group.
In sum, instead of solving problems of the government being misused with this cut, a separate issue is deepening that will affect those that depend on the government to sustain a living. SNAP users as a whole shouldn’t be deprived of food because of money negligence coming from a small percentage of Americans.
— Daniela Barajas, San Bernardino
Plastic bags can be re-used once or more than once
Every plastic bag that comes into my home is re-used, often more than one time!
As I have fruit trees, I use them to place picked fruit in to share with others. They are used to line my wastebaskets to help keep them clean. I have a friend who is wheelchair-bound and incontinent who uses them to enclose her used diapers.
What would you replace them with? Not those re-usable bags sold by the stores, certainly. They gather a residue of unknown contaminants.
And yes, I even put to use those bags in which my morning newspaper arrives!
Need I remind you plastic bags came about to save the use of paper bags to save trees?
— Shirley Ott, Rancho Cucamonga
