Last Thursday afternoon, a hungry man had the misfortune of asking for food from Northwest Harvest on “Baby Day,” the day when only people with children under five are offered food. According to a police report, a Northwest Harvest employee asked the man to produce a child or proof of his paternity in exchange for dinner. Naturally, this frustrated the likely indigent man, who was then asked to leave by staff.
Sometimes though, you’re just really hungry. The report states, “as the subject was leaving he grabbed a 50lb bag of potatoes from a pallet in the parking lot and began to walk off with it.” An employee spotted the suspect, confronted him, and asked him to kindly return the potatoes he allegedly stole.
In response, the police report states that the man dropped the potato sack and allegedly punched the employee “in the right shoulder and then in the mouth.” After this brief, violent altercation, Northwest Harvest employees say the man slung his newly won potatoes over his shoulder and walked off. Police sweeps of the area turned up neither man nor potato.
This is not unlike the post last week about giving EBT users double-value at farmer’s markets. This silly notion that only certain people are deserving of certain kinds of help is really offensive to me. Dude was hungry and wasn’t any less deserving of help just because he didn’t have a kid. Poor people need money; that’s the problem with being poor. If you want to help them, give them money and respect them enough to make their own decisions about how to live their lives just like everyone else gets to do.
Two caveats: One, people with mental diseases or drug addictions need additional, specialized help. Two, dude shouldn’t have hit the potato-miser.
I have no problem with charities that set rules. It’s enough that they’re there willing to help. Anybody who thinks they ought to be doormats on top of that should get out there themselves and do the job. Find potato man and feed the fucker yourself.
If you’re poor enough to steal food, what cruel bastard would take it away from you?
Come on. NW harvest is a humanitarian organization. They have to be humane here. Turning down a starving man, no matter what their policy is or what day it is, is just inhuman.
@1 if my tax dollars are being used to give food stamps to the poor (good cause!) then yes, I do want those dollars used at a farmers market where the recipient will buy food that actually has nutritional value and won’t lead to a host of health problems that my tax dollars will have to pay for through Medicaid (also a good cause). I’m not saying that poor people shouldn’t be allowed to choose how to spend their money, but I am saying that they shouldn’t be allowed to spend my money at the Burger King on my street that now accepts EBT cards.
A few points: 1: 50 pounds of potatoes may be a bit more than one starving person should be allotted. Likely someone else who was also poor, but had children who were also hungry, got less than they should have. The reason we try to focus scarce resources on children is that they represent potential. A kid fed by the food bank could end up to be anything. This man likely represents resources going down a hole for which society will never be repaid, as his potential for meaningful contribution to society is small.
2:You don’t get to hit people and take what you want. That is not how the system works, at least not yet…give it a few years and we may get there.
3: I’ve never heard of anyone being sent away from a foodbank with nothing, even if they didn’t qualify for the specific way the organization planned on giving out food that day. It would not have been too much for them to hand the guy a couple potatoes, or a few slices of week-old bread, or something. It shows poor staff training and management on the part of the supervisors.
@5 Delightfully Dickensian (a New Democrat?): “1: 50 pounds of potatoes may be a bit more than one starving person should be allotted.”
Would it have been too much to rip open the bag and give the man a potato?
Welcome to America — where the hospitals no longer tend to the sick, and now the food banks are not tending to the hungry.. We should just change the quote on the Statue of Liberty to “Give me your greedy, your soulless, your morally bereft corporations yearning to enslave your tired, your poor, your huddled masses — you bitches are on your own.”
@1 I say that all the time about health benefits and tax credits.
Those of us without children are routinely discriminated against… From the homeless to the rich, it pays to have kids.
What the shit. Is this the richest country in the world or not?
How hard is it to chase down a guy carrying 50 pounds of potatoes?
@6,
What else do you suggest? Food banks have limited resources. They’re not someplace where you can go and get whatever you need whenever you want.
@9 Ummm… If you measure a country by its least fortunate, then no. If you measure a country by the number of billionaires, then maybe.
Many years ago, I was visiting an area in southernmost Netherlands. Unemployment was huge, like 15 – 20%. You’d never know it. The place looked like a lovely suburban neighborhood. The people I met, even the unemployed, were fully engaged citizens. There were no homeless, no hungry. No one “on welfare” was forced to sign over their homes. Home ownership, even in those who have lost their jobs, was valued enough by their safety net programs that their mortgages were paid for them while they were unemployed. They were aghast when I told them how we did things here.
Are we the richest? If you measure it by how we act, fuck no.
@6 -perhaps, but a single person will probably not make it through 50lbs of potatoes before they start to spoil, given that they are already likely past their prime. So either one guy gets all the potatoes he can eat, after committing strong-arm robbery, and likely wastes a considerable portion, or 5 families get 10lbs each, which will probably provide them with a couple meals. It isn’t about taking food away from a hungry dude, it is about assuring that the largest number of people get the maximum benefit the limited resource will provide. You are always welcome to contribute yourself.
My kids and I will be out front of the MIll Creek Central Market on Oct 9th, from 2-5pm collecting food donations for the Snohomish County food banks. If you’re in the area please stop by and donate.
@12 – And maybe potato dude shared his potatoes with 50 other homeless people who didn’t happen have the golden ticket that is a child, and which apparently apparently makes them more deserving of a chance to eat. We need to stop making assumptions and judgments about who deserves help. Anybody who doesn’t have food needs help.
Northwest Harvest’s Cherry Street Food Bank serves about 5,000 people each week. It is one of the busiest food banks in the state! On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays people may choose to obtain food from either our grocery line or our sack lunch line. On Thursday we host Baby Day which, as stated, serves families with children 5 and under. Our food is always given freely, no questions asked — and no proof of identity required. Although Thursdays are reserved for families, if someone shows up demonstrating great need we are usually able to offer them something. Additionally, we let people know where else they can go get food close by. Seattle is fortunate to have a number of food banks and meal programs providing outreach.
We invite all readers to learn more about us and our statewide network of partner programs on our web site, http://www.northwestharvest.org. Our blog, at http://www.nwharvest.org, often features video interviews with food bank visitors and is a great way to get to know some of them. We welcome your support. And Chris, many thanks for collecting food for Snohomish County food banks with your children. We distribute food to several programs in Snohomish County and know they deeply appreciate the support from the community.
@13: Or maybe he was an asshole who just wanted some free potatoes. I’m not saying the guy really was or wasn’t , but nothing in this post provides any actual proof that the suspect was homeless, starving, or otherwise indigent. There’s just some conjecture on the intern’s part.
@13- doesn’t seem likely. and as I stated in my first post, the reason we focus resources on children is that they have limited ability to provide resources for themselves. If I had a potato, I’m much more inclined to give it to a child than to an adult, because that child cannot go out and get a potato for itself. A family w/ children needs more calories than does a lone dude. The fact that the dude was willing to assault someone trying to keep him from stealing potatos from a line of under-resourced families on the only day when that foodbank concentrates on families w/ young children tells me he is a piece of shit and does not deserve anything.
Grow up, Mason. Adults will always be asked to sacrifice on behalf of the children of their community, and those without children will need to make some small sacrifices so that those that do can be the best parents they can be. Or you can pay astronomical sums for the social services that will be required to pick up the pieces…your choice, I guess.
Hi intern, could you provide a link to a news story or something to indicate that this is not a rumor but something which actually happened? Thanks!
If the dude was either hungry enough or asshole enough to steal potatoes from a food bank – it is tragic either way. I donate time, money, and food, and still I feel helpless in the face of this.
He probably sold them for drugs. As previously pointed out, it’s not like the guy could eat all of them before they spoil, it’s kind of obvious he doesn’t have a family to feed either or he would have brought them along, so he probably sold or traded ’em for drugs.
@17: Generally, all of our crime information comes from police reports accessible online right here: http://www.seattle.gov/police/records/de…
@15 everybody at the food bank is someone who “who just wanted some free potatoes”. It is a fucking food bank! None of the families with children had to show “proof” that they are “homeless, starving, or otherwise indigent.” That is the whole point. Except on family day when you have to show “proof” that you have a child to feed.
@18 I love you man. Sold the potatoes for drugs! Holy shit. Right out of the Onion.