"I done never knowed the meaning o' being hungry , 'til the Yankees tried to feed us!"
Going Hungry in the Land of Plenty
Tuesday, 8 July 2014

The above quote is from a negro lady in Georgia interviewed by a Northern newspaper reporter in 1865, when the Federals occupied all of the south. In the immediate months following Lee's honorable surrender of all Confederate Armed Forces to his West Point Classmate, Gen. US Grant, at Appomattox court House, Virginia, the tragic death of President Lincoln at the hands of a southern Extremist Democrat, and the passage of the 13th Amendment forever abolishing slavery in the United States, the decimated south was in ruins. Sherman's march to the sea to divide the rebels, was a path of plunder and fire. Every home, every farm, railroad, and plantation was burned. Livestock and horses were seized for military use, and all food stores the Yankees couldn't carry off to feed their own troops, were destroyed.

The newly freed slaves that the Union mantra declared was a primary reason to invade the south "And Preserve the Union", was just that, a saying. As the freed slave lady above attests, the invading Federal forces left everyone, Southern Rebel Soldier, civilian, and even the newly emancipated African Americans, to starve to death. crops and fields were destroyed by union troops to deny the southerners their bountiful foodbasket that kept the south fed while the union troops starved for 3 years of campaigning.

In the abolitionist's haste to end slavery and free the captive labor there, no one considered where they would go and what they would do to feed and take care of themselves. Well meaning missionaries and schoolteachers came south with the carpetbaggers in misguided attempt to bring literacy to a people of the land, who had no land anymore! Hence the opening quote of the rant!

I am on the topic today, because I finally made it to the South East Clergy Hunger Center food bank at the South Haven United Church of Christ here in Bedford. I left the library after checking my PO Box (no, still no word at all from County Services on my food stamps & emergency benefits!), returning quickly to fetch my Gore-Tex ECWCS parka as the sky had gone dark and a thunderstorm was unleashing itself on NE Ohio, I practically had to swim mile plus walk!

I arrived, after calling the Hunger Center to first confirm that the schedule had not changed, and dripping wet in the hallway outside the pastor's office, I shed my Stetson hat and parka, and put them in the hallway coat rack, both much heavier now from the soaking.

I was greeted in the basement hallway where the Hunger Task Force kept one of it's regional pantries, by the sight of a dozen or more families, mostly white, and the volunteers, who directed me to take a number. Realizing that I was a new client, I was called ahead of 4 other families (I had taken #36, and #31 was being called), and they filled out an info card on me and checked my ID and address (they serve Bedford, Bedford Hts,, Walton Hills, and Oakwood, with other locations serving different adjoining communities.

There were however, befuddled that I homeless. The food bank is set up to provide staples for families living in houses, apartments, and shelters. I was immediately handed 2 bags of hamburger bins, some canned goods (I chose the peaches and pears, since there were no baked beans or cans of chili) and was set outside in the hallway to wait while a truck was unloaded. The one lady volunteer who had directed me about, called me aside as the hall was filling up with more clients, and handed me 2 sealed bags, civilian emergency rations a FEMA version of the notorious military MREs!

I was then directed to another room where I had my choice of provisions, but as I had to explain yet again, I was "Housing Challenged" and had no means of refrigeration, cooking, or food storage. So, I inquired about sandwich fixin's. I was given peanut butter, fruit spread, enough canned tuna to feed a platoon of pussycats, and had my choice of bread. I also received more canned goods, some raisins (I am enjoying them now at the library), I turned down some 1% milk in a carton, as I couldn't eat enough cereal or drink enough to finish it before it spoiled without refrigeration. I did accept a bag of dry cereal, and 2 large boxes of apple juice.

It was tough to pass up the donated steaks and other frozen meats, pasta noodles and baking items, but later when I have a kitchen to use, I will resume cooking on a  grand scale!

Well, it is still storming out there, making me wonder where I will camp out tonight. I am running out of places that aren't in the public or require trespassing. I will try Charlotte again, as we had been talking all day yesterday after we missed connections Saturday, when she had made arrangements for me to use a neighbor's shower that wasn't home (her tub is still backed up), and she had bought us some steaks. I had loaned my phone to a Foster Care teenaged girl who frequents the Get-Go, who is usually good about telling me when I have incoming calls.

My deepest thanks go out to the volunteers who all make the "PRIVATELY" operated food banks, and pantries serving families in need! They are all church members of the local Protestant and Catholic congregations! The food is both privately donated and government supplied foodstuffs. But all is operated privately separate from the .gov!

Oddly, according to the program rules, only people eligible for food stamps may draw on the bank. However, I fall through so many cracks in the system that they made a special case for me and noted so on my file card. Thank you! But I am perplexed as to why they aren't set up to accommodate the homeless?

OK, quick interjection here, never, I repeat, NEVER! Gobble down raisins on an empty stomach! (I haven't eaten this many raisins since i had a pet squirrel monkey when I was in junior high! Raisins have the same effect on small primates as prunes do to larger primates! I just barely made the men's room stall! I won't go into gory detail, but i was able to clean up the stall with no evidence of a mishap! I finished the last of my groceries from Kerry and Donna's donation on Saturday, and haven't eaten since that last bowl of instant oats!

Where was I? Oh yes, the Hunger Network. Well, there is no shortage of food available for donation, whether it is damaged or out of date packaged and can goods from grocery retailers, or private donations from either cash or actual donated food. The Cleveland Food Bank alone, processes several million pounds of food annually. The problem is the distribution network and the resources necessary to transport and sort the food to get it to those in need! I was the designated driver to deliver the foodstuffs we collected t PSI for the food drives, loading the canned and packaged goods in boxes in the back of a company truck and delivering it to the new Collinwod facilty. I never thought I would be a client!

Thanks to all have donated! And to those who haven't, a family of four can be fed daily for $1/day. Donate to Harvest for Hunger at the register of your grocery store, fill a paper bag with dry packaged or canned food for the letter carrier when they have their annual food drive, or donate directly in the form of food, cash, or better yet, volunteer in person  to help collect, sort, and distribute food to those in need in your own neighborhoods!

So, does your church run a pantry? A soup kitchen? If so, get involved! If not, start one!

I was very pleased to see the church building in full use on a weekday. Between the food pantry , day care, and other programs, the church is active on other than just Sundays and a weekday evening Bible study like too many congregations.

Growing up as a PK (Preacher's Kid) in the Congregational churches my dad was assigned, i was used to seeing all kinds of church and secular programs being run on church property for the benefit of the local community! From Saturday night square dances with Pot Luck Dinners, to family friendly picnics and outings to the zoo and aquarium, to youth Christian .orgs, elderly and mentally ill programs, to soup kitchens, spaghetti dinners, pancake breakfasts and free lunches for the down and out! (And they didn't have to sit through a sermon or service!)

I became, and still am a Christian because of this. Just reading the Word alone will not impress upon people what Jesus really did when He walked among men 2,000 years ago, but experiencing God's teachings in person through the church will instill the spirit in anyone who has a heart!

You don't even have to believe or take any vows, just reach out and help your neighbors help your neighbors and others in need!

I won't dwell on my daddy's shortcomings, as in life he truly meant well for all, he just got caught up in his own ego and narcissism. Most of the programs he started were really only platforms for him to be the center of attention, but with his charisma and charm, he was able to bring people together to work as a unified group! Even his secular activities starred him, and had him in the spotlight.

But, he did live up up to his motto "Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and house the homeless", by sponsoring food and clothing drives and providing shelter for those in need.

That is what I wish to emulate about my dad. The helping, the caring, and the doing, not the selfish "Hey kids, lets put on a show, starring ME!"

Sorry for the delay here, but they just moved us in to the conference room here at the library for a tornado warning here in Bedford. My phone beeped at 1340 with a NWS advisory, and other folk's phones went of steadily until they moved us at 1400, and then released us at 1415.

The sun is back out, though it is still drizzling. Don't know of any twisters in the area touching down, but I'll check on that before leaving here tonight.

I am being emotionally overwhelmed, blogging about slaves starving at the end of The War Between the States (Or the War of Northern Aggression as my southern family and friends say), picking up my read du jour, The Battle of the Crater, an historic novel of the American Civil War Battle in summer of 1864, that did not go as planned, and was listening to Ashoken Farewell, by Jay Unger and Molly Mason that was used abundantly in the Ken Burns PBS documentary on TWBS.

I have been enamored of history, military history, and especially Civil War history since I was 12! I wrote about it in all of my English themes in Junior High, much to my classmates disgust, and lived it by attending school both in the historic Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and serving in the South Carolina Corps of Cadets in Charleston, South Carolina while a midshipman in the US NROTC program 2 The Citadel, the Military College of South Caroline, whose cadets fired the first historic shots of the war in the attempted resupply of the Federal garrison at Fort Sumter.

My God, I lived and breathed history! I was an initiate in the Citadel Camp of the Sons of the Confederacy, waiting only for genealogical confirmation of my direct descendency from actual members of the Confederate Armed Services! I have since confirmed 6 direct ancestors who served, several Hulls, and some others, all officers in the Tennessee, Virginia or North Carolina units.

As Rob't E. Lee explained to president Buchanan when he turned down the offer to head up the United States Army for the retiring General Winfield Scott (an old, fat soldier who had been the ranking US commander since the War of 1812 with British), "Sir I must regretfully decline your [magnanimous] offer, but I cannot take up arms against my fellow Virginians. Therefore, I tender my resignation as an officer in the US Army."

So in spite of what you were taught, or in more cases, never taught about the true history of the United States, and especially the actual causes and effects of the TWBS on both the economy and the politics of the United States.

It was not a war for or against slavery! Slavery, though legal in the US from 1658 when "Indentured Servitude was outlawed by the British, until the passage of the 13th US Constitutional Amendment in August of 1865,  slavery was merely an economic issue for the south, but an emotional one for the northern "Free" states. The actual drive towards secession by 10 southern states, was because of the abuses of State's Rights by the Federal Government, and the subsequent election of A. Lincoln, a former Whig turned abolitionist Republican, who wished to abolish slavery in the Americas, and deport ALL blacks, free and slave, to western Africa because he felt they had no place in American Society. (He later softened his stance, and wrote the Emancipation Proclamation to allow blacks to serve in the US Military, in special US Colored Troop regiments of cavalry, artillery, and infantry.

With an impeccable record as Federal Troops, though initially (as the 54 & 55th Massachusetts Colored Militia units, led by white officers and recruited from outside of New England because there were very blacks living there] were in the siege of Charleston at Fort Fisher) used as "cannon fodder" by Yankee Corps Commanders, the USCT Regiments distinguished  themselves honorably in TWBS, the Indian Wars (the Buffalo Soldiers that impressed the warring Plains Indians), the Spanish American War, the 1916 Chase of Poncho Villa in Mexico, the Caribbean interventions of the 1930s, along with US Marines, China in the 1930's, and finally WWII (the Tuskegee Airmen & Red Ball Express) , before Truman ordered the integration of the US Army in 1945, the USCT exceeded the white man's expectaions of what non-white troops could do!

Well, I lost this post once, but finally recovered the draft, so I will post this one, and resume yesterday's rant about losing this history lesson and Food Pantry adventure!

Later!
.