Shocking scenes in Orlando where half-mile line of cars wait for food bank after theme parks' shutdown

[Bianca and Bernard]

I've seen it happen during hurricanes. Many years ago (2004) when we had the triple-hit here in Florida I stood in line for ice because I needed it to salvage food. A lady behind me loudly boasted "I don't need it but free is free!". So yeah, I've seen it with my own eyes and I know it happens. I too like to think that those who need help get it and those that don't stay away, but sadly that's the state we live in nowadays.

It doesn't mean I don't help though. I am just aware of the reality.

https://www.ccpoj.org/

In Jacksonville, each year, there is a toy give away, for kids 12 and under. It's all from donations (whether the toys are donated or cash and then the toys are purchased). There are usually a lot of bikes, skates, skateboards, etc that are "won" as well as Barbies, Hot Wheels, etc....I mean, very very few dollar store toys. Not just one toy per kid, either. Last year they gave away 20,000 toys, 600 'wheeled items', and 50,000 Ja-Ru novelty toys to 4,000 kids (per their website). No sign ups, it's first come, first served.

There is no qualification required, other than being a resident of NE FL. They used to not make you bring the kids (so they could be surprised), but people were seriously going through, getting the toys and then either returning to the store for money or selling the toys online. Now, the kids have to come, and it's one time through the line. Yes, people would go through, go drop their haul in their cars, then come back for more. There have been fights in line, over the toys, over who was there first, etc.

One year, when DH and I were both out of work, we considered going up to get DS some toys (DDs were too old). I got up, turned on the news, saw the line was several thousand people long, and decided that he could be happy with the few toys we were able to get. If we had had nothing for DS, I would have sucked it up and went down.

 

[ronandannette]

Of course the economy will come back. But until it does it won’t be back. It’s going to take some time.

Yes - I agree. At this nightmarish point though, it would be a blessing to go back to our previous disastrous economic conditions. Even that's optimistic since the O&G industry world-wide and especially locally, has been even further decimated over the past month by the antics of the evil empires of OPEC and Russia. $7/barrel for Canadian Crude - seriously? Somebody please wake me up. On the bright side, I haven't heard the terms "Hereditary Chiefs" or "Wexit" for several weeks, so there's that...

Again? You have NO IDEA if the people losing their jobs will recover.

I can only imagine that comments like the one you quoted are either purposely evocative or coming from someone who has their own personal circumstances so completely under control that they are blind to the plight of others.

I don’t know. I have seen this kind of behavior here during hurricane season, and the motive is always selfishness. I have no idea if there are any scammers at the food banks, but I do hope those who really need it get their needs fulfilled.

My only concern about supply lines is keeping those folks who are manufacturing and transporting goods healthy enough to keep working. I have the same concern for medical personnel and first responders. People who have to keep working in these areas are in contact with a lot of people, and are overworked and tired, which affects the immune system. I keep hoping someone will hit on an adequate treatment soon.

I am angered by the posts that say the economic issues are no big deal. Many of the people who make our vacations so magical live in old motels and other temporary housing where they aren’t going to be protected by delayed mortgage or rent payments when they lose their jobs. The Orlando Sentinel has been full of articles over the years about how desperate some of these families are when they are working, and working multiple jobs. I don’t expect them to be less desperate when they aren’t. People can’t get through to unemployment to even file, and they can’t get money until they do. I wake up every day expecting an email that says we have no more customers and we are shutting down. It’s a really scary, and very real, situation for a lot of people. Many people don’t have the luxury of waiting months or years for the economy to recover.

Selfish, yes - definitely selfish. But this is different than your garden variety disaster. I've seen previously-sensible people hoarding and hording to me, is different. It comes from a place of deep irrationality and includes a "survival of the fittest" component that will threaten us all, if it gets worse.

I do completely agree with many of your other points though. Even people who have been relatively stable economically (on a paycheque to paycheque basis) have no realistic hope of catching up on several months of unpaid bills, even if they get back to work relatively quickly. The poor have no chance of recovery at all.

 

[2China2009]

Blessed to be an essential worker. Working lots of hours and padding the emergency fund big time.

 

[Missy1961]

I wish you well. My DS would be in a similar situation. He worked part-time retail in a chain clothing store while attending university. They shut the doors on every location nation-wide on March 13. Our system here is a little different than yours; part-time employees rarely ever qualify for unemployment. I shudder to think of what his situation would be if he had been living in rez at college, where everyone was evicted around the same time as classes ceased and went to on-line. There is no way he would have had the resources to survive.

Just an FYI - I am full time so that is why I will get unemployment. Just like in Canada, part timers would not get unemployment. (it might be different now because of the Covid-19 situation)

Thanks for the well wishes - I can use them!