Photostream being updated all the time from Florida.
We’re broadcasting from this place today . We went there earlier and it is somewhere full of hope and misery all at the same time.
The ” hope” part is the excellence of the volunteers and the generosity of local donors to keep the place going. The team was business-like but friendly, the kitchen spotlessly clean but homely.
The “misery” bit is the fact that the impressive Josh from the centre estimates that he’s serving 40 per cent more “customers” year on year.
This is here in Fort Myers in “sunny” Florida.
In local Lee County the latest census estimates there are 3 thousand homeless people.
Last night it was pretty cold and many of them “come down from the woods ” (in the words of one of the volunteers) for a sink shower and something warm in their bellies.
We’re here for two reasons –
* Amid all the Obamania we wanted to find out what the people who have the most to gain and the least to lose hope for from their new president ; when we asked today we heard a range of answers from measures to deal with mental health, addiction, housing to simply boosting the economy so that more people have jobs.
* We have a partnership with local station WGCU (who have been brilliantly welcoming) and it made sense to look at the issue through the eyes of people here.
Somebody told us today that the local police given the kitchen bicycles that have been stolen when the owners can’t be traced. The staff at the kitchen “award” the bike to a customer they are sure won’t either sell it for drugs or use it to commit crime. The bikes have become treasured symbols of rebuilding a life.
The main man at the kitchen apparently wants his team to be made redundant in a few years time simply because there’ll be no need for the facility to exist. Will this week’s events lead to that pleasant dream coming true ?
And if you think i’m getting all soft , i’m not. A few hours before we got there today one of the top volunteers had his jacket stolen – in the pocket was a set of keys to the van that delivers 200-400 hot meals to poverty-stricken people who can’t get out of their houses.
No-one said it would be easy – not even Barack Obama.
-Mark
RSS feed
BBC World Have Your Say 
Hi ….
Interesting place for the World Have Your Say show to take place at a soup kitchen….
~Dennis Junior~
Coverage from the Soup Kitchen in Washington DC by WHYS is just to form us part the food prepared for Obama’s Inauguration.
Thanks for the splendid coverage.
Mohammed Kondawa, Monrovia – Liberia
Hi There,
First of all, Welcome to SW Florida!
I live about 20 miles east of where you are broadcasting from. and I am familiar with the area. While Lee County and the City of Ft Myers have implemented a large renovation project there, the basic needs of many are still not being met.
While I am hopeful that President Obama will be able to bring about some measure of improvement in the lives of people like the ones in that soup kitchen, I am not at all optimistic. If anything, I sense that many more are likely to be joining them.
The President is only one man who will be facing an entrenched system that is most resistant to change. In a rapidly changing world, I believe that America’s leadership is not up to the task of guiding us through these changes.
Too many Americans do not want to be called upon to make difficult choices, and our leadership is more concerned about getting re-elected than telling us the truth.
I voted for President Obama and certainly desire to see him do well. However, unless we, as an entire nation, begin to question some basic assumptions about ourselves, and address some basic systemic flaws, you will not lack for soup kitchens from which to broadcast.
An exactly complimentary set of feelings may be experienced by chatting with affluent suburbanites who imagine this scene is in no way related to their relative wealth.
g
Hi ! Guess we all have to eat in a soup kitchen sometime in our live. My country we are fed vegetarian food in a zen temple. Bon appetit.
Its very humbling to be there isn’t it. last year at thanksgiving my “mother in law” asked us to go there and help out. we did and it made us so very appreciative for what we had.
welcome to ft. myers! see you Friday at FGCU!
I worked for my local rescue mission that had a soup kitchen. I spent six years among people who, for whatever reason, found refuge there. Some just once or twice, some year after year.
To put it mildly, you get another view of how well – and how just – your economic system really is.
It can be quite sobering to eat dinner next to a large family who has been living in their car for the past several months.
You can see a few of my stories here;
http://www.burnsidewriterscollective.com/social/2008/03/rainy_camp.php
http://www.burnsidewriterscollective.com/social/2007/10/the_universe_across_town.php
If I am not wrong, the message I get is that these people depend on Kitchen Soup because they don’t have a home to cook. I just wonder whether they really can’t make food for themselves? Food is the most basic need. If they can’t find food on their own, what else they can do to themselves? I don’t have any words to say any further because these people are definitely not as poor as those in the third world countries who depend on charity for food.
Can I just add … I do a wicked Chicken soup.
1 chicken carcass …boiled for 2 hours ,or until its completely broken down.
Take out the bones , add 1 to 2 vegetable stock cubes to the stock .
Cupful of soup mix ( barley lentils and peas )
Diced leak , carrot mushroom and potato
Salt and pepper
Shredded fresh ginger
And a teaspoonful of something spicey …cajun source , chilli source .
I wish you all well ,down there Fort MYers
Don’t expect your president to do everything for you. He is not God . Believe in yourself like Obama , and like him you can make your life mean something. That is the best he can do for you good folks out there in Florida. Chow.
For two days now, in the blogs and on the air, I’ve heard WHYS posing the question “what do you expect Obama to do for you?” But as was pointed out by a listener on yesterday’s show, the more important question (to paraphrase from John F. Kennedy) is “what are you going to do for Obama?”
I see pictures of people being served food in a soup kitchen, but what I’d like you to ask your hosts, is whether these people are expected to perform any kind of service for their food, or whether they just come with their hands out and leave with their bellies full. Even people suffering from mental illness or drug addiction can be asked to do something such as putting time in on volunteer crews picking up litter in the streets. In addition to cleaner neighborhoods, it would give them a sense of self-worth. Anyone ever hear of occupational therapy? That van you mentioned shouldn’t just be delivering food. It should be running 18-hours a day delivering soup-kitchen “customers” to places where they can help out with at least menial tasks.
If we’re going to turn this country around, everyone needs to start pulling their weight. Almost half of Americans pay zero income taxes, i.e. they live here rent-free. Everybody should be under pressure to pay something or provide a service. It would give people motivation to get out of bed and looking for something to do.
“Obama” is not the answer. We ourselves are the answer. We need to get to work.
Obama only needs people with linear programming Tehniques to let things start working outthere!Remember he called for everybody’s participation! I like souping each moment i look at the saucepan boil with stuff inside and especially after adding some sago!
I work in a soup kitchen Actually, I volunteer there.
I think that people don’t realize that “it could be them” in that situation.
There is a difference between “sympathy” and “empathy.”
Noone wants “pity.”
Yes, I believe that these people can give back and also volunteer their time/efforts.
But, they are not asked.
When we see every human as just as important in society, then, we will truly change america.
It won’t change as long as “some people” are seen as “charitable cases,” and use to either ease the guilt of the volunteers or to make these volunteers either feel superior or important.
Our problems might be different, but our status should be equal.
“Photostream being updated all the time from Florida.”
PLEASE!
Some of us with older computers are on dial-up connections and things like Flash and photostream are total computer resource hogs of bandwidth and older computers. Please just provide a link and a description so that it is optional for people with fast connections and bleeding edge computers.
I like how the Florida radio station is describing the show, and it made me realize that WHYS is like a socratic method radio show, kind of like how law school is supposed to be. Rather than getting the professor to lecture, the professor gets the class to teach each other by discussing the legal issues rather than just stating the black letter law.
Hi Florida,
I just wanted to say that sometimes when you’re feeling down or when you see that everything around you is going in the wrong direction, you just need to stick to a thing, dream, or an ideal that can raise you up, bring your faith back to you, and help you get on with your life… That “thing”, dream, or ideal could be Obama, your teacher, a movie or a song, or even a cute little kitten in your backyard… There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s healthy… I am not ashamed of adopting Obama the dream, I am proud of it, and I have no intention to apologise for it… With my love… Yours forever, Lubna in Baghdad…
world have your say
welcome to sunny warm 🙂 florida!
enjoy yur stay
i really feel president obama has a difficult road before him in implementing change, especially with a mindset of the resistant to change (sacrifice) we have witnessed within the past administration and within our nation.
i do, however, feel a glimpse of hope for a cultural change that could take place, here in southwest florida and beyond – in our soup kitchens and beyond that. there is an overwhelming amount of positive energy in the wake of president obama’s path – with his ongoing mindful messages. the nation is excited as ever and if president obama can harness this wonderful positive energy for recovery and success and use it to the best of his intentions for implementing change; this is the time, right now, not later.
it has to be, however, not just a ‘trickle down’ effort of one man, but a ‘trickle up’ change from within each of us – assessing what is it that we do believe of ourselves and what is the right thing to do in the wake of these troubled times. it has to be at all levels, both the givers and takers, the cross of classes and cultures in the soup ktchens, outreach programs, etc.
it is then how can we implement what it is that we feel to be done into our families, our friends, our communities and then some. the possibilities of extending compassion and being mindful are endless, starting from within each of us.
I was reading some of the earlier comments…I am hopeful that this and other soup kitchens will not be much longer…But, in reality, the chances are looking more dimmer…
~Dennis Junior~
At least in Florida homeless and destitute people have someone to care for them. In many parts of the world, there are many homeless people who die from hunger and the exposure to cold.
The case of Florida shows it is still to make poverty a history even in the richest country on Earth. So it is still just a dream to make poverty a history in the fundamentally poverty-stricken Africa.
Excuse me.
In my humble opinion, soup kitchens serve an important function, true. But–the ideal form of charity is to give in such a way that the giver does not know who is the recipient and the receiver does not know who is the giver. The need to bask in the gratitude of those you help is ugly. Charity is not charity if it requires a return of some kind.
Hi WHYS!
I am so excited that you are here in my area, and it’s killing me that I have to be at work and can’t be there with you!
My husband is Colombian from humble beginnings and he absolutely doesn’t understand anyone going hungry here in the states. This is, and will always be, the land of opportunity to him, no matter what! He is in Colombia now, awaiting the greenlight from immigration, and he tells me that as bad as things are, they are much worse over there.
I have never known hunger and have always had a roof over my head, despite hard times, so I can only be thankful that I have always had work and enough for me and my family’s needs. With the current economic crisis, I am actually one paycheck away from disaster, but I still feel lucky, it could be so much worse. Definitely, poverty in the US has a different face than poverty anywhere else…
To continue on with Abdelilah’s point, some countries are so poor that literally, everyone who needs to utilize the services of that soup kitchen in Florida is much, much better off compared to other poor in the world. You could not imagine the poverty that other people live in, the amounts of services they have available, that exists in other places. My father used to travel a lot for his old job, and he went to very poor nations like Malawi. Well, my point is, even though you’ve got it rough, things could be a lot worse.
@ Viola
While I understand your point, I doubt they are making the food to get something back. The food wont make itself, hence why they are there making it. Generally, and I’ve been taught this, that you make donations anonymously. But when it’s food, I don’t see how that’s possible.
I volunteer at a place that prepares food for homebound AIDS patients, and we prepare and pack the food, and then the food is put on trucks and devilvered to the homes, all free of charge to the recipient. So I basically never see the people I help, and personally I think it makes it more meaningful because I don’t need a reward to do what’s right, but I wouldn’t hold against people that they in person give out food.
I know it is important to have the facilities in place to help people by why focus on the negative? The sad stories can go on forever but we need to fix and grow the economy to help people.
We are in Central Florida and have struggled to adapt in and to this restructuring economy. We have been successful by returning to fundamentals and it has been hard work but my point is that I’d like you to highlight those business that have adapted and are prospering and have hired people.
The American capitalist economy is not like the European economy where high levels of unemployment is tolerated and Government is responsible to provide jobs.
I feel you are trying to explain the American economy thru the color of European experience. Explain America thru the American experience.
Actually the term melting pot is anti “diversity”. Melting pot is of the logic that we’re all americans, and it doesn’t matter if you are black, white, asian, muslim, christian, you are simply american. Where is diversity tends to focus on what makes us different, such as race, ethnic background, and honestly, I find divisive. It’s better to focus on us being Americans rather than Italian Americans or African Americans.
It is heartwarming to hear about the work that the soup kitchen is doing in Florida. I’m not surprised to hear about homelessness in the US. I worked in New York City for two years and volunteered at a homeless shelter providing flu vaccines during the winter. I was always struck by the number of ordinary people who were homeless due to circumstances beyond their control. Some had jobs but just could not afford the rocket high rental prices in New York City. It is sad that this happens in the most powerful nation on this planet.
I wouldn’t want to take away from these homeless peoples any sense of hope. I would though, love to dispel in them these false hopes. If coming together is to be the answer, then why can it not be done without government dictates? One speaker began by saying that, “he’d sweep from here to city hall…for a decent wage.” The person paying such a wage has their own say in regards to what is “decent,” or for themselves affordable. This reflexive belief that some higher authority must enforce what you may think a decent wage will always interfere with your ability to negotiate in good faith with people that create jobs.
I have questions for the show guests in the soup kitchen.
How hopeful are the homeless and the jobless in the USA in view of the current economic crisis that Obama puts among its top priority?
What category of American citizens who are faced with homelessness and joblessness?
Are there cases of homeless and jobless people in the USA who refuse to get charity?
Obama being President does not mean racism has been eliminated overnight. It shows America has changed over time; he would not have been elected 40 years ago. Our country has come so far, but we still have a ways go to. Now is the time to celebrate our progress and work towards our future.
Ms. Hernandez, the guest on your show,
Excuse me? Obama has an “exotic” background? You are one playing into stereotypes of people of color. It might be unconscious but that comment is bias implying that being “normal” equals being white making other groups “exotic” or somehow substandard and abnormal. Shame on you, as a Hispanic women you ought to really know better.
To the guy who just said “education” is the key to getting a good job easilly. Who has a better chance at an education? The studen that has 15 kids per teacher, all the latest gadgets and technology, a sound after school program, and both parents at home not expecting their children to babysit? Or the Child that has 30 + student per teach, lives in a gang infested neighborhood, has to fight just to get to school and back, and often is required to get a job or babysit in early high school to help support the family.
There is a certain type of people who have a far greater chance of ending up in the 2nd situation.
Sure the US is melting pot of ethnicities and experiences. However, my experience is that segregation in this country occurs on lines of economic status rather than race. I am white, but there is no way I would have ever been allowed to attend Harvard. Too poor, too poor an education to compete at that level. I hope that Obama can remember his work as a community organizer, where he witnessed the divisions between rich and poor. The idea that Americans, especially poor people, can accomplish anything they want to if they work hard enough is ludicrous. The deck is totally stacked against poor people in the US.
Your participants at the soup kitchen have hit the nail on the head. The importance of education cannot be overstated. If you’re educated, competent, motivated, and present yourself well, race is not an issue in obtaining employment.
I was born in poverty Louisiana and now live in Rhode Island, which has one of the worst unemployment rates in the U.S. I applied myself and got a bachelor’s degree (and now work as an accounting analyst) coming from a family where neither of my parents graduated from high school. With such a high unemployment rate, I know that I can go get a job down the road at Wal-Mart if I want one. (In fact, I worked last summer part time for extra money.) I may not want the job, but if I will take them, there are still employment opportunities.
The importance of education is not to be understated but as one gets older powers of concentration diminish. Additionally one has to support a family at the same time. It is a Catch-22
What do policy makers need to do?
They need to enforce a living wage for the working poor. Not only are millions living on the streets, but millions are also working full time, or multiple jobs and STILL not able to make ends meet. A common example is Wal-mart. Thousands of full-time Wal-mart employees are on state and federal welfare programs as the compamy rakes in billions of dollars in profits. Corporate intersets take precident over individual citizens’ interests in America and policy makers can change that.
There are several things that can be done to assist the poor.
1. Reform health care so it is available to all Americans
2. Reduce military spending in order to provide funding for domestic issues
3. Close tax loopholes that allow the wealthiest Americans to avoid taxes
4. Jump start industry so we can grow our industrial base and provide jobs
I work everyday in a homeless shelter in Louisville. All our services are free. If it were not for the generosity of our donors, the grants and gifts we receive, we would not be able to keep our doors open. We have folks from every walk of life come through our doors.
As I sit here working on a grant proposal I have noted that we serve over 400,000 meals a year. It worrys me that with the worsening economy, resources will become more scarce and the need will become more dire.
Churches and volunteerism make a tremendous difference, but there is only so much they can do. We will need to work together. We all are our brothers and sisters keepers.
What the US government needs to do, is start penalizing companies that outsource jobs to other countries and also to work with the US unions to have them lower (temporarily) their demands. The unions are part of the reason why big companies have outsourced jobs…just look at the auto industry and the dollars they require from businesses. I’m not totally against unions, because, after all, they have done some good, but I think they have had their day and now are just an expensive dinosaur…not unlike a hummer.
@ Stephen
Those tax “loopholes” have the Alternative Minimum tax to come in as a backup, so the wealthiest always pay taxes, and according to the statitistic, they pay a lot more than everyone else does.
The top 5% of income earners in the US pay about 60% of all income taxes, and the bottom half of tax payers only pay about 4% of all income taxes.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/incometaxandtheirs/Income_Tax_and_the_IRS.htm
I think that people care about other people When our ancestors came to america ( I am a sicilian american) they did stick together these are the people they knew and felt they could trust.. After 2 generations though growing up with all kinds of people you or I can trust most people you do meet on the street. Politicians with alot of money and power are the only people in the world who want to make war. The American melting pot does create a diverse people who care about each other no matter what race color or creed you are.People don’t want WAR!! let the politiciandall go to a single room and have their wars against each outher in person instead of involving the rest of the world in it
Living in Alberta – one of the few places where the economy hasn’t completely tanked – thanks to oil & gas- We also have a large number of homeless people who live through minus 30 to 40 degrees C. many of these people have jobs but must depend on shelters and soup kitchens. I know of a few people who would rather live rough – tents in the river valley for example because their stuff will get stolen at the shelters!
One thing that our government could be doing is providing affordable housing to assist people who are having trouble getting back into the workforce.
Racism is cerytainly a factor here in our “multicultural society” particularly against First Nations people – immigrants are much less stigmatized than First nations people.
As many people have said education is the key. To that end, a person cannot get a “rebate,” for something that they did never pay.
“A rebate is an amount paid by way of reduction, return, or refund on what has already been paid or contributed.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebate_(marketing)
You’re welcome.
I am an American living and workin in East Africa and I was born in Florida.
I have been listening to the programme and what strikes me is that my compatriots and I am very proud of them. Despite the circumstances, some jobless and some homeless, they are not looking for a hand-out. We all need help and assistance and the people with whom you are interviewing only want help–in the form of an opportunity to work and take care of themselves.
I am not sure if their commitment to hard work and self support results from President’s Obama’s influence, but I would dare say that the Floridians view are American’s view–it is our ethics.
Finally, I want to point out that Black, White, Red, Yellow or Brown, Americans are the most charitable and giving people–when we now that others need help, at home or awy, we contribute. In fact, during thisdisastrous econmic climate we Americans are still give.
thanks and keep up the good work.
I think that people care about other people When our ancestors came to america ( I am a sicilian american) they did stick together these are the people they knew and felt they could trust.. After 2 generations though growing up with all kinds of people you or I can trust most people you do meet on the street. Politicians with alot of money and power are the only people in the world who want to make war. The American melting pot does create a diverse people who care about each other no matter what race color or creed you are.People don’t want WAR!! let the politicians all go to a single room and have their wars against each other in person instead of involving the rest of the world in it
Great program. I’ve lived in several places in Florida during the last 21 years. My greatest shock was to find people so outcast as to live in the woods. It’s everywhere. I recently spent a couple of years in Pasco county , near the Tampa Bay area, and the number of homeless people was simply appalling. It seems like the media has sold Florida as the promise land. Thus, Florida population has more than tripled during the last 20 years. There’s simply not enough resources for so many people. Stop moving to Florida and things MIGHT improve.
in wake of obama’s path, speaking of optimism, there is no other better or hopeful time than right now while the nation is excited and ready to go, to have a change. it has to go both ways, efforts and suggestions from the top as well as each one of examining ourselves and the beliefs we have in mindful and compassionate ways. it will take work even doing that.
Perhaps not in all cases, but the poor can work hard and make it. My father was the first person in his family to ever get a university education, and he managed to do that while supporting his parents (both were disabled). He put himself through university AND law school while working. School is more expensive now, but my father pulled himself up by the bootstraps and became a successful lawyer, coming from some of the poorest parts of Boston.
I live in fort myers and have lived in Brazil and Ecuador. Most citizens of other counties cannot believe there are homeless people in the US. Many people percieve us as streets of gold. I have seen the living conditions in these other countries with children living in streets and those governments do nothing. We Americans are the most giving people I have experienced.
I am an employment specialist in Fort Myers/Cape, and we have a serious problem here. There are not enough jobs to support our community. More people will lose their jobs, homes, and hit the streets.
As far as the immigrant (hispanic) comments. I have met soooo many mexican, and other south american immigrants (usually without papers) that are out of work. Many are actually trying to move back, but simply do not have the money to do so… and are stuck here without resources.
In the end, we will shift from a economic crisis to a humanitarian crisis if something is not done soon.
@Steve
I checked out that link you left … Very interesting. Thanks for the correction!
The reason why Obama can’t fix it is quite simple . ALL economic activity whether it be production or consumption is DEPENDANT ON FINANCE CAPITAL. .Contradictions within the market place have brought that to the point of collapse .YOU CAN NOT PUT IT BACK ON ITS FEET ,BY DOING THE SAME THING .
That is why Obama is ”stuffed ” whether he like s it or not . He has only one option , but to make cuts in social expenditure , whilst at the same time try ing to placate those that have power and influence in America by a pointless frenzy of producing paper money that like here in the Uk will come back to haunt future generations if this ‘farce’ is not ended .
For right wingers , they will require fascism to sort this through world war . For the majority of the worlds population they will need socialisation of money and economy. As someone from a wealthy family …fear should lead me to fascism , but logic reasoning ,science ,… everything that is of a higher vibration leads me to socialism and world revolution….my son like your children will depend on it .
Stripping the Icing!
How can intelligent, educated and law abiding American citizens be out of work!
“President Obama can help me because he is intelligent,” said one customer at the soup kitchen. No, because stealth and graft are the keys to riches and success. Obama can only help if there is a spiritual revival in America. Obama has more in common with Luther King than he thinks, if he lives or Congress lets him.
In lighter moments:
My friend says that the American people were in a soup until Obama came to rescue them.
Will this week’s events lead to that pleasant dream coming true ?
Maybe in reality, positive (pleasant) dreams could come true in the long term…But, in the short-term; Things will be hard for most people who are….Having problems in the aspects of getting job training, having mental health problems and other things…
~Dennis Junior~