My experience at the PRC was filled with mixed emotions. I was working at the food pantry at PRC. The food pantry mainly offered canned food, fruits, and cereal. When a client came to the pantry, he or she would be given a cart then he or she would go about choosing the foods which were appropriate for him or her and the family. This process is more than preferable than getting pre-packed and pre-selected foods. The measure of food that one was given was totally dependent on the size of the family and the existence of special needs if there were any. After that, the volunteers would assist the client in bagging the food and the groceries that you had chosen. If the customer were a first timer, he or she would be interviewed and registered into …show more content…
For instance, poverty is closely linked to crime even though the two have no relationship. The laws that have been passed over time can attest to this. Some laws specifically target homeless people. Such laws condemn staying in one place for a long time, loitering and overnight camping in parks. You will witness that many homeless people have been criminalized for simply being homeless, actions that I find baffling if not unfathomable. Therefore, instead of providing the homeless with homes in which they can live, these homeless people have been arrested, arraigned in court then smacked with irrationally large bail which they cannot make. Consequently, they are left to rot in jail. These incarcerated individuals pass away from stress or related medical illnesses for lack of proper treatment. This is nothing short of inhumane. The question is, does the society seek to help the poor in society? If so, then some of these laws that are discriminately coined against them should be done away …show more content…
When I saw the families that had no food or home aided, I realized that there is much that these programs do to alleviate poverty. Last year only, the PRC managed to distribute 2.5 million pounds of food to DuPage families. I think that is a great achievement. If that figure had been reversed, the non-existence of PRC would have caused 2.5 million families to stay hungry. Social service programs help in reducing poverty by a huge margin by cushioning the poor against harsh economic conditions. They meet concrete needs such as food, clothing, and housing in addition to providing opportunities for the poor to make wealth and support themselves. They also give the poor a voice in society by providing advocacy services for the poor and lobbying for their needs.
The success of the Social Service Programs has been evident so much so that the society cannot live independently of them. In the United States for instance, without the Social Service Programs which provide food stamps, an extra eight million people would barely eat. In addition to that, the poverty rate for seniors (aged 65 and above) would hit
Popple, P. R, & L. Leighninger. (2011). Social Work, Social Welfare, and American Society. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
According to Dolgoff and Feldstein (2003), “the needs and goals of the Food Stamp Program are to alleviate hunger and malnutrition by enabling low-income households to buy a nutritious adequate diet” (p. 132). The program also improved the market for local merchants to produce food for eligible low-income households and other agencies such as the School Lunch Program which safeguard the health and wel...
Throughout the 20th century governmental responsibility has made remarkable progress. One major milestone of the widening of the responsibility of the federal government was it’s making an obligation to care for the elderly and retired in the form of social security. In 1935, the Social Security Act was enacted by the federal government to provide financial security to the elderly, retired citizens in America. Although the federal government first took on this responsibility in 1935, it is still affecting our lives today. However, social security would not have advanced this far without many organizations and individual reformers to begin and improve social security throughout history.
Popple , P. R., & Leighninger, L. (2011). Social work, social welfare, and american society. (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Volunteering at the food bank was an interesting experience. While I was working, I did have time to reflect on the things I was seeing. There were lots of observations to be made. The first thing that caught my eye was the type of people that were volunteering with us. While there was a both men and women helping.
This mini-paper will discuss the social welfare system. The mini-paper includes a discussion of welfare Policy, residual and institutional approach, and what is Social Welfare and Social Security. Midgely, (2009), pointed out that social welfare systems deliver services that facilitate and empower our society, especially to those persons who require assistance in meeting their basic human needs. The goal of social welfare is to provide social services to citizens from diverse cultures, and examples include Medicare, Medicaid, and food benefits. Midgley,( 2009).
... funding and direction, including those of local government and philanthropy, are critical to tailoring programs to the specific needs of local communities, and should be leveraged through federal funding. The final ingredient is responsibility, both personal and collective. Individuals must be empowered to improve their own lives, and the community must support the effort rather than look the other way, or looking past the working poor, who can so easily blend into the background.
I also recently volunteered at the Cleveland Food Bank by packing lunches for under privileged children and sorting non-perishable foods for those in need. Prior to participating in volunteer services for the day, we were required to watch a video that explains the purpose of the Cleveland Food Bank and why there is a need for continuous support. The Greater Cleveland Food Bank works to ensure that everyone in our communities has the nutritious food they need every day. The mission of the Cleveland Food Bank is to alleviate hunger by providing food and support to community organizations that feed the hungry. Many people depend on the support because of their financial situation, life changes, and possible mental or physical limitations. The Food Bank acts as a storage unit and distribution facility for smaller agencies and organizations such as schools, homeless shelters, churches, and day
Welfare has been a safety net for many Americans, when the alternative for them is going without food and shelter. Over the years, the government has provided income for the unemployed, food assistance for the hungry, and health care for the poor. The federal government in the nineteenth century started to provide minimal benefits for the poor. During the twentieth century the United States federal government established a more substantial welfare system to help Americans when they most needed it. In 1996, welfare reform occurred under President Bill Clinton and it significantly changed the structure of welfare. Social Security has gone through significant change from FDR’s signing of the program into law to President George W. Bush’s proposal of privatized accounts.
There are national aid programs like SNAP, the UN World Food Programme, and Feeding America, trying to reduce hunger by providing access to food, resources, and the means to keep up those efforts. There are also councils like the UN Social and Economic Council, trying to implement policies in order to reduce and prevent food insecurity. Teaching people that having sustainable development is better than just relying on aid is also very important.
Social Welfare is defined as being programs that are run by government to promote the well being of its citizens. Throughout the history of the United States Social Welfare programs have been subject to many changes, due to the changing philosophies of Us Citizens.
A single divorcee’ mother of two is working a minimum waged job that doesn’t pay life’s cost of survival. Not only does this mother have to take care of herself, she has children that need shelter, nourishment, and stability. In order for that to be possible, help is needed. Most people, majority is fathers, have too much pride to ask for help because of the image. Being on social welfare promotes the ego dropping image that one cannot provide for themselves or their family. But is image more important than the life itself? Children are dying of hunger or dehydration because their parents cannot afford decent meals or purified water. Children are dying from sickness because their parents cannot afford a home that protects them from the cold. Some of these parents are working forty hours a week or more for minimum wage and still cannot afford the necessities to live healthy. Some parents cannot find a job due to lack of qualification. The government has provided resources for people who are disadvantaged; however, there are still problems that need to be addressed. Social welfare isn’t a discouragement, it is a helping hand. There is no reason why lives should be shortened because of the inability to access governmental assistance. Social welfare benefits America as a whole because it serves as a crutch for the financially handicapped and provides motivation to work harder for a better lifestyle.
Many people do not realize that there are tens of millions of people in America who are living in poverty because they are stuck on the fact that America is one of the richest nations. People who are living in poverty barely have enough money to survive on basic necessities like food, shelter and electricity. They often have a hectic schedule filled with work, school, or other activities that they have to do in order for them to live a somewhat stable life. Unfortunately, there are others who are living in poverty that may be ill or disabled and barely able to survive even if they are receiving money to help with their situation. There are a few programs that help those in poverty with their financial problems, but they only help them to a certain extent. Changes need to be done to help alleviate the poverty rate because these people should not have to deal with all of these hardships or have such a negative perspective of life. Therefore, America can reduce its poverty by raising the minimum wage, making health care more accessible, and by making child care more affordable. These solutions will be a great start to reducing poverty and they will lead America into a brighter future.
America is a country where everyone is free to live however they like, but it is possible for some people to live a happy life, if no one is around to take care of them. Nearly three hundred million people reside in the America, and out of those three hundred million populations, senior citizens make a 12 percent of the entire population. A senior citizen is commonly known as a person who is over the age of 65 and living on retirement, or known as social security benefits (Census Bureau). Ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt implied the act of Social Security in 1935, seniors are regularly provided a financial help, but seniors, along with financial help, seeks also accompany of someone who can look after them. Because of constantly growing needs of senior citizens, government as well as many non-profit organizations is working on helping seniors. Therefore I decided to research on this particular issue in my community, and I found that 64.5% of seniors are living alone in metropolitan area of Atlanta.
The aim is to try and bring down the poverty levels and encourage dependency, helping low income recipients in housing, food, medical assistances along with educating, will help alleviate a lifestyle of self-destruction. The programs must stop empowering people to believe that resources will always be usable if you continue to enable themselves on the poverty level. When the economy takes responsibilities to care for themselves and their families it will definitely be the surest way back out of poverty. The working measures are the best methods of encouraging people to be