I’d like to do a little research of the various social services offered around us, and so this week I start with Bread for the City, the outreach center on 7th and P St for families under the poverty line.
And since I got jabbed by a reader last week for writing about libraries when I hadn’t actually visited them, let it be known that this post is based on an actual visit.
Bloomingdale resident and BFC outreach coordinator Greg Bloom gave me a tour of the facility during extended hours they have during the week. (Check out the BFC blog Beyond Bread that Greg writes.) Who among our readers knows all the great work that BFC is doing? It’s not just about food, but also provides primary health care, legal services, and more for folks in need.
On the first level at the main office at 1525 7th St. NW, is a group of admin folks who direct a visitor to the right spot. Behind that are intake rooms where visitors who come in for the first time are interviewed and evaluated for need. Then there’s the back area where food is bagged. A typical grocery handout is supposed to last three days and they give them out once per month. Greg told me that this is supposed to cover the gap between when families get food stamps. They serve about 5,000 per month. To be eligible families have to make 125% or less of the federal poverty line, and are either elderly, disabled or families with children. (See the federal poverty line limits here.)
I also learned that very few places offer primary service care for needy families like BFC does. In fact, they’re expanding these services with a facility that will be added on in an empty lot next door (where the 7th Street Community Garden used to be). Groundbreaking was supposed to be last spring but has been held up.
They offer legal advice and have been sending volunteers through the summer months to glean the surplus from regional farms to provide families with less than perfect looking but totally edible fresh produce.
Greg says they have lots of volunteers and have maintained good relations with neighbors in the many years that the center has been open, He said 7th Street is a place where many long-time residents who feel forced out of other areas in the neighborhood hang out because they feel like it’s the last vestige of their old, now-changing community.
Bates Area Civic Association 