• tjsauce@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Canned goods are non-perishable. Used needles carry contaminate. One is useful, the other isn’t.

  • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    It sounds like you just hate poor people. They aren’t addicted to food, they need it to live. You’ll probably be surprised to learn that people starve when they dont get food.

    • Emerald@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 months ago

      This is a strange take. I never said poor people should starve. In fact, I think they deserve better then just canned food. Therefore I suggest donating cash instead of canned goods. That way the food bank can buy fresher foods.

      Anyways, it seems like this statement definitely needed more explanation and context by me, which wasn’t possible when just posting it as a shower thought.

      • Pandemanium@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        Yeah, it’s early and my brain didn’t even register “cancer research org”. When I first read the title I thought you were equating people’s need to eat with drug abuse.

  • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    I mean, the pantries ask for canned goods, because they’re shelf stable, portable, safe.

    Not sure where you think this is anything like used needles.

  • Emerald@lemmy.worldOP
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    2 months ago

    A lot of people seem to be misinterpreting me here. I don’t want poor people to starve, nor do I want people to reuse needles. All I’m saying is that cash is a lot more universal and useful to food pantries than going to the store and buying cans is. Also many food pantries have deals with companies where they can get the food cheaper. So buying cans of food to donate is also a worse deal.

    Edit: I understand donating cans of food your household isn’t going to use, but in some school food drives for instance, students get extra credit for donating cans, which encourages people to go out and buy cans.

  • Num10ck@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    people generally dont go out to buy new cans of food to donate, yes cash would be more efficient.

    typicslly, they are cleaning out their home pantries of stuff they havent used. supermarkets donate tons of food that isnt selling fast enough vs. expiration dates.

  • dragonfly@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I visit my local food pantry regularly, so I think I have some perspective.

    There’s a state run mobile food pantry that makes up boxes of shelf stable foods to give out. It’s wonderful, but it’s always pretty much the same things every time-- canned corn, peas, tuna, fruit, spaghetti sauce, beans. They are clearly buying staples in bulk to give out, which makes sense for their process.

    When I go to my local pantry, which gets a lot of direct donations, I can find a much wider variety of products. Canned chicken, nice soups, ravioli, artichokes, diced tomatoes, etc. It makes for a more varied and interesting diet.

    Donating money is great and versatile, but donating canned goods can be valuable too.