Hungry Boys and Girls

[kalakoa]

Rather than enabling crappy parents, why not prosecute them?

It would be cheaper to just give the kids a free lunch.

[Tink]

Well at least we are not Nicaragua...yet. When I was there, I saw quite a lot of kids on the boulevard leaving the airport tying to sell you fruit, wash your windshield, and just plain holding their hand out for something, anything. When I asked my friend why all the children begging, his response was "their parents brought them to the City under the excuse of buying them new clothes, then abandon them to fend on their own".
Later on in conversation with the locals as to why so many don't work, the common answer was "the government gave me the land to live on. I have a fruit tree and wild chickens to eat. The missionaries clothe me and my children and give my children toys and books. Why should I work? Alcoholism is so rampant there is practically an AA meeting house every couple of blocks in the rural towns.
I am writing this to show the parallels, but no child, I repeat no child should have to bear the effects of this lifestyle brought upon them by their parents anywhere in this world in this day and age. Also that is why the children in my neighborhood are always welcome to visit and have a meal or a snack, while taking the time to listen to what they have to say, maybe teach them how to fix or build something, and send them on their way letting them know they are always welcome to visit if I am home. The smell of fresh baked cookies usually tips them off I am there.

Community begins with Aloha

[leilanidude]

It would be cheaper to just give the kids a free lunch.
------

We already do, plus free breakfast, and the parents still get the full EBT payments...

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Let's say there is no Boys & Girls Club, Food Pantry, EBT, or school breakfast. Other than a classroom full of distracted, hungry children, and an extra dollar in your wallet at the end of the year because your taxes pay for some of those programs, would someone who has posted they're against food for children explain how the new normal of hunger would change East Hawaii for good? Or bad?

Do you see the parents suddenly running out and applying for non-existent jobs? Will the kids benefit from the exercise they receive while digging through dumpsters for something to eat before and after school? Please describe for me your vision of poor families moving forward without food assistance.

“We’ve got to be as clear-headed about human beings as possible, because we are still each other’s only hope,” James Baldwin to Margaret Mead in the book A Rap On Race

[Kapoho Joe]

Time to lose some more friends on this forum -

Reproduction should be a privilege and not a right. If you need to pass a test to drive a car, you should have to pass a test to have a child. If my car needs to be investigated every year for safety, so too should every household with minors, be investigated for safety.

With 10 Billion people on this planet, can we finally start talking about human reproduction in terms of quality and not quantity?

Bring your pitchforks, Ainokea.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

can we finally start talking about human reproduction in terms of quality and not quantity?

OK, so we have a suggestion to open a wing that specializes in Social Darwinism and Eugenics at the Bay Clinic. Any other ideas?

[Rob Tucker]

Keep it Hawaii folks, or watch it go away.

Assume the best and ask questions.

Punaweb moderator

[Punatic007]

Try put yourself in the slippas of the Puna keiki who goes to school hungry even though his parents get plenty food stamp but don't care enough to pack him food for the day. Clearly that type of neglect will manifest as other abuses. Would you want to go hungry for a few days so that the authorities are contacted and your parents investigated and hopefully sent to parenting school or at least held legally accountable? Or would you rather eat lots of free food and be further neglected and abused at home?

If they didn't get a generous amount of food stamps per person in the family I would donate happily.

[randomq]

I think part of the controversy here in Puna are the very generous benefits that cut out the moment you get a job or prudently save money, unless you have children you can't afford. It just doesn't seem fair, and seems to reward a lack of common sense. We need to find a real solution without unintended consequences.

In the meantime, go ahead and feed the kids. I suggest personal charity, benefiting your friends and neighbors directly, rather than state or national organizations with overhead and waste.

[lavalava]

I was a hungry child thanks to drugs and alcohol in the household.
Please dont punish the kids because their parents are losers