Meal Barrel to Leave Vina

 

The Vina location of the Meal Barrel will be closing. Due to the lack of a forklift, decreased funding, and the current location being in doubt for the future, there was no other option.

Why do local governments stand back and merely tut-tut when such programs are in need? That wasn't a rhetorical question; we would really like to know.

Meal Barrel Has Some Good News!

 

Dear Community,

We have found a new warehouse space in the old Cherokee Middle School, located at 267 Claude Posey Rd, Cherokee, Alabama, about 13 miles from our current location. At this point, we are unclear as to whether or not this will be our donation location as we are still hopeful for a satelite location in the Shoals (more information to come as its available).

We understand that distributing from Cherokee may cause significant inconvenience, especially for those who walk to our current location and our elderly community members who may find driving the distance challenging. We deeply apologize for the disruption this may cause and want to assure you that we are committed to continuing our services without interruption.

Our Commitment:

We will strive to serve with minimal disruptions.

We will engage volunteers to assist with deliveries and continue our fight against food insecurity in the Shoals Area.

We are actively seeking the funds to secure a new, more accessible location in the Shoals area.

How You Can Help:

Transportation may be a significant concern for many of our community members. We are calling on churches, businesses, and community members who can assist in this effort. If you can volunteer to deliver food, please contact me directly via phone, email, or text message.

Your support and dedication are crucial to us, and together, we can ensure that everyone in our community continues to receive the help they need during this transition.

Transition Details:

Last Donation Day in Sheffield: August 7th

Planned First Donation Day at New Location: August 14th (Appointments start at 2 PM, regular donations at 6 PM).

*We are still uncertain if the new warehouse will serve as our donation location. Due to the scale of our operation, it may prove necessary to find another site for donations to better serve our patrons and operations teams.

Special Thanks:

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Colbert County Board of Education and Superintendent Chris Hand for their efforts in helping us secure warehouse space, and to Tennessee Valley Authority, United Treating & Distribution LLC, Weisse USA, and so many others for their partnerships and support during this challenging time. Your assistance has been invaluable in making this transition possible.

Contact Information:

Phone/ Text: (256) 810-4289

Email: Penny.W.Freeman@gmail.com

And To our clients, we love you. Thank you for your understanding, patience, and unwavering prayers of support. We are committed to finding a space in the Shoals as soon as possible. Keep on praying for us. We're still fighting for you!

Yours in service,

Penny Freeman

Founding Director

Community 4Ward Projects: The Meal Barrel Project

From Food Assistance to Drinking Water - This Explains It

 

Answering questions about Meal Barrel eligibility:

We have received concerns regarding the operation of The Meal Barrel Project and the eligibility of some recipients. We would like to clarify the following points to ensure transparency and understanding:

1. Information Verification:

Food pantries, including ours, are responsible for taking the information provided by potential recipients as true. We compile this information as outlined by the application and submit it to the state, we are not responsible for verifying the accuracy of this information. While some pantries may choose to verify information or request supporting documentation, the state interpretation of the Federal USDA application is that information is to be taken as self-attesting. This means we are to accept the information provided (meaning the answers to the questions we ask to complete the application process) and leave the verification process to the Alabama Department of Education.

For more details, you can refer to [Section 251.5 of Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations](https://www.ecfr.gov/.../subchapter-B/part-251/section-251.5).

2. We use an electronic application process where we will scan your identification (which fills in most of our paperwork for you) and ask the remaining questions to complete the application. For each visit to the food pantry following the completion of your application, your driver’s license will be scanned to serve as an electronic signature for that day’s food benefits.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND:

1. An electronic document is EXACTLY THE SAME as a paper document and is legally recognized as such.

2. An electronic signature is EXACTLY THE SAME as a handwritten signature, and carries the same legal consequences as a handwritten signature.

Details of our intake process is outlined in the included video link:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/705435807131177?fs=e...

3. Reporting Concerns:

If you believe someone has received food benefits in error or misused these benefits, please understand this event to be a state issue and not a program issue, and direct your complaint to the Alabama Department of Education. Compile your complaint and any supporting documentation and report it to:

**Alabama Department of Education:**

50 N Ripley St

Montgomery, AL 36104

334-694-4900

4. Proxy Recipients:

Many individuals who come through our line are delivering food to others in need. The state department allows proxies to receive food on behalf of others and deliver it to them, ensuring those unable to come in person still receive the assistance they need.

We appreciate your understanding and support as we continue to serve our community. If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out.

Thank you,

The Meal Barrel Project Team

In case you missed it concerning PFAs:

water quality is a serious issue. I am retired and we never hid anything before or after I became Manager, or is anyone hiding anything now. During my tenure the issue was disinfection by products and how to address them. It took nearly a decade for EPA to address how this issue that is a result of disinfecting drinking water. It could not be done until a limit was set, and treatment methods developed. Florence installed a multimillion dollar ion exchange process several years ago to address this issue. This issue was in the news for several years as incremental limits were set, treatment processes developed, and regulations developed. Now all systems are facing a new challenge, PFAS! I have included a link you can read if you have time. I would also recommend the movie “Dark Waters” on Netflix. It is accurate in the information given on PFA’s, and the cover-up by 3M & Dupont for decades.

In the future, it will be something else. Why, because as the science gets better and the ability to measure contaminants allows detection at lower and lower levels, and they find out how a contaminant may affect humans. When I started, contaminants were expressed in parts per million, the later parts per billion, today parts per trillion. The limit set last year for PFAS was set at 4 parts per trillion. To put in perspective, that is one grain of sand in a trillion grains of sand. A trillion is a 1 with 12 zeros after it, represented as 1,000,000,000,000 or 10¹². At the time the level was set, there was not an approved method to accurately measure that low, but they would not set it that low if they didn’t know a method would be available by the time the regulation would go in effect. PFAS will be the largest issue systems have faced to date.

Before I left, I authorized the consulting engineers to begin setting up pilot studies to determine what is the best method for the City. Those studies are currently ongoing. Discussions before I retired was that the Department could be looking at a cost up to $70,000,000, depending on the best method.

The Water Department is an enterprise fund of the City. That means it operates like a business, with it’s only source of revenue being the sales of the product and services, i.e., water and sewer rates. They receive no tax monies, or are eligible for very few grants. Funds for improvements come from warrant (bond) issues, or low interest State Revolving Loan Funds (SRF).

If you would like to educate yourself self more, there is plenty of information available on this topic and more on the internet. The treatment plant operators for the City’s facilities are required by law to be certified at the highest level by taking an exam that has less than a 20% passing rate last I heard. In addition, the Department is not only transparent, it is required to be transparent, hence the Annual Water Quality Report. Even that is likely change. When I left, the Alabama Department or Environmental Management was considering, if possible,

making the report mandatory twice per year.

You can also learn more by contacting the Department’s Manager, Tad Cole will be happy to provide info. In addition, with the exception of 9/11 security concerns and COVID, has started back giving tours to elementary & high school groups, college groups, civic groups, and non-profit groups.

If interested in a career, the Community Colleges offer an Associate Degree program and a BS Degree program is offered some Universities with the closest being Athens State University.

Thank you,

Michael Doyle

https://www.epa.gov/pfas/pfas-explained

Where Will Meal Barrel Go?

 

From Penny Freeman:

We wanted to give you all a quick update on our search for a new location. Despite our best efforts and looking everywhere, we have yet to find a suitable place for our new premises. We know how important our services are to many families, and we remain fully committed to providing food and personal items to those in need.

We are still open and here for you! Your support and trust keep us going strong.

We kindly request your prayers as we continue our search. Additionally, we invite you to attend the council meeting this coming Monday to show your support for The Meal Barrel Project. The work session will begin at 5 PM, with the meeting directly following.

Meeting Location:
Sheffield City Hall
600 N Montgomery Ave
Sheffield, Al 35660

Thank you for standing with us during this challenging time. Together, we can continue to make a difference.

All Those Bugattis in the Meal Barrel Line

 

Someone asked us about those receiving food from the Meal Barrel:

Also this fancy car (photo of large truck) for poverty stricken people; this just happened to be on the live feed. Not taking any side, but there should be some sort of order in giving away food, because there are usually some really nicer cars in that line up.

From Penny Freeman:

Pen

We do get a lot of people talking about the cars in the line being very nice. I’ve let these comments pass for many years, honestly because I didn’t see the need to address them. But in light of the attention that we’ve been receiving, and the amazing work that people are doing on a weekly basis, I felt the need to give credit where credit was due. So, the Neighbors Helping Neighbors initiative was formally launched.

What does that mean?

Often neighbors and friends will pick up food for those who need it - not themselves. The photo our reader sent (we chose not to publish it) was a 65K truck. We know someone who picks up food for his sister in such a vehicle.

We have from time to time picked up food in Lauderdale County for a neighbor who lost his part-time job during COVID. We doubt that anyone complained about our ancient Taurus.

You never know who the food is for or what put them in the circumstances that they've found themselves. If anyone is abusing the program, we feel it's better to feed nine affluent families than not to feed someone who truly needs it.

Steve Stanley etal. Refuses to Feed the Hungry

 

If we were Steve Stanley, and our legacy was going to be bad roads and tossing taxpayer money to a millionaire who wasted it, we would be looking for a way to help the citizens of Sheffield and the surrounding communities during our last year in office. Instead, Stanley seems to be trying to initiate as much human suffering as possible...

*****

From Penny Freeman, head of the Meal Barrel Project:


Poverty in Colbert County is over 9k residents. Lauderdale County: over 12k residents Franklin County: over 5k.

We serve roughly 3,100 families from these counties and surrounding communities, and we’re proud to say we’re trying to put a dent in the food insecurity situation, but the numbers will tell you that there is much more (not less) that needs to be done. 

We will be an immediate food desert without The Meal Barrel Project. Many walkers come to us from the surrounding housing projects; I’m most concerned for them and the disabled people we deliver to. Over 80% of the people we serve are elderly with only social security as their only form of income; more than 25% of that 80% raising grandchildren or great-grandchildren. 

I know I could have sent something short and condensed, but I really want to have the information to draw your own conclusions about whether or not The Meal Barrel Project is necessary in the community. Many say we can simply go somewhere else, and while that may be true, we have had a hard time finding somewhere to go. 

Couple that with the fact that we are located in an area that actually touches Tuscumbia and Sheffield, and is a little over a mile from Muscle Shoals, around 3 miles from Florence, and hopefully it’s easy to see that the community doesn’t need to lose this resource. Also, we are the largest food pantry in the state, and we’re at risk of closing down.

*****

There you have it - that's Steve Stanley's legacy. At this point, we can only assume he's mad at the world...

Officials Kill Another Benevolent Project

 

Steve Stanley pretty much said he wanted the Meal Barrel out of Sheffield. What did some others in Sheffield say?

If the city of Sheffield is going to end The Meal Barrel’s lease at the armory, they should offer up the Inspiration Landing property with the only pothole-free roads in Sheffield as a substitute. After all, the taxpayers are footing the bill for it. Since Sheffield has so much money to spend frivolously, I’m sure they could scrape together a few thousand dollars for a building, or they could just finally admit that they have ZERO concern for the residents of this town.



Let's look at the city of Sheffield's leaders:
1. They fell for a project called Inspiration Landing about ten years ago. Where is it now? In litigation over unpaid funds to a consultant, my client.
2. Trains that stop on tracks that are car damaging crossings.
3. After the lawsuit was filed, the city took out $3M in loans to pay for the infrastructure of the roads to nowhere and we are taxed to pay for it by taxes on goods and services. The loans don't end until 2062.
4. Roads are in deplorable condition and damage vehicles
5. The lease on the Meal Barrel to assist needy people with food was terminated on Monday without notice. Needy people now don't have access to food. Penny Freeman did a great job.
6. Blight is subjective about houses and former businesses.
How long will we continue to allow this to happen? Sheffield should be a boom town with local businesses, as envisioned by my wonderful landlords. It's time for a change and its time for a new beginning. It's time for change. These issues should be in full front in the next election and there has to be new leadership, starting with the mayor. It's time for a new beginning.



If the Meal Barrel Project could appoint John Elkington to its Board of Directors, Steve Stanley would probably throw lots of money at them. Then again perhaps the distribution center could be relocated to Inspiration Landing.

Is Mayor Stanley trying to do as much damage to Sheffield that he can before leaving office in abject defeat? What is wrong with the man?

He's Headed to Sheffield City Hall