Just Harvest News

City children in Troy Hill, Northside and Sheradan may find they have more options for Summer Food sites this year. We are targeting City of Pittsburgh communities to locate new sites where children can go for meals in communities where recreation centers will be closed due to the fiscal crisis. Just Harvest and CitiParks are in talks to register additional sites. So far, Trinity Lutheran Church on Buena Vista and North Ave and White Lily Baptist Church on Chartiers Ave. have signed on to serve free meals to all children in the community.

The need for new summer food sites became apparent last year when the city began closing pools and recreation centers. Prime sites for thousands of children to eat , we worked with the city and other community organizations to keep some of these sites open. Some sites which use the federal program only provide food for their summer camp participants—these are “enrolled sites,” usually not available to all children. The city and county sponsors provided over 730,000 meals last summer to hungry kids, through this important program.

Our countywide outreach begins mid-May. Call 1-888-FOOD210 (1-888-363-3210) to learn about a site in your community.

If you want to open a Summer Food site call Shauna at Just Harvest, 412-431-8960.

Best-selling author and journalist Eric Alterman will be the guest speaker at Just Harvest’s 17th Annual Harvest Celebration Dinner on Thursday, October 27, 2005 at the Omni William Penn Hotel.

Alterman is the author of What Liberal Media? and When Presidents Lie, and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He will talk about “Truth in Politics-Is There Such a Thing?”

To join our planning committee, call 412-431-8960.

Like most mothers who have ever received public assistance, I was led to the welfare rolls by domestic violence. At the time, I was a single, pregnant mother cleaning houses for $4.75 an hour. I was homeless after fleeing an abusive relationship. Welfare enabled me to provide food and shelter for my newborn daughter and myself – and leave my batterer for good. I’m not alone in this experience. Research shows that up to 83 percent of welfare mothers in my home state of California have experienced domestic violence.

So as a single mother who survived domestic violence, and as someone who now works daily with single mothers, I’m deeply concerned about President Bush’s “Healthy Marriage Plan.” which would spend $1.5 billion in federal and state funds to marry poor mothers off the welfare rolls.

Clearly, marriage is not a solution for mothers who face domestic violence, as I once did. My deepest concern with the proposal is that it ignores hard truths: For many low-income parents, neither marriage nor work is enough to get their families off welfare, let alone out of poverty. Marriage can’t solve poverty as long as one parent is relegated to a low-wage, dead-end job while the other stays home and takes care of the children at no cost to the state – as is the experience of two-parent welfare families in California. But perhaps that is precisely the point. Promoting marriage may sound reasonable, but the reality is that welfare reform was never really about helping poor families. After all, reducing poverty was not one of the goals of the 1996 welfare reform bill signed by President Clinton, but reducing welfare case loads and promoting low-wage work and marriage were.

So what is President Bush’s agenda for this second round of welfare reform? To take the American family and social policy back to a time when women were supposed to get married, but not educated – a time to which few of us, on or off welfare, want to return. If the President really cared about poor children and families, he’d spend $1.5 billion to provide shelter, counseling and services for mothers and children fleeing domestic violence. He’d require every state to allow education and training as a welfare-to-work activity and guarantee affordable, quality child care to parents going from welfare to work.

But under welfare reform, single mothers will be offered cash bonuses to get married and forced to quit school or be cut off welfare.

When I consider the president’s proposal for welfare reauthorization, I feel fortunate that when I was a battered, homeless single mother on welfare, it was before welfare reform. Unlike most parents on welfare today, welfare actually helped me go to school and earn a college degree which enables me to get a job that pays me enough to support my family. Today, I pay more than $14,000 in taxes annually – almost double what I used to make working in a low-wage, dead-end job. And I’ve paid back – several times over – the investment that welfare made in my family. If I had waited for a man to marry me off of welfare, not only would I still be a single mother, but my family would still be poor. My education, not marriage, got my family out of poverty.

Diana Spatz is executive director of LIFETIME (Low-Income Families’ Empowerment through Education) in California and a recipient of the Ford Foundation Leadership for a Changing World Award.

The Senate Finance Committee approved a bi-partisan TANF(welfare) Reauthorization bill in March, but it has yet to come to the Senate floor. S 677 is based on last year’s House PRIDE bill (Personal Responsibility and Individual Development for Everyone).

Included in S. 677 is $6 billion in child care money—which was not in the PRIDE bill. Disagreement over this money has been a repeated point of contention and an impediment to final action on TANF. These funds would be offset by cuts in EITC. Senator Rick Santorum insists that increased child care money is “excessive and unnecessary.”

This bill also would provide improved access to post-secondary education and to “barrier reduction activities” (like drug and alcohol programs).

However, it would also require more work hours for clients (to 34 hours), increased work participation requirements for states, and $50 million for so-called Fatherhood programs.

The House has yet to take up its own version of TANF which is substantially different than the Senate’s. On the bright side, there is still room for improvement on the bills via amendments, but we have our work cut out for us.

TANF, which has been operating on a handful of extensions, was extended once again to June 30

ACTION: Contact your Congressperson and Senators NOW about TANF Reauthorization. Tell them:

• *Don’t use other low-income programs like EITC to offset increased childcare s; *Don’t increase work requirements for TANF clients;
• *Increase education and training hours to 24 months;
• * Don’t include TANF in any budget reconciliation

Congress’ approval of their much-debated budget on April 28 infuriated Pennsylvania providers and advocates who have worked tirelessly to protect our most vulnerable citizens.

We expected Sen. Rick Santorum to slash the safety net, we were shocked that Sen. Arlen Specter also voted for this resolution which instructs lawmakers to freeze spending in most domestic programs, except for military and domestic security. Specter’s staff repeatedly assured us that he was committed to protecting basic social programs, especially food stamps and Medicaid. The Senate vote was 52-47.

Representative Phil English (R-Erie) claimed the slashing of Medicaid by “only” $10 billion over 5 years beginning in 2006 was a victory for poor people.

We don’t see it that way. The Medicaid cuts in this resolution exceeded the $7.5 ???billion that Bush sought! Reps. Tim Murphy (R-Dormont) and Melissa Hart (R-Bradford Woods) also voted Yes in the 214-211 House vote. Reps. Mike Doyle (D -Pittsburgh) and John Murtha (D-Johnstown ) voted No...

Food Stamps and Agriculture programs are slated for a $3 billion cut, which could mean that 8,000 fewer households in Pennsylvania would not be able to buy enough groceries, according to Berry Friesen of PA Hunger Action.

Ironically, the budget will also grow the deficit. Up to $106 billion in tax cuts will be enjoyed almost entirely by people earning over $200,00 per year, with 53% of it going to households with incomes over $1 million per year.

Efforts to save the low-income Earned Income Tax Credit from cuts were successful, so far.

An editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer on April 29th expressed a hope we can certainly agree with. It said, “When lawmakers get down to the real work ..of spending actual federal dollars...they should disregard the unfair budget guidelines they have crafted.”

Dottie Rosenbaum from the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington D.C. based national policy organization) presented an informative briefing in Pittsburgh about the federal budget on March 3. Over 70 people assembled at the Just Harvest sponsored event, to learn how the proposed budget cuts would affect them or their programs.

Dottie explained that the backdrop for this year’s federal budget debate is concern over the large federal budget deficit; interest in making the tax cuts permanent and possibly making more tax cuts; and Administration and Congressional interest in cutting spending. She pointed out that increased deficits are caused mostly by legislation for tax cuts and defense spending. Attendees left the briefing with some concrete ways to influence and impact the final outcome of the budget debate.

“The response was overwhelming,” said Al Bowman, Policy Director of the House Budget Committee. “The welfare issue obviously affects so many people. Almost 600 organizations responded,” he said. He was talking about a questionnaire sent around the state by Brett Feese (R-Lycoming), House Appropriation Chair. The survey asked Pennsylvanians’ opinions about welfare spending.

Just Harvest and other organizations across the state assisted in distributing the questionnaire far and wide.

The results haven’t been tabulated yet so the budget passed by the House on April 12 doesn’t consider the responses.

This budget—which includes everybody’s pet projects –is now in the Senate which will rip it apart and start over.

The final budget will probably be passed in late June.

ACTION: Call Your state Legislator and Senator. Tell them:

• *Increase the State Food Purchase Program to $18.5 million. (Rendell’s proposed cutting this program by 14%.)
• *Increase the Farmers Market Nutrition Program.
• * Don’t cut Medicaid and other welfare programs.

Berry Friesen was surprised and delighted to be the honored recipient of the Dr. Raymond Wheeler/Senator Paul Wellstone Anti-Hunger Advocacy Leadership Award at the February 27 conference of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). Berry, Executive Director of the PA Hunger Action Center, has worked continuously for the nutritional needs of low-income Pennsylvanians.

Among his state accomplishments are helping to establish a simplified application for the Food Stamp Program, saving the Emergency Food Assistance Development Program, and convincing Pennsylvania’s Governor to re-establish a state Food Policy Council.

Berry extends his work beyond Pennsylvania working in coalition with other advocates nationally. He fought efforts to increase National School Lunch verification requirements, and helped improve rural area eligibility for summer food programs.

He was absolutely thrilled to see his wife and daughter attend the award ceremony. Congratulations, Berry, for this well-deserved award!

The 10th Annual Empty Bowls Dinner, held on Sunday March 6th, was our most successful yet! More than 1,000 people attended and the event netted more than $36,000 divided between Just Harvest and the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank.

The crowd filled the atrium and dining hall at Rodef Shalom Synagogue. Larry Berger of WRCT 88.3’s Saturday Light Brigade emceed, and The Hot Matzoh’s delighted the audience with klezmer music. Thanks also to entertainers Mike the Balloon Guy for air-filled fun for kids of all ages, Bob Schwartz and Fastasy Faces for face-painting, Mark Weakland’s children’s music, Pigbee the Clown, and Charlie the Tuna. Among the volunteers serving soup were media celebrities Tonia Caruso (Comcast), Jake Ploeger and Sally Wiggin (WTAE-TV), and Chris Fennimore and Rick Sebak (WQED-TV).

Special thank yous to those who made and donated more than 1,000 ceramic bowls:
Debbie Altman-Diamant, Brashear High School, Bishop Canevin Catholic High School, Carlow University Art Department, Carrick High School, Karina Dayich, Edinboro University Art Department /Clay Club, Ellis School, Elaine Evosevic, Fireborn Studios, Friendship Village of the South Hills, Herksworks - Keith Herchenroether, Keystone Oaks High School, Little House Pottery - Be Carter, Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, North Allegheny High School, North Hills High School, Penn Trafford High School, Perry Traditional Academy, Pat Rampolla, Justin Rothshank - Rothshank Artworks, Louisa Rudolph, Schenley High School, Denise Schiller, Shaler Area High School - Andrew Kwasniewski, Debbie Sigal, Willi Singleton, Nancy Smith, St Benedict the Abbot Religious School, St. Edmund's Academy, Myrna Stein, The Clay Pit, Sr. Charlotte Tolliver - Vessels of Hospitality, Upper St. Clair High School, WAD Clay Institute, Jim & Linda Winegar, and Carole Wray.

And to our wonderful donors of the delicious soups and bread:
Ali Baba, Bradley House of Catering, Breadworks, Café at the Frick, China Palace, Concordia Club, Del Monte, Dorian’s Catering, East End Food Coop, Eat ‘n Park, Giant Eagle – Waterfront, Hyeholde, Kazansky’s Deli, North Park Lounge, Pa. Culinary Institute, Poli’s, Ramada Plaza and Suites, Schewebel’s, Smallman St. Deli, Sodexho (at Mellon Financial, NOVA Chemicals, and Corporate Services), Square Café, Stratwood Catering, Ugly Duckling Gourmet Edibles, Westmoreland Country Club.

And to our event sponsors: Rodef Shalom Congregation, Roth Carpet, McKnight Development, Little’s Shoes, National City Bank, Del Monte Foods, and Highmark.

And most of all, our planning committee who put in so many long hours to ensure that everything ran smoothly. We couldn’t have done it without you! Steve Bodner, Ivy Ero, Anne Hawkins, Wendy Lachendro, Pat Murphy, Ann Roth, Louisa Rudolph, Patty Van Dillen, Colleen Wolfson, Steve Hill, Iris Valanti, Amanda Shapira, and Margy Whitmer.

Don’t miss the 11th Annual Empty Bowls Dinner next winter!

With a flurry of activity in the last week of tax season, we exceeded all of our “Give Paychecks a Boost” campaign goals by serving close to 1,100 low-income taxpayers in 2005, including 58 people in the last two days! The total federal refund was $1,497,460 including $871,820 from the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)! By coming to Just Harvest instead of paying a commercial tax preparer, some of these 1,100 taxpayers could have saved up to $300.

We also filed 1,032 state of PA tax returns; tax payers got $130,000 back from PA Tax Back.

Many taxpayers commented about how friendly and efficient our staff was, and were surprised to learn that we could also help them complete or correct tax returns from previous years. A total of 70 additional tax returns were completed for tax years 2001-03 and garnering an additional $50,182 in refunds!

A dedicated team of eleven tax preparers, nine volunteers and one intern along with the regular Just Harvest staff made all of this work possible. Many thanks to our generous funders: The Birmingham Foundation, Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, PathWaysPA, United Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh Community Services, Inc. Many community partners also helped by spreading the word about this valuable service.

Although the official tax season is over it’s not too late to file tax returns from 2002 through 2004 if you missed out on your refund. We will continue to educate the community about the Earned Income Tax Credit and PA Tax Back throughout the year as well as advocate for a more just tax system.

The newly-formed W. Pa Welfare Coalition, staffed by Just Harvest Welfare Justice Project met in April with county welfare officials (DPW) to discuss their progress in informing consumers of their education and training benefits.

The representatives of DPW, Executive Director Tim Cornell, his assistant Claire Scott, and Director of Communications Karen Randolph acknowledged their failings at making sure consumers are informed.

A consumer, Angelique Sweeney, shared her experience; Just Harvest and Rae Smith from Debra House also gave examples of the kinds of problems they encounter. DPW plans a test project in one of their district offices: to assign a single caseworker to each consumer, who will handle all aspects of the case—similar to a case manager—instead of separate workers for different services. Just Harvest also suggested that service providers and consumers meet for informational sessions. Just Harvest will work on that with DPW.

We are producing a series of informational brochures which inform welfare consumers about their rights, and provide education and career guidance.

Obesity and childhood diabetes are terms we’ve heard associated with meals our children receive in school. But what can we do about it? Lots, says the newly formed nutritional working group of the Allegheny County Green Party and Just Harvest. The group plans to meet with Danny Seymour of the Pittsburgh School Food Service to merge their efforts to improve children’s access to nutritious meals. Member Stephanie Adair states, “At a time in America when child obesity rates are soaring, public school lunch programs should work to combat this problem. I would like to see the present meal programs change into something more nutritious by, among other things, eliminating junk foods from the meals and replacing them with ...nutritional foods.” Parents, children, child advocates, dietitians and community groups are welcome to join. If you are interested call Shauna at Just Harvest at (412) 431-8960.

A new study shows that the high cost of healthier foods plays a big role in obesity among low-income families. The University of California-Davis has discovered that making small improvements in the nutritive value of basic food choices forces a family of four to spend, on average, $70 to $80 more per month on groceries. This works out to spending nearly $1000 more per year by substituting whole wheat for white bread, lean beef and skinless chicken for regular meats and low fat for whole milk cheese. Such an increase represents 35-40% of a low-income consumer’s total food budget.

The nation’s number one brewer and rice buyer, Anheuser-Busch threatens to boycott rice grown in Missouri if Ventria, a biopharming company, is allowed to plant genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their state.

Biopharming technologies are being developed to use plants to grow medications, but many food companies, environmentalists and farmers fear that the GMOs could cross-pollinate with non-modified food crops. Ventria says their detractors’ concerns are unwarranted, but opponents of biopharming say the practice has not been studied enough and may put the nation’s food supply at risk.

We bid farewell to our 2005 tax preparation team: John Fraser, Bob Kubit, Nathaniel Minto, Pat O’Malley, Victor Moore, Chianti Powe, Carol Schubert, Kathleen Sheehan, Rich Surdyk, Sarah Vignale and Dawn Wallhausen. We had a very successful season and we couldn’t have done it without our preparers.

Tax Intern Tina Wyley proved invaluable to our efforts scheduling tax clients and getting the word out about our tax program. She plans to continue in her career with Community Options and to volunteer with Just Harvest.

Special thanks to the volunteers who lent a hand this tax season. Mary Elizabeth McCarthy, Dawn Blair, Terry and Kweilin Blow, Mary Bordt, Rob Malloy and Wilma Sirmons donated time to make our tax campaign great, and we hope to see more of them on future projects.

Welfare Justice Project Intern Victor Moore completed his tenure in April. Victor created brochures about education and training for welfare recipients. He graduated from Pitt’s School of Social Work on April 30.

Administrative Assistant/Webmaster Dawn Wallhausen will be taking a leave of absence beginning in June. She and her husband Greg Sinclair and their children will live in St. Martin while Greg is there on business.

Fifty Just Harvest supporters and friends attended our April 22 benefit screening of Wellstone!, a powerful and entertaining documentary about the life of the late progressive US Senator from Minnesota. The film by Hard Working Pictures inspired the crowd with a vivid depiction of the relentlessly energetic Paul Wellstone. Wellstone, a political science professor and community organizer, came to national prominence in an upset victory in his 1990 Senate race with an uncompromising commitment on issues of human needs, peace, and the environment. He was the most politically progressive voice in the US Senate until a plane crash claimed his life and that of his wife, daughter, and five others shortly before the 2002 election. Thanks to the PA Center for Women, Politics, and Public Policy at Chatham College for inviting us to show the film at Chatham, and for co-sponsoring the event.

Support Just Harvest and inspire your friends by showing the Wellstone! documentary DVD for your group, place of worship, school, or neighbors. Call us at 412-431-8960 for details.

“Politics is what we create by what we do, what we hope for, and what we dare to imagine.”
-Paul Wellstone

In this issue, we salute the Allegheny County Bar Foundation’s Attorneys Against Hunger campaign for their remarkable efforts on behalf of Just Harvest and several other local anti-hunger groups. The Campaign raised and distributed $75,000 this year including more than $9,000 for Just Harvest’s work. Great work!

We are especially grateful to our long-time friends at the Bethany Community for their recent gift. Special thanks also to the Domestic Hunger Program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for their recent generous grant to Just Harvest Education Fund’s Welfare Justice Project.

Our thanks to all our recent donors, including: Saint Brendan’s Episcopal Chuch Cries Advocacy Committee, Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, Sisters of Mercy, Women’s Alliance of the First Unitarian Church, Anonymous, Kathryn Anschuetz, Milton Backal, Marian Bass in memory of Eugene Cohen, Mickey & Owen Bateson, Don & Helen Berman, Clifford Berschneider, John & Gay Beverly, Judy Wertheimer & Michael Boninger, George Brownell, David Caldwell, Terry Chalich, Jack Chamberlin, Antoinette Cresto & Christine Vrbin, Veronica Devlin, Michael Drohan & Joyce Rothermel, Toby Exter, Nate & Debby Firestone, Ed & Sally Fish, Robert Foley, Joanna Foster & Daniel Watkins, Larry & Janice Foulke, Anne Franks, Rachel Freund, Mary Gilligan, Alex Gruskos, Anne Hawkins, Eva Havlicsek, Maxine Heller & David Mooney, Charles Herrold, Dorothy & Bill Hill, Genevieve James, Eileen Jardini, Lisa Karner, Carol Kinney, Ron Linden & Nancy Israel in memory of the parents of Judith Mintz, Ed & Marjorie Johnston, Laura Leete, Richard Longini, Carolyn Lorrin, Beatrice Mahaffey, Dan Marsten, Jeff McCourt in honor of Joni Rabinowitz, Richard Michaels, Charles & Mary Miller, Cheryl Morden, James Mroz, Jonathan Weinkle & Vita Nemirovsky, Rae O’Hair, Tom Pandaleon & Faith Schantz in memory of Lila Schantz, Joseph & Cecilia Perz, Albert & June Pindel, Eugene & Mary Pochapsky, Jon Robison, Gloria Santin, Lorraine Sauchin, Harold & Marla Scheinman, Marion Schnurer, Rev. Valentine Sedlak, Mary Sheehan, Marjorie Spenser, Omar & Marliyn Steward, Lowell & Rachel Swarts, James & Barbara Syphers, Margaret Ward, Jean Weaver, Ronni Weiss, Bill Wekselman, Nancy Welfer, Gina Wilson, and Laura Zinski.

The first phase of the “budget process” is completed—Congress passed a 5-year budget “blueprint” to guide their cuts over the next five years.

Congress is now entering its the annual appropriations season for the fiscal year beginning October 2005. Appropriators are busy sorting out this year’s priorities. We anticipate that funding this year for all discretionary programs, including funds for WIC, Community Food and Nutrition Program, will be very sparse.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has 13 subcommittees. Each year they decide how much each discretionary program will get. The relevant subcommittees are the Subcommittee on Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Subcommittee on Labor, HHS and Education. Sen. Specter sits on both committees and is the chair of the Labor, HHS and Ed. Subcommittee.

Sen. Santorum is newly-appointed to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry where he is chair of the Subcommittee on Research, Nutrition and General Legislation. This committee is responsible for food stamps, school meals, summer food, WIC, nutrition programs for seniors. This committee doesn’t pass appropriations, but passes policy regarding farm policy and policies about these nutrition programs. Their major work is in the massive Farm Bill which is due to come up in 2006. Santorum also sits on the Finance Committee.

In the House, Reps. Melissa Hart and Phil English are on the Ways and Means Committee. Bills which raise revenues originate in the House, in this committee.

In a few weeks, farmers markets in the region will be in full swing. Pittsburgh Citiparks runs six on weekday evenings around the city . Many others operate throughout the region.

Five vendors are approved by the federal government and by the state to accept food stamps as part of a Pennsyvania 3-year pilot project with wireless swipe machines. If you use food stamps, please patronize these farmers. If you don’t use food stamps, patronize the farmers markets and locally-grown food.

Fabyanic Orcchard Farm- Beaver, Beaver Falls, Ambridge
Greenawalt Farms- Saturday morning near Home Depot
Fours Seasons – Saturday morning near Home Depot in East Liberty
Dillner Family Farm- Citiparks weekdays
Harvest Vally Farms- Citiparks weekdays
Joe King Farm- Citiparks weekdays

Look for the ACCESS or EBT symbol at the markets. Call Joni at Just Harvest for more information.