Feeding 104 People 3 Meals A Day

This week's guest blogger is Hope House Director of Marketing, Lee Marlin.

Hope House operates on an extremely small food budget: $17,000 a year. That number sounds like a lot when you look at your own personal budget, but let’s break it down. We feed 104 people 3 meals per day, every day of the year. So that breaks down to $46.58 per day, or 45¢ per person, or 15¢ per meal.

I’m pretty tight with a penny, but I can’t even buy Ramen noodles for 15¢! So how does Hope House do it?

We are fortunate to have concerned and caring individuals, businesses and organizations in our communities that help us.

1. They organize food drives at work or church.
2. They buy a few extra fruit or veggies for us at the farmers market.
3. They attend state or county fairs, buy livestock and donate it to us.

Upcoming state and county fairs in the area include:

In Missouri:

1. Cass County Fair in Pleasant Hill - July 13 – 18
2. Johnson County Fair in Warrensburg – July 5 – 10
3. Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, August 12 – 22
4. American Royal, October 2010

 In Kansas:

1. Wyandotte County Fair in Kansas City, July 27 – 31
2. Johnson County Fair in Gardner, August 2 – 7
3. Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson, September 10 – 19

Every little bit helps. If you have excess fruits and veggies from your own garden, we’re happy to take them off your hands. Fresh produce is a wonderful treat for our clients. Even two home-grown tomatoes could cause considerable excitement in our kitchens!

Animal Abuse and Domestic Violence

When animals in a home are abused or neglected, it may be a warning sign that others in the household are being abused as well. 

An abuser will use many forms of intimidation and threats to maintain power and control. If a woman is forced to watch her spouse kill the family pet in front of her and her children, she will think very hard about her next steps. It is very effective in keeping women in the relationship, feeling trapped and afraid.

According to americanhumane.org:

• 71% of pet-owning women entering women’s shelters reported that their batterer had threatened, injured, maimed, or killed family pets for revenge or to psychologically control victims; 32% reported their children had hurt or killed animals.
• Between 25% and 40% of battered women are unable to escape abusive situations because they worry about what will happen to their pets or livestock should they leave.

Abuse of a beloved pet can be the trigger for a woman to make the call to the hotline to seek services. But lack of a safe place for the family pet could be a reason she can’t enter shelter.

When a woman comes into shelter at Hope House, we are able to house their pets overnight. The woman and her advocate will contact other agencies that specialize in work with animals and will try to arrange temporary solutions for the care of the pet. But this does not help in the long term.

We are currently in conversation with Independence Animal Control to explore ideas that could help women with pets who are seeking our services. We want to eliminate the barrier that may be keeping a woman from realizing her dream of a life that is free of abuse for her, her children and her pets.