Free lunches for children under age 18 are available at Douglass Park on weekdays during the summer. We checked them out and found nice volunteers and healthy? (not quite), hmmm…edible (yes) food. The kids got a lunchmeat sandwich (lots of yummy sodium nitrate) with American cheese (e.g., cheese food) on white bread, carrots (good) and ranch dressing (with a good dose of corn syrup in it), applesauce, granola mix with marshmallows (yay, more corn syrup), and milk (white and chocolate; chocolate–more corn syrup). The only weekday lunch will not be served is Wed, Jul 4. The shelter is next to the parking lot off of Worley Street. Not many people there. Unfortunately, we saw parents eating their fast food lunch next to the kids. A good idea and hopefully the Health Department will consider providing healthier food.
I found your review quite belittling to those who are trying to make a difference. If you haven’t noticed “healthy” food, whatever your definition is, costs a whole lot more than a package of bologna. I grew up on bologna sandwiches as a child, I’m not over weight and the Dr. says I’m in good health for 54. Why would you add all those comments in parenthesis? WHY? Those were unnecessary and hurtful. You made fun of the volunteers, you demeaned the food they served, and then in an off-the-cuff manner, insulted the parents lunch choice. Maybe they are working parents and trying to get food for their child, spend a little time on their sparse lunch hour then rush back to work, so a drive through .99 sandwich was all they could afford. Don’t you think they would be somewhere else if they could afford to feed their child and have a healthy lunch for themselves? I thought you were going to make this a site to find “free” things to do in Columbia, not a free site to bash people who are doing them.
Susan, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this event. First, perhaps we did not emphasize it enough, but we did note that the volunteers were nice–and they were wonderful and helpful! As for the food, we understand your point. It is a problem with our food system, that the cheapest food available is the most unhealthy; and it is the tendency for people to accept what is most readily available. There are affordable, healthy food options. If we can make others aware, including people in organizations providing wonderful services such as this, perhaps healthier options can be readily available for people (and children) who need it the most.