I don't know how many of you read BigAlice's blog, but she's got a post up about depletion of U.S. food banks and she's calling on all of US to donate the cost of one skein of yarn (be your budget Red Heart or Colinette) to help out.

I work our local food bank from time to time and I have noticed the barrenness of the shelves (and tried to do a little to help restock, but I'm just one person). I thought it was just a local thing...but it seems there are some economic factors coming into play.

Sadly, I know a few people who don't like to give to food banks...claiming it encourages dependence and that people are just exploiting them. From my experience that does not seem to be the case at all - the food banks are a very important stopgap for people who might go hungry otherwise. (And our food bank, at least, has a "menu plan" - so the person or family gets a decent amount of well-balanced food: protein and vegetables and fruit and grains).

(And even if it DOES "encourage dependence" or "allow people to avoid looking for work" or some damn thing, still - I do not like to think about people going hungry, regardless of what their circumstances are. This is one place where I refuse to be all judge-y.)

I think it was Elizabeth Zimmerman who said, "All Knitters Good People"?