The priorities in this city favor the rich, buying land to expand the airport, buying land to make intersections better, or buying land valued less then we paid. Developers get parking for 99 years ”“ and the hungry get nothing.
As former mayor of this city, I met with all the food pantries directors and listened to their comments about merging together. They explained to me that one wanted to accept clothes to dress and help people and one only wanted to give out food. I respected what they had to say and was very appreciative of the hours and hours these volunteers donate to help people less fortunate. The problem I have is that this committee decided the way to make them come into compliance with this idea, they would not fund them. Sorry, that’s wrong as far as I am concerned. We either follow our process or we play God and that is what this committee did, with the exception of Councilor Clem Fleurent. The process calls for all nonprofits to submit an application which the food pantries did, because they did not jump the way the welfare director and the committee wanted, they gave the allocated money to Seeds of Hope. After speaking to Councilor Fleurent, he assured me that there was no application for Seeds of Hope, they just decided to give the $8,000 to them. Seeds of Hope also receives money from other sources. My favorite quote from Mother Theresa is as follows: “At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we made, how many great things we have done, we will be judged by I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me, I was homeless and you took me in.”
Joanne T. Twomey, Biddeford
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