The homeless shelter tangent in the Pics thread reminded me of this story I saw over the weekend:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/30/national/main6037922.shtml
QuoteThere was something special on the menu at a New York soup kitchen Thursday.
Those eating lunch at the Broadway Community Inc. facility in Manhattan got a taste of the luxury life, thanks to a gift of caviar from an anonymous donor.
The caviar was served along with sour cream and egg whites and yolks and chives on cornmeal blinis. About 150 people showed up for lunch.
Chef Michael Ennes of Broadway Community Inc., told CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace when he heard of the caviar donation, he thought, "'Yeah, right.'"
However, when Ennes realized the donation was for real, he had to ensure everyone got a taste of the delicacy.
...
Though the $1,100 value of the caviar could have covered more meals for the needy, it was the experience that was priceless.
Yeah I know, "at least it's the thought that counts". I'm sure it was quite an experience for the few people who got to munch on a dab of fish eggs, but come on. How much food could that $1100 have bought to feed the 150 odd people at that soup kitchen? Uncle or Auntie Moneybags should have at least kicked in another $1100 and bought some real food with substance that would've actually filled their stomachs to go along with the teaspoon of appetizer. Stupid people with money should just stick to the basics. Fill out a check, drop it in the box, and move on. You fuck it up when you start trying to be clever.
$1000 caviar for the homeless. BECAUSE THE FREE MARKET DEMANDS IT!!!
I find it hillarious.
and i find your reaction equally hillarious.
since it was an anonymous donation, i guess we cant find out the motivation, but perhaps there was a local source with a surplus that had to be moved?
or perhaps someone just wanted to donate in some different way to make a different type of impact.
according to the link you give
...
Michelle Seliem and her 8-year-old daughter -- who have been living in a domestic violence shelter for five years -- loved it.
...
Hosna Seliem told Wallace, "I felt like a princess."
oh well....
can't please everybody.
:D
But shelters/soup kitchens aren't there to make people feel like princesses. They're there to help keep people from starving to death and let them use their meager resources to get a better life--get a job, find a home, etc.
It would be GREAT if shelters and soup kitchens had enough that we could all feel warm and fuzzy about a donation of caviar. But honestly, that grand could've made a real difference in the kitchen's bottom line and really helped them serve more people in need.
I'm sure a homeless lady would just LOVE a pair of designer stiletto sandals. And she will continue to love them, even while her toes are falling off from frostbite. Just because something is NICE doesn't make it HELPFUL.
I don't fault whoever donated the caviar for their intentions. Certainly, the heart was in the right place, but the mind, imo, was not. Let's also think about the denizens who didn't get any of the caviar. How could that $1100 have benefited them if spent on more (pardon the pun) pedestrian food stuffs. What kind of ill-will and negativity might be engendered in the homeless community because some people got to eat some expensive fish eggs while the rest were stuck with the usual. In the current economy, lots of services like soup kitchens are in jeoapardy. They need money, not luxuries.
This donor has just done a nice thing, and caused quite a bit of editorial hoo haa in the process. That's the kind of troll only $1000 can buy :lulz:
While I see your point, there's no way of knowing why the donor chose to give caviar, or whether the anonymous donor also gave money for more practical food. For all anyone knows, it could have been left over from a party. They may have just been clearing their cupboards.
On the other hand, being rich does seem to make people retarded.
I really need to tap into the stupid-rich market.
What Richter said, I can't imagine this anonymous person not anticipating this exact reaction, so it kind of makes me wonder whether they did it for the "lulz" of it?
Kallisti brand caviar....
Quote from: Darth Cupcake on January 04, 2010, 06:07:26 PM
...Just because something is NICE doesn't make it HELPFUL.
I disagree.
when in a dejected situation, a luxury can do wonders for the spirit.
following your logic, the shelters should serve nothing but nutritious gruel that has the lowest cost/nutrition, but they don't. they make some compromises and try to serve decently nutritious food, that also tastes decent. And on holidays, they will splurge and have a fancier holiday meal. Why do they do that? Is that a bad move?
Exactly. Just because you live on charity doesn't mean you shoudl be sentenced to a life of cheap, flavorless NUTRI-GRUEL. Not that everyone has RIGHt to get luxury products, but they still deserve to be treated like people.
Of course, there is a continuum between NUTRI-GRUEL and Caviar.
Quote from: Iptuous on January 04, 2010, 06:48:58 PM
Kallisti brand caviar....
Quote from: Darth Cupcake on January 04, 2010, 06:07:26 PM
...Just because something is NICE doesn't make it HELPFUL.
I disagree.
when in a dejected situation, a luxury can do wonders for the spirit.
following your logic, the shelters should serve nothing but nutritious gruel that has the lowest cost/nutrition, but they don't. they make some compromises and try to serve decently nutritious food, that also tastes decent. And on holidays, they will splurge and have a fancier holiday meal. Why do they do that? Is that a bad move?
I concur that a luxury can help boost the spirit. However, need it be of the extremity of caviar? There are degrees of luxuriousness that I am fairly certain can still boost the spirit and be less wasteful.
Lowest-cost-while-still-nutritious gruel isn't used, I would hypothesize, because you start to feel subhuman if you don't have real, normal food. It's good to continue to treat visitors of shelters/soup kitchens like they are actual people.
However, as RWHN observed, soup kitchens and shelters are suffering from budget cuts and funding shortages that place them in danger of ceasing to exist. In that case, need for the regular kind of food they serve is greater than the need for caviar. And I imagine that most people who rely on that soup kitchen for meals would probably agree that they'd rather that the soup kitchen continue to exist than that they have a nibble of caviar.
Again, as RWHN said, the donor's heart was hardly in the wrong place. It's not like he or she did something BAD. It's not WRONG. It's just saddening that we have so many services like soup kitchens and shelters, that are so desperately needed right now, suffering from huge financial woes, and then having a donation that, while very sweet, isn't going to help keep them afloat.
Like Nigel said, though, we don't know whether that caviar would have otherwise been thrown out, and we also don't know whether the donor didn't also give cold cash...
Quote from: Iptuous on January 04, 2010, 06:59:59 PM
Like Nigel said, though, we don't know whether that caviar would have otherwise been thrown out, and we also don't know whether the donor didn't also give cold cash...
It's true. The list of things I don't know is goddamn ENORMOUS. :lol:
The donation with the $1100 value was going to be a finite experience, obviously. But when it is Caviar, it's basically limited to a tiny teaspoon serving. Now, if you spent that $1100 on say on ingredients that could spice-up, or upgrade the already existing menu, that would last a bit longer and give a more sustained experience. So, maybe instead of having a plain-ole chicken patty on a store-brand hamburger bun, you get to experience chicken parmesan on a whole-wheat roll for a few weeks. Or maybe the soup kitchen could've used that $1100 to purchase some appliances that would've allowed them to expand their menu.
Now, maybe it was some caviar supplier who wrote off a can and dropped it off at the soup kitchen. I'm suspect that is the case as there are very few businesses, in my experience, that will donate anything to any charity and NOT want their name attached. But even then, the company could've afforded to make the $1100 donation in the form of a check.
Quote from: Iptuous on January 04, 2010, 06:48:58 PM
Quote from: Darth Cupcake on January 04, 2010, 06:07:26 PM
...Just because something is NICE doesn't make it HELPFUL.
I disagree.
when in a dejected situation, a luxury can do wonders for the spirit.
following your logic into the other extreme, the shelters should serve nothing but nutritious gruel that has the lowest cost/nutrition, but they don’t. they make some compromises and try to serve decently nutritious food, that also tastes decent. And on holidays, they will splurge and have a fancier holiday meal. Why do they do that? Is that a bad move?
fixed, for pointing out retarded argument.
eleven hundred in specifically caviar? I would put betting money on the fact that this anonymous donor also donated $$ for real food, but donated the caviar as a sort of bonus luxury for being homeless in 2009.
Sure, he could have spent the money in other ways. But as the donor, he gets to choose how he helps the homeless. He donated anonymously, so we'll never really get to ask him why he thinks the homeless would really appreciate a tablespoon of caviar. Hell, maybe he's just rubbing it in their faces. If you ever have a thousand bucks to give away, maybe you'll buy sweaters for everybody, or copies of the bible, or whatever you think will brighten their day. And people will probably think you're a prick anyway. :p
Quote from: Cramulus on January 04, 2010, 07:24:24 PM
Hell, maybe he's just rubbing it in their faces.
I think this is the case.
I agree, there could have been a much more practical allocation of resources.
creative generosity will be the death of us. those rich retards and their making impoverished little girls feel like princesses! :argh!:
My money's still on left over from a party... because it doesn't make a lot of sense. And $1100 in caviar isn't much caviar, nor is $1100 a hell of a lot to someone who can afford good caviar.
Quote from: Cramulus on January 04, 2010, 07:24:24 PM
If you ever have a thousand bucks to give away, maybe you'll buy sweaters for everybody, or copies of the bible, or whatever you think will brighten their day. And people will probably think you're a prick anyway. :p
Ultimate troof.
Quote from: The Right Reverend Nigel on January 04, 2010, 07:31:46 PM
My money's still on left over from a party... because it doesn't make a lot of sense. And $1100 in caviar isn't much caviar, nor is $1100 a hell of a lot to someone who can afford good caviar.
THE BASTARD GAVE THEM LOW-BROW CAVIAR :argh!:
I can see an added benefit: Think of all the people who are reading about this, and considering soup kitchens and homeless shelters, who have never thought about them before.
That 1100 reached far more ears than the same amount in standard advertising or advocation.
I've never eaten caviar, but I sure as hell don't want to start now, it looks nasty. Fish eggs? Really? No thanks.
Poor homeless people.
Protip: it tastes awesome.
Quote from: NWC on January 04, 2010, 07:47:26 PM
I've never eaten caviar, but I sure as hell don't want to start now, it looks nasty. Fish eggs? Really? No thanks.
Poor homeless people.
It doesn't taste like what you think it will taste like...
ironically that is the best way I could describe it
I would prefer expensive cheese over it, but would eat it again
I suppose it probably tastes a little better than utter despair.
I've never liked seafood, it all smells like fish to me. And just the thought of eating small black fish eggs makes me lose my appetite for all small, black, round things, like poppy seeds(which, admittedly, I don't eat very often).
If someone ever gave me $1000 worth of caviar I'd give it to a food shelter. Or sell it or something.
That being said if the homeless people like fish eggs, good for them. Nothing wrong with what the donor did IMO. Yeah the money could have gone to better use, but fuck it, it made the little girl feel like a princess.
I wouldn't kick him for what he did
His heart was probably in the right place, but I agree that his brain probably wasn't
it's kinda salty and because it's tiny eggs they pop in your mouth, which is the big attraction to it, cause the flavour itself, while pretty good, is not mega hyper awesome like, say, bacon.
i have some mild mustard which has whole mustard seeds in it, the popping of those seeds kind of remind me of caviar [not the flavour of course]
$1100.00 of fugu sushi.
i thought caviar used to be poor man's food.
but google refuses to agree with me.
Quote from: Regret on January 04, 2010, 08:58:39 PM
i thought caviar used to be poor man's food.
but google refuses to agree with me.
You may be thinking of lobster.
I find it hilarious, and furthermore think people should be happy with anything they get for free.
Fuck it, next time whoever did it should just buy themselves a pair of shoes.
he spent money on something that made some people happier.
whoever it is i like him.
Quote from: Jerry_Frankster on January 04, 2010, 09:02:42 PM
Quote from: Regret on January 04, 2010, 08:58:39 PM
i thought caviar used to be poor man's food.
but google refuses to agree with me.
You may be thinking of lobster.
That's what google said!
but that is not what i remember.
Oyster used to be known as poor man's beef. Archeologists have found massive medieval rubbish tips just filled with oyster shells.
Regret, don't give in--Google is known for trying to rewrite humanity's collective memory!!
Quote from: Richter on January 04, 2010, 08:12:34 PM
$1100.00 of fugu sushi.
Goddamnit I want sushi now. Why am I poor?! Why is it 1am?
This is fucked. :lulz:
Quote from: Triple Zero on January 04, 2010, 08:07:59 PM
it's kinda salty and because it's tiny eggs they pop in your mouth, which is the big attraction to it, cause the flavour itself, while pretty good, is not mega hyper awesome like, say, bacon.
i have some mild mustard which has whole mustard seeds in it, the popping of those seeds kind of remind me of caviar [not the flavour of course]
If it doesn't have an awesome flavor like bacon does, why would people bother? I mean, if I had to choose between a thousand dollars in bacon, or a thousand dollars in caviar, I'd take the bacon.
BACON OWNS YOUR CAVIAR. :bacon:
No, Freeky. You don't get it.
Poor and homeless? Unable to become part of the kleptocracy? Now YOU TOO can enjoy the exorbitance of gourmet bullshit with HOBO POPPERS! This Grade C black caviar comes from prime endangered beluga sturgeon, and it is now available due to generous donation at your local soup kitchen. Act now while supplies last; there are only several thousand sturgeons left! Dine in style, feel like a PRINCESS for a few short minutes munching on some fishy smelling eggs before heading back out into the streets hungry.
Everything is fucked. :lulz:
:lulz:
I just had a jar of caviar sent to Haiti...
:|
Quote from: Kai on January 05, 2010, 03:17:35 AM
No, Freeky. You don't get it.
Poor and homeless? Unable to become part of the kleptocracy? Now YOU TOO can enjoy the exorbitance of gourmet bullshit with HOBO POPPERS! This Grade C black caviar comes from prime endangered beluga sturgeon, and it is now available due to generous donation at your local soup kitchen. Act now while supplies last; there are only several thousand sturgeons left! Dine in style, feel like a PRINCESS for a few short minutes munching on some fishy smelling eggs before heading back out into the streets hungry.
Everything is fucked. :lulz:
:mittens:
I agree with RWHN it is completely fucked. Yes the donor's heart might have been in the right place, but RWHN is right, that money could have fed 5 times the number of people well.
Yes, people do deserve their moments of luxury, but when you consider that most who go to the soup kitchens live on the streets, the warm kitchen and hot food
are their luxury.
The feeling while reading all of this is rather two-sided. It must be done, from the one point of view and it is rather sad from the second.
is it just me or, for a couple of hundred could you have catered like, a shitton of smoked ribs and BBQ or something? hell for 1100 dollars, you can throw a frigging PARTY.
As kept being observed it was probably leftovers.