Don't miss this story by reporter Jackie Majerus:
The Foodshare turkey distribution at the Bristol Housing Authority got all fowled up this Thanksgiving.
Because they wouldn’t give out their Social Security numbers when signing up for a free turkey, some seniors were shut out of a holiday bird this year.
Instead of getting a turkey as most of them do every year, the seniors instead got a letter from the housing authority saying that since they were “already signed up for a free turkey with the Christian Fellowship Center,” they were not eligible for a turkey through the housing authority.
But the trouble is, the seniors aren’t clients at the Christian Fellowship Center.
“I never signed up at the church on Prospect Street,” said Helen Senical, a Bonnie Acres tenant. “How did my name get up there at that church?”
“We never signed up over there,” said Penny Kalentkowski. “Something’s wrong somewhere. This has never happened before.”
The seniors said they and friends who got the letter are upset and embarrassed at the idea that they’d take charity from the food pantry.
“That’s for families that can’t afford Thanksgiving, not for people like us,” said Senical, who worked at the Bristol Community Organization before she retired. She said she often took clients to the Prospect Street food pantry for help.
“There are families and people up there who need it a lot more than I do,” said Senical. “It’s a little embarrassing.”
Dorothy Ludlum, another Bonnie Acres tenant who was directed to the food pantry through the housing authority letter, said she was really upset about it.
“I was insulted. I thought, Gee, what do they think – I’m trying to steal two turkeys?” said Ludlum.
What happened, according to officials at Foodshare, the housing authority and at Christian Fellowship Center, was that the tenants didn’t put their Social Security numbers on their application for a free turkey.
The housing authority’s Beatrice Nieves, who penned the letter to tenants, said more than 50 households – almost 20 percent of the total number of applications – left off the Social Security number. The housing authority filled in 000-00-0000 on each application that was missing a number, Nieves said.
The turkeys distributed by both the housing authority and the food pantry come through Foodshare.
Foodshare President Gloria McAdam said the agency distributes about 14,600 turkeys at Thanksgiving and has a system to ensure that there isn’t any duplication.
“Our goal is one turkey per household,” said George Lombardo, community program coordinator at Foodshare.
For about the last 10 years, McAdam said, Foodshare hasn’t given out turkeys unless there is a Social Security number on the application.
“We don’t accept anybody that doesn’t give their number,” said McAdam.
Apparently one application that came to Foodshare from the Christian Fellowship Center before the ones from the housing authority arrived, had 000-00-0000 in place of the Social Security number.
That false Social Security number from the food pantry was apparently accepted, but then Foodshare’s computerized system rejected the ones from the housing authority that came after it, deeming them duplicates.
After Foodshare rejected the tenants’ names, Nieves sent them a letter informing them that they were “already signed up” at the Christian Fellowship Center.
The food pantry “has you on their pick up list,” Nieves wrote, adding that tenants could get their turkeys on Prospect Street this morning. She told tenants to direct any questions to the food pantry.
Meanwhile, the food pantry knew nothing about the tenants.
“We didn’t know why people were being referred here,” said Michelle Palmer, promotional director at the Christian Fellowship Center.
Palmer said there appear to be a lot of people who put zeros down on their application.
Nieves said the housing authority was able to come up with turkeys for a number of the tenants who were rejected by Foodshare. The rest, which she said numbered a dozen at Bonnie Acres and a few elsewhere, could get them from the food pantry, Nieves said.
“In essence, everybody’s covered,” said Nieves.
Not so, said some of the Bonnie Acres tenants who were still without a turkey late Tuesday.
Though both Kalentkowski and Senical said they received leftover turkeys from the housing authority when that agency’s distribution ended Saturday, Ludlum and her friend Judy MacDougall weren’t so lucky.
They said they were told they’d get a confirmation letter in the mail to take to the Prospect Street food pantry today that would get them a turkey, but no letter had arrived by Tuesday.
“I’ve never even been up there,” said MacDougall.
Palmer said they expect to have long lines of people standing for hours outside the Prospect Street pantry today, waiting for food.
MacDougall, who has mobility issues and can’t stand a long time, and Ludlum, who is legally blind and cannot drive, won’t be there in line. Both said they’d received turkeys from the housing authority in the past and this year didn’t put down their Social Security numbers.
Oddly, Kalentkowski’s application did include her Social Security number, she said.
“I’m quite sure I did,” said Kalentkowski. “I always do.”
But she got the same letter as Senical and the others, saying she was on the list for the Christian Fellowship Center.
After getting the letter Friday, Senical said, she repeatedly called the food pantry, but never got an answer.
On Tuesday, Senical went to the Prospect Street pantry and asked them to take her name off their list.
Robert Wilk, director of the food pantry, showed Senical that her name wasn’t on the client list.
“If you didn’t put your Social Security number down, what happens is you don’t get a turkey,” said Wilk.
If she has to surrender her Social Security number, Senical said, then Foodshare can keep the turkey. According to Senical, it’s not worth the risk or the hassle.
“This is the last year I’ll ever accept a turkey from housing,” said Senical.
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
23 comments:
You mean these old birds can't get a turkey? Where do I deliver some for them?
The office should have made sure that the applications had social security numbers on them before accepting the applications. This would have eliminated this problem.
"Because they wouldn’t give out their Social Security numbers when signing up for a free turkey, some seniors were shut out of a holiday bird this year"
Well then tough luck for them. Eat chicken (or crow).
With all the identity theft going on, you'd have to be CRAZY to give that number for a turkey.
Our seniors deserve better than this!!!
Thank you Gary.
Another screw up.
Is there a location someone can donate a turkey or money?
For those bashing seniors -- shame on you.
How about if the housing authority signs application numbers per household instead of the SSN#?
doesn't take to much brain work to come up with that.
This is just another one of those situations where some upper-level management individual over complicated a relatively simple process. Social security numbers for free turkeys? This sounds extremely rediculous to me. What is the point exactly?
I don't think that any of you read the article correctly. You seem to be missing important pieces of information.
The Housing Authority was operating the turkey drive through Foodshare. There are a series of sub-agencys that work with the Foodshare program to help distribute food across the state. One of those sub-agencys is Christian Fellowship. There are quite a few in the Hartford Area.
These agencys use a tracking system of social security numbers to determine who is receiving a turkey from which sub-agency. They are trying to avoid those who take advantage of the system and receive more than one turkey. Donations have been very low over the past few years, so they are more careful than ever to see that no one is receiving more than their fair share.
So if there is no SS# on the application, they were entered as 000-00-0000 which indicated a duplication in this "person" receiving turkeys.
Therefore the Housing Authority shouldn't have accepted applications that did not have social security numbers on them. Mandating the SS# would have eliminated this problem.
The article also says that there were only 2 people left that didn't get their turkeys as of yesterday. They did get them today.
The article says that AT LEAST two seniors didn't get turkeys and neither one was in good enough physical shape to go to the food pantry and collect one, so unless someone brought them a turkey, they didn't get one.
How come people only care about feeding the hungry on Thanksgiving, and maybe Christmas? What about every other day of the year?
Who cares if someone collects two free turkeys? God knows they probably need it. The worst thing that could happen is a household would have extra food that might carry them into the next week. What is the harm?
The Christian Fellowship Center gives me the willies.
NO ONE should have to give up a Social Security number for a turkey. Or a movie rental. Or an apartment. Or anything else that isn't a job or other income-earning source, like a bank. There is far too much abuse of Social Security numbers as it is. Foodshare is way out of bounds.
This problem was created by Foodshare for requiring Social Security numbers. Those seniors and other tenants qualify for free turkeys and should not have been denied because they don't want to hand out their private Social Security numbers.
A Social Security number is private and need only be shared with your employer or other income generating entity. It is NOT a national ID card, and should not be treated as such. Good for these seniors for standing up on principle and not risking handing out their number for a $10 turkey.
It's unfortunate that there are people that will take two turkeys or anything else for free when they are only allowed one. There is one person out there that didn't get what they needed because someone else was being greedy and deceitful.
This is unfortunate on two counts:
1) Instead of saying something people filled in a false number and hoped it would work out.
2) It's the same media and people in the public who want programs like this to screen people, and prove no one is taking advantage, and freak out if a family gets two turkeys -- and then blame the nonprofit for trying to accomplish that task.
If I understand the article correctly, the housing authority is to blame here. They knew the SS#'s were required and they turned in the applications without them. Then they told the people they were signed up at the Christian Fellowship Center when they weren't.
Shame on the housing authority!
Isn't it kind of odd that seniors think it's okay to take a free turkey from Foodshare if it comes via the housing authority, but not if it comes via a local church? What's the difference? It's still a handout, and if you don't need it, you shouldn't sign up for it!
They sound like a bunch of whining free-loaders to me.
“That’s for families that can’t afford Thanksgiving, not for people like us,”
These words came directly from one of the seniors in the story. Everything Foodshare does is for families that cannot afford food. If these seniors aka "people like us" can afford food, then they should not be signing up with Foodshare! Sounds like they are the ones abusing the system.
All of the seniors quoted in the story LIVE in public housing. They have to meet income eligibility to live there. Thus they automatically qualify for a free turkey.
That many of them are trying to look out for those who may be worse off shows character -- and pride -- that some anonymous posters apparently lack.
It is regrettable that a glitch happened in Bristol, but it's wise to maintain some perspective. Over 14,000 poor people asked for help this holiday and they got it. That's pretty impressive.
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