Freshen up Flint with Fruits and vegtables for senior citizens https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/proposals-2016/freshen-up-flint-with-fruits-and-vegtables-for-senior-citizens https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/@@site-logo/sitelogo-75x75.png

Freshen up Flint with Fruits and vegtables for senior citizens

Additional Information
Used for	Flint STRIVE will employ youth 18-24 to distribute water and fresh fruits and vegetables that are on the list to fight toxins from the ongoing lead poisoning of the water to seniors. The candidates that will receive the water and fresh fruits and vegetables are senior citizens in Section 8 low income housing complexes and homes that are immobile. This is similar to a program STRIVE in Flint did this summer with youth 14-18 that made the news as the President and both political candidates have been here due to the third world conditions Flint is presently in.
Benefits	Flint , Michigan has always been a manufacturing blue collar community that has contributed greatly to the world economy through General Motors and industrious workers. The monies will demonstrate how a City that has been torn apart is making a come back from lead poisoning, Legionaries Disease and a 40% poverty rate presently. This city has to increase home values again, the tax base for businesses to want to continue coming to Flint and continue to fight the contamination from lead until the pipes are laid .
Proposal Description	The monies we are asking are to employ part time workers ages 18-24 to service the needs of the senior citizens of the City of Flint especially with winter months coming. The baby boomers and the generation before them have been hardest hit and the majority depend on the bus to carry 20 lb cases of water. Flint has a new state of the art Farmers Market however, seniors cannot afford the luxury of fresh fruits and vegetables with a 40 percent poverty rate according to the Data Center of The United States Census Bureau . Our agency is funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and has been for 16 years . Last year we received grant monies for 2 years to employ Senior Citizens with a two year grant. This grant partnered with our local A.A.R.P who had the client base receiving subsidy for job training and we assist with full or part time long term employment from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. Flint STRIVE will employ 8 young adults to do part time work purchasing and delivering the fruits and vegetables. We will collaborate with Crossover Ministries, The Genesee County Department of Human Services, The Salvation Army and The Eastern Michigan Food Bank as well as local churches to obtain lists of the most needy. Slidell Senior Living Apartments are a Section 8 apartment Complex we assisted this summer with monies from C.S. Mott and the need is great. Monies will also be used for education on ongoing water treatment , providing lists of foods that offset part of the effects of the lead poisoning. Flint made the cover of Newsweek this summer and was compared to a third world country from this man made catastrophe which began by greed. Our summer youth, YEP ( Youth Empowerment Program) delivered vegetables for 6 weeks this summer funded by C.S Mott . The elderly were so grateful however since it was a summer youth program for high school children 14-18 it is no longer being done. We implore you not on behalf of our agency but for the senior residents of the City of Flint to help those with the weakest immune systems , the downtrodden and the poor. The monies will only be used to employ part time staff and to buy fruits and vegetables. We have a van and a car for business use and will distribute literature and educate the community with our present staff. The Governor, Rick Snyder , was here in June to address the Flint Health Coalition one of our collaborations about solutions and monies for the crisis. The monies have not been allocated and the Governor is on the upcoming ballot for recall efforts. Our agency is not in the finger pointing business but the solution business. We are well respected and are known for being excellent stewards . Looking on your website we see your foundation was founded for a situation dealing with water therefore we are confident you understand the complexity and frustration of a community that has been told this may well take ten years or more to remedy. Please give this grant proposal your utmost consideration. Thank You!