Bagging it!

DC is a few days away from a new fee on grocery bags. At five cents, this fee won't be noticed by many. And it applies only to vendors -- not places like food pantries -- so it doesn't impact Bread for the City's bottom line.

But that's not the case for our clients. For people with an average annual income of less than $7,000, these fees will certainly add up.

Since the bill was introduced, we've been speaking with city officials about serving as a key distribution center for a supply of reusable bags. So far we've received some small sets of bags, and we're scheduled to receive more supplies from the city in the coming weeks.

That said, reports are coming in that there are going to be far fewer bags than originally promised. See this news feature filed by Tom Sherwood (featuring your humble blog editor):

We support efforts to reduce waste and clean up our community's environment -- but it is also critically important at this point in time to reduce the impact of such efforts on those who can least afford it!

In the meantime, private donors have begun to rise to the occasion -- like Michael Wagner of Promo-Vision, who saw the above television report and promptly donated a large supply of sturdy bags. Many thanks to Promo-Vision for their generosity!



If you have a supply of reusable bags, you can donate them to either center during standard business hours. Thank you!