[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 30 (Tuesday, March 11, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H883-H886]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 THE POOR AND NEEDY WITHIN OUR SOCIETY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 7, 1997, the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Hulshof] is 
recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mr. HULSHOF. Mr. Speaker, I hope in the moments that I have in this 
late hour to answer part of the debate and some of the questions that 
the distinguished gentleman from New York has asked, specifically 
regarding the poor and the needy within our society.
  Mr. Speaker, many of us who have run for office, in fact our own 
elected President, has oft quoted the statement that the era of big 
Government is over. I believe that the last Congress, the 104th 
Congress, helped make that claim a reality when it began to wrest away 
control from the Federal bureaucracy and began to send power and 
control back to State governments and city councils and county 
commissions and local school boards.
  One of the major accomplishments of the last Congress was the end to 
the Federal entitlement to welfare. And I recognize that there are many 
skeptics, many doomsayers who wail and lament and beat their chests and 
say that society, specifically those poor and needy in our communities, 
that they are doomed. Mr. Speaker, just as the era of big government is 
waning, volunteers and faith-based charities and community outreach are 
moving in to fill that void.
  Of course, we recognize how tough it is. There are single parents. 
There are two-income families that are struggling to juggle family and 
jobs. There are businesses that are swimming mightily against the tide 
of regulation and bureaucracy which often dissuades them from getting 
involved in community outreach. But I believe we must begin to forge a 
new vision, and our vision in this new era must be to empower 
communities to address the needs and problems within those communities.
  We have to reignite volunteerism among the young and among the young 
at heart. Yes, the Government will continue to provide a safety net, 
but individuals helping individuals is the kind of positive action that 
weaves a strong social fabric.
  Mr. PAPPAS. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield.
  Mr. HULSHOF. I would be happy to yield to my friend and colleague 
from New Jersey.
  Mr. PAPPAS. I thank the gentleman, Mr. Speaker, for raising this 
issue and would like to just add my thoughts to what I think is an 
exciting time to be here in the Congress and talk a little bit about my 
service to my constituency, or a portion of my present constituency, 
prior to the time I came to Congress.
  I served as a local and county official and was exposed to many 
examples of how our Nation's communities have been able to find 
creative solutions to the issues facing those neediest citizens that we 
represent.
  Back in New Jersey, a constituent of mine, Rev. Buster Soaries of 
Franklin Township, is blazing a trail of progress in Somerset County. 
Reverend Soaries has been able to mobilize thousands of members of his 
church as well as two communities, New Brunswick and Franklin Township, 
to work together to develop a project known as Renaissance 2000.
  That vision for the program combines economic and community 
development, neighborhood revitalization, community and business 
partnering, housing rehabilitation, and a commitment of both youth and 
the adult members of these two communities to take what many consider 
to be a blighted and underutilized area and turn it into a thriving and 
successful new community center.
  I have worked and watched Reverend Soaries take the kernel of a dream 
and begin to turn it into a model, a model that could very well be used 
in other parts of our Nation.
  Additionally, prior to my election to Congress, I served as the 
chairman of my county, Somerset County Board of Social Services, which 
in New Jersey, the county boards of social services are the major 
organizations that oversee the majority of the welfare programs. In 
that capacity I was proud to have been involved in an initiative in 
which we successfully tapped our religious communities to work along 
with county government to reach out to families on welfare and provide 
that extra element of assistance.
  Many churches, synagogues, and other religiously based organizations 
back home agreed to lend a hand in many ways, and they include an 
agreement or a desire to mentor families on welfare in an effort to 
keep them together and to help them find gainful employment.
  In some instances there were churches that have been asked or have 
stepped forward to provide scholarships for doing. Many of these 
religious institutions, churches and some synagogues, operate and house 
day care facilities. And now many clients on welfare are being matched 
with one of these facilities, and these congregations are granting free 
scholarships, quote end quote, to these, in many instances, single 
parents, single women with one or more children on welfare, and 
allowing them to move off of welfare, have gainful employment, and have 
that assistance in the form of free day care which is so important.

  Lastly, a coordination with some business owners from one particular 
congregation has stepped forward, and many of these individuals who are 
business owners are now wanting to make

[[Page H884]]

themselves and their businesses available to teach a skill or a trade 
to an individual who is wanting to move off of welfare and on to work.
  A fourth point I want to add is there is another church that sponsors 
three different sports camps during the summer, the Zarephath Community 
Chapel; a soccer camp, a baseball camp, and a basketball camp. And 
these three camps now, I think 10 or 12 scholarships for each of the 
three camps, have now been made available; free scholarships again 
being given to those that choose to take advantage of them.
  Another program that addresses an issue so important, even in 
affluent counties, such as many of the communities that I represent, 
but the Interfaith Hospitality Network has teamed together with 
religious institutions, congregations, churches, and synagogues who 
have organized among themselves to accept and to house homeless 
families for the period of about a week. Many other congregations 
support by providing meals and other support services, and this action 
has literally saved the taxpayers thousands and thousands of dollars 
because sometimes costly emergency shelters have not had to be 
utilized.
  I really have been impressed in the way in which people have stepped 
forward. And this is a program that is not unique to my county. We can 
find these all across our Nation.
  Another program that has really been amazing and very impressive is 
another aspect of community renewal, an idea that was suggested by Rev. 
Steve Rozelle of Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Basking Ridge, also 
in Somerset County. His idea, rather ingenious, was to utilize our 
county government's existing curbside pickup of recyclables, which 
takes place twice a week, and to provide one or more orange plastic 
bags, that are distributed the end of May or early June of each year, 
and 2 weeks later, at the next pickup. While the trucks picking up the 
recyclables go through neighborhoods, they pick up these orange bags, 
and contained in the bags are canned goods that people are donating. 
These canned goods are then distributed to one or two of the food banks 
that service the residents of our county. It has been a huge success 
and the response and the support by the community has been 
overwhelming.
  Many times the food banks find that at that time of year things are 
pretty sparse. Christmastime and Thanksgiving there is a lot of 
activity and people are focused on that, but not in summer.
  This has, obviously, benefited those food banks that run short on 
funds and run short on donations. The cooperation that the County Board 
of Freeholders has shown, our public works department, nonprofit 
agencies, many volunteers, young people as well as senior citizens, 
focusing on a common goal, has been very gratifying and encouraging to 
these food banks who are really overworked in many instances, and do a 
great deal with very little.
  Reverend Rozelle has taken this idea to our State Association of 
Counties and is trying to see it replicated elsewhere and, maybe 
through this and other efforts, maybe his dream to see this nationwide 
will become a reality.
  All of these projects and programs that I have just mentioned, I 
would say to my colleague, are capitalized on resources from the 
communities, and that is what brought them to fruition. Government was 
a partner, not the entire ensurer that these programs would become 
realities.
  I daresay that there are probably many localities across the Nation 
that can point to initiatives that they have taken upon themselves to 
begin to contribute to the renewal of their own communities. I believe 
we in Congress and the Federal Government can learn a great deal from 
community initiatives such as this, such as those that I have 
mentioned.
  I certainly applaud some of our colleagues who this week will be 
focusing upon community renewal, and certainly would like to continue 
to work with them and volunteers such as those that I have mentioned 
from my district back in central New Jersey, to ensure that all 
communities, whatever their level of need, can be renewed and improved 
upon.
  Mr. HULSHOF. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman mentioned some very creative 
and innovative ways that individuals who have these creative ideas have 
worked as a partner rather than as a parent, especially the Reverend in 
his district whose mission is to help those who are hungry.
  It is, of course, noteworthy that when hunger strikes, it does not 
ask for party affiliation. Hunger does not care if one is a liberal or 
a conservative or a Democrat or a Republican. In fact, when the pangs 
of hunger are most sharply felt, it is often by those 13 million who 
are not even old enough to vote. But the good news, I suppose, is that 
hunger is a curable disease.
  Hunger relief is in transition, but I think as the Federal 
Government, Mr. Speaker, steps out of the equation, then the solution 
does shift to the faith-based and community-based charities to reach 
out to those in need. And I think this transition actually strengthens 
the resolve of those creative people, those ministers, lay ministers, 
and others within the communities, to reach out to those in need.

                              {time}  2300

  I have begun as my friend from New Jersey has to examine those 
scattered throughout the Ninth Congressional District of Missouri and 
have begun to actually witness the commitment that those individuals 
have to reaching out as individuals within their own communities, to 
reach out to those in need.
  One of those hunger relief agencies of particular note that I would 
like to mention, Mr. Speaker, that is making a true difference is the 
Central Missouri Food Bank. The Central Missouri Food Bank is probably 
considered a medium-sized organization but yet distributes about 3.5 
million pounds of food each year. There is a network of over 120 
agencies, its service area is about 29 counties in central and 
northeast Missouri, and much of that area is overlapped by my 
congressional district, about 17,000 square miles, with a total 
population of about half a million. The demographics of that particular 
region are largely rural and much agricultural-based. Central Missouri 
Food Bank has actually a paid staff of nine full-time employees and one 
part-time with an operating budget of less than a half million dollars, 
about $490,000, and not one penny comes from the Federal Government. 
The director of the Central Missouri Food Bank is a very fiery 
sparkplug named Peggy Kirkpatrick. I think it is interesting to note 
that she has been the director of the Central Missouri Food Bank for 
about 5 years and has shared with many of us in our district how she 
first got involved in hunger relief. As she worked and walked daily to 
her job, she would walk past various dumpsters that were surrounding 
the University of Missouri campus and how she was touched by witnessing 
and watching those homeless and hungry who were foraging in the 
dumpsters for food. She decided to try to make a difference, one 
individual, with a lot of energy and a lot of great ideas, and became 
director of the Central Missouri Food Bank. That is something that I 
think each of us has encountered at least once in our lives, especially 
here in this city, where we may have panhandlers that walk up to us 
asking for some spare change, or we pull into a convenience store and 
we see the contingent of so-called societal misfits who appear like a 
patchwork quilt outside the convenience stores. Yet if we actually take 
the time to notice, we either have one or two reactions. We may 
struggle within ourselves, do we try to provide some help in our small 
way, do we dig into our pockets for loose change or do we shrug deeper 
into our coats and think that, well, the Federal Government is there to 
help and the Federal Government will help those individuals. But that 
misses the point, Mr. Speaker.
  These men and women live as individuals within our communities. And 
as members of our communities, I believe then we have that individual 
responsibility to reach out to those in need. The Central Missouri Food 
Bank recently had its report card, an annual awards banquet. Here are 
some of the things that the Central Missouri Food Bank has been able to 
accomplish. There were enough supplies to supply soup kitchens and 
shelters and pantries, day care centers, and senior programs to provide 
200,000 meals to over 60,000 people. The estimated wholesale value of 
the food was about $5.6 million. The Central Missouri Food Bank

[[Page H885]]

initiated two Warehouse on Wheels which actually transported food to 
the far reaches of its area to help distribute those foodstuffs in a 
more timely and efficient fashion. In fact, they even acquired a 
semitrailer to help accomplish that goal. They started the green team, 
which is a pilot gardening project along with our local Boone County 
sheriff's department that utilizes prisoners who raise fresh produce 
for the hungry; recruited seven new food pantries in high need areas; 
worked with the media and others to stimulate and reach out to the 
community. In fact, one of the innovative ways that they reached out to 
local businesses was the Score Against Hunger Campaign. It is 
interesting that the Central Missouri Food Bank, unlike many other food 
banks, in fact, the Central Missouri Food Bank is one of only two 
second harvest food banks in the entire Nation that does not 
participate in the shared maintenance program. What that means is that 
the foodstuffs they collect, they do not charge food pantries and 
shelters for. They give it away for free. Their decision to do that was 
at a crisis time. It was back in 1993, and in the Midwest I am sure my 
friend from New Jersey watched accounts of how the flood of 1993 really 
had a devastating impact upon a lot of us. Against that backdrop, the 
Central Missouri Food Bank took the bold step and decided at that time 
they would no longer charge for the food they collected as they 
distributed it. As a result, they had an enormous outpouring, the 
business community was more than ready and willing to give additional 
moneys, and the Score Against Hunger Campaign was one innovative way in 
which the Central Missouri Food Bank teamed up with our local 
university at the University of Missouri in Columbia, now has actually 
extended the program to other colleges in the Ninth Congressional 
District, in conjunction with the football season. And if the home team 
scores a certain number of points, then there is a corresponding amount 
of donations that comes in that have been pledged by individuals. Even 
when the USDA cut the commodities that were going to these food 
pantries, they continued to innovate and utilize these efforts to reach 
out to those thousands and thousands of hungry people that they serve.
  But many of the challenges and probably one of the most frustrating 
things in visiting with the Central Missouri Food Bank, those who 
continue to see their mission to feed the hungry without Federal 
Government involvement, some of the obstacles even come from within. In 
fact, a couple of weeks ago a hunger relief agency issued a national 
press release as this hunger relief agency was coming to Washington, 
DC, to try to create and promote a legislative agenda. In the context, 
the very text of the press release, this was what this hunger relief 
agency said:

       The charitable response to hunger is no substitute for good 
     social policy and the appropriate allocation of public 
     resources. It is the responsibility of the Federal and State 
     governments to cure hunger.

  This is an agency whose mission it is to help the hungry across the 
country. I suppose, Mr. Speaker, that even as we try to do the best we 
can, occasionally we lose sight of our mission, and sometimes our 
vision gets blurred.
  I think the gentleman mentioned tomorrow, there are some new 
visionaries, and I think in a true bipartisan spirit Representatives 
Jim Talent from the Second District of Missouri, whose district adjoins 
mine, as well as J. C. Watts from Oklahoma and also Mr. Floyd Flake, a 
good Congressman from New York, a Democrat, are going to launch the 
American Community Renewal Act.
  Has the gentleman heard much about their efforts in that regard?
  Mr. PAPPAS. If the gentleman will yield, I certainly have been 
hearing amongst our colleagues and have heard and am very much 
encouraged that there is such an effort that is ongoing and that is 
bipartisan. I have always been a strong believer that there should not 
be a Republican or Democrat approach to renewing our communities, be 
they urban areas or rural areas that have economic difficulties or even 
some suburban areas where there has been changes in the economic 
structure and many large corporations downsizing, there are different 
needs in various communities. I am very encouraged.

  One of the things I would hope that as we move forward in reviewing 
the package that they are presenting to the House for consideration, 
that they would do something that we have done in our county back home, 
is that when we have asked some of these religious institutions to step 
forward, be it to provide those scholarships for day care or for the 
sports camps that I have mentioned, that our county board made a 
decision that we were not going to ask these religious institutions, 
these congregations, to step forward and to fill what we believe to be 
a very critical need for these families and these individuals that are 
on welfare and wanting to move off of it, but that many of their 
programs are steeped in their own religious traditions, and that we 
were not going to ask them to stop that; that we were going to make it 
clear to the welfare recipient that if they would want to consider 
their child or themselves being involved in this particular program 
that was purely voluntary on both parts, both the congregation as well 
as the welfare recipient, that they may be invited to participate or 
that they may be exposed to a prayer or some religious instruction, and 
that again it was voluntary, that the congregation was stepping forward 
to sponsor this and that we were not going to ask them to stop doing 
what they have been doing.
  The response has been very, very positive. Again people realize it is 
voluntary, and I certainly hope that in the community renewal 
initiative that the gentleman has spoken about and we are speaking 
about this evening that we would follow suit.
  Mr. HULSHOF. There are so many ideas, innovative ideas that are 
sprouting up like seeds all across this country. I think it is 
incumbent upon us as a body, a legislative body, Mr. Speaker, and again 
certainly the Government has a role, but I think that role should be a 
limited role and that government should get out of the way, as the 
gentleman mentioned, and allow some of these projects to take place and 
to allow them to grow.
  A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Speaker, I recall that Ralph Reed of the 
Christian Coalition announced his group's new Samaritan Project which 
was dubbed as a very bold and compassionate plan to combat poverty and 
to restore hope, and that project, the Samaritan Project, actually took 
aim at the economic and moral deficits that pervade a lot of the black 
and Hispanic inner city neighborhoods. As the gentleman from New Jersey 
mentioned, the impetus from those programs would also come from the 
church which is one of the few institutions in some of these 
communities that is willing and able to undertake such a task. I recall 
watching the press conference of that unveiling, Mr. Speaker, and along 
with Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition, also standing next to him 
was the Rev. Earl Jackson. Rev. Earl Jackson was a Harvard Law graduate 
who also attended Harvard Divinity School. The Rev. Earl Jackson had 
this to say as he teamed up with Ralph Reed:
  ``I'm a black pastor who has worked in the black community for 20 
years before heading up this project, and the ministers supporting this 
program are leaders in their communities in their own right.'' The 
quote again from Rev. Earl Jackson.
  I believe, Mr. Speaker, that these ministers and activists are, of 
course, intelligent, I believe they are rational individuals, I believe 
they are quite knowledgeable, and they care deeply about the troubles 
afflicting their communities. This is an example of the new type of 
visionary that I believe will be filling the void as big Government 
moves out.
  I look forward, Mr. Speaker, tomorrow as our colleagues, both 
Republicans and Democrats, introduce the community renewal project 
which builds upon efforts in the last Congress.
  In summary, Mr. Speaker, I think it would be a terrible thing if the 
efforts of these visionaries across this country, as they rethink our 
approach to government and poverty and inner city and rural problems 
were simply dismissed as some new gloss on an old agenda, because, Mr. 
Speaker, I happen to believe fervently that the era of big Government 
is over, but that the era of big citizenship is dawning.


                            LEAVE OF ABSENCE

  By unanimous consent, leave of absence was granted to:

[[Page H886]]

  Mr. Coble (at the request of Mr. Armey) for today on account of 
Judiciary Committee business.
  Ms. Millender-McDonald (at the request of Mr. Gephardt) for today on 
account of official business.

                          ____________________