One chaotic afternoon a dozen years ago, a decently dressed woman asked the receptionist at Circle Of Concern to ‘see the director.’ She refused to say why.
In my office she put several $100 bills in my hand: she enjoyed a great evening at the casino, and, promised Jesus she’d give half of what she won to help the poor. I said thank you and offered a receipt. No, she responded, that wasn’t part of the promise.
No matter the motivation, anonymous giving happens everyday. Even those with much sometimes disdain recognition. Years ago the world’s largest brewer did a great favor for the Food Pantry Association: they refused all offers to let the public know of their good deed. (Yes, this was the prior ownership.) One organization helping Circle and other charities included in their grant paperwork a warning – tell anyone (except IRS) about this gift and you have to give it back!
Now the obverse…most charities go out of their way to not exploit those they help. Confidentiality rules. At Circle, for example, all the critical yet personal information needed to evaluate a family’s situation stayed in private interview rooms. Some groups don’t even keep the names of those helped, only the contact person knows who received assistance.
Jump to 2020.
Decades of real world experience documents that food stamps [aka the Supplemental Food Assistance Program] gets targeted aid to tens of millions of Americans each month in a pretty efficient and humane manner. Thanks to Electronic Benefit Cards which look and act like debit cards, other shoppers seldom realize how many of their neighbors are getting help.
Donald Trump hates efficient and humane things.
The Farmers To Families Food Box Program offers a few families modest selections of fresh and non-perishable foods – and a letter on White House letterhead reminding them that Donald Trump made the box possible. 
A few quick problems…
❶ The program is very small. The total – with the extra billion Trump just added – costs $4 billion. In April alone food stamps distributed $7.8 billion in benefits, meaning the boxes are about 4¢ to the food stamp $1.00.
❷ The government doesn’t get a lot of food for the money:
“Across the board, I think there were premium prices paid for all of those boxes,” the San Antonio Food Bank’s [Eric] Cooper said. “Some of these food boxes, they were $40, $50, $60 for what you’d get at a grocery store for about $20.” [NPR article]
❸ Who gets the boxes is unpredictable, as noted in that NPR article, distributing contractors decide which groups they deliver to – no data-driven criteria to target food desserts and places with greatest need.
You get the idea.
Now the big problem. The food box program exists so that Donald Trump can use poor people as props, just another disposable tool to ‘prove’ he cares.
When Trump stood before an Episcopal church holding a Bible it didn’t ring true. Likewise, his family business has a documented history of treating poor people badly, so, the President claiming he cares about feeding the hungry sounds hollow.
True, The Donald might visit anti-hunger groups and deliver bags of cash. Probably not.
Thanks to COVID-19 a tremendous number of our neighbors now struggle. They deserve our help, and, that help ought to be delivered quietly and friendly. They are not props to be used to demonstrate the generosity of others.
Glenn