Homeless Covet White House Leftovers

Somewhere in Washington, homeless men are walking about in President-elect George Bush’s socks and shorts, says Mitch Snyder, director of the Community for Creative Non-Violence.

“Barbara Bush has brought us clothing, including her husband’s underwear, several times, visited the shelter and had us over to lunch with Cabinet wives at the vice president’s house to talk about the homeless and the hungry,” Snyder says.

With this encouragement, he hopes that when Barbara Bush is First Lady, he at last will be able to get the food left over from the White House kitchen. “I’ve read those menus the Washington Post prints of those state dinners, and they certainly sound delicious. I’m sure the White House kitchen must have some left over.”

But, he says, he’s never gotten a crumb from the White House. Congress, on the other hand, is more generous.

A Big Help

Barbara Bush learned about CCNV from Susan Baker, wife of James Baker, the newly chosen State Department secretary, Snyder says, adding that Susan Baker has been a big help to him in getting food from parties held at the Capitol. “We’ve seen a good bit of her,” he says. “And we know we can call on her.”

Susan Baker was a co-founder in 1983 of the Committee for Food and Shelter Inc. Among other things, she has arranged for surplus food from military commissaries to go to the poor.

Snyder is hoping for a cold 1989 inaugural weekend. At the 1985 Reagan Inauguration, the bitter cold, near zero, caused the parade and many other events to be canceled--out of mercy for the high school bands and the officials and people who would have watched them. And many expected guests just didn’t show up for parties.

Only 700 of the 1,500 expected showed up for American Security Bank’s 1985 Inauguration party. So the catering firm Ridgewells delivered crab sandwiches, French pastries and several types of quiche to Snyder. From other no-show parties at embassies and such, limousines also drove up to the shelter with sushi, Westphalian ham and Italian sausage.

Every year Snyder sends letters to embassies, restaurants and others to ask for food.

Ridgewells President Jim Caulfield says he receives 2,800 requests a year for food for the poor. “We have to be careful of the freshness of what we send,” he says, “so it’s mostly cookies, vegetables and bread, edibles that don’t have to be refrigerated.”

Homeless Photo Exhibit

Bill Homan, a partner at Design Cuisine, says those who feed the poor tell him venison is not a favorite meat but almost anything else is acceptable. He sends mostly food that’s never been out on the buffet tables but has been kept cold.

The ultimate party benefiting the hungry may well have been the “Homeless in America” photo exhibit’s preview opening at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Tipper Gore, wife of Sen. Albert Gore Jr., was chairman, and Susan Baker, was co-chairman. Barbara Bush was an honorary patron.

The buffet tables were beautifully set with candelabra, but bare of food. Instead, Homan received $4,000 to buy staples wholesale for four shelters. “We called and asked them what they needed. I remember one wanted cases of green beans--we sent canned green beans over for six months,” Homan says.