lives in an apt. He has been putting boxes of items out in the entry for people to help themselves-canned and dry food, and household supplies. he is a generous, giving guy, proud of his effort.

1. Helping hungry people get food.

2. Buy up surplus crops from farmers so it doesn't go to waste. Food banks can buy tons of fresh perishable food at very low prices now since many restaurant and overseas buyers stopped.

I've donated every month this pandemic. Recovery even after lockdown ends could take a while.

A neighbor works there and she likes to remind me of the massive impact even a few dollars can make. 1 dollar can provide up to 8 meals.

That IS shocking (grew up across the river in Falls Church).

I remember some of the kids I went to school with in DC were from Montgomery county, and they were always the ones who got Thunderbirds from their parents at age 16, stuff we Virginia kids could only gawk at.

where those living paycheck to paycheck actually live. A few years ago, a huge controversy erupted in Williamson county TN over expanding subsidized breakfast for underprivileged school kids. Williamson is the richest county in TN by a long shot, so I understand your feelings growing up. It also has the greatest number of right wing ass wipes per capita in TN. In ruby red TN, that's quite an accomplishment.

I spent a little time in Glen Echo and on Mass Ave. It used to be a comfortably middle class area.

Many had rather comfortable jobs in government and union jobs making the process work for everyone. Decades of predatory lending, market manipulation through derivatives, and GOP deceptive paring down of budgets have put them in a situation of dependence they are not prepared for nor protected from.

I just remember being invited to a few birthday parties of my classmates, and the mansions they lived in were so opulent, the concept of people living within a 5 mile radius needing financial assistance was just incomprehensible. This was back in the day when "the Washington suburbs" did not eat up the northernmost 20% of Virginia, and one only had to drive 15 minutes south to see "how the other half lived." We always figured poverty was an abstract concept to the Bethesda/Chevy Chase kids. To us Virginia kids, it was a 15 minute drive away.

Although I have cousins in Tennessee, I haven't been to the State in 40 years. But in any ruby red state in the South, it isn't hard to imagine people struggling under Republican State governments who couldn't care less about them. When I was growing up, some southern states still had special tests that one had to pass in order to be allowed to vote. There was the "white test" and the "black test."

The standard legend (since I was in northern Virginia, this didn't exist) had it that the white test was "What is the biggest city in the United States?" Answer: New York City--"How many people live there?" Answer--"Eight million." The black test had one additional question: "What are their names?"

The other thing was a so-called literacy test. A white person was shown local newspaper, and asked if he could read the headline. Answer: "Sure." Election official: "What does it say?" White guy: "It says, 'Rain expected tomorrow.'" A black person was shown a Chinese newspaper, and asked if he could read the headline. Answer: "Sure." Incredulous (white) election official: "You can read THAT?" Black guy: "I sure can." Election official: "What does it say?" Black guy: "It says, 'here is one black guy who won't be allowed to vote this year.'"

'Montgomery County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland, located adjacent to Washington, D.C. As of the 2010 census, the county's population was 971,777, increasing by 8.1% to an estimated 1,050,688 in 2019.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_County,_Maryland

Falls Church was part of Fairfax County, Virginia, current population 1.1 million. Fairfax County was big and diverse as well.

So sure there are fabulously wealthy entitled people with mansions (like that asshole Brett Kavanaugh) but also low income immigrants who work in the service industry and every level in between. I lived there 3.5 years and saw all types. Some of my yuppier friends in Bethesda and Potomac were scared to visit my Silver Spring neighborhood because of the crime.

I just never spent a lot of time across the river. I didn't identify with the BCC crowd much., and they thought I was a peasant by comparison.