Latest TAP Update

Date: August, 10, 2023????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

To: Potential Partners in Giving

From: Executor-Office Liaison on behalf of The Angel Project

Re: TAP Updates?? ?

Dear Business Associates, Potential Partners, Affiliates, & All Others,

It has been ninety-four years since The Great Depression, and we are just six years away from arriving at 100 years. The year 2029 will mark the anniversary of a tumultuous decade in American history. The Great Depression in the US began after the 1929 Stock Market crash, which initiated further economic decline. Other financial crises subsequently occurred: Notable?bank failures, the Midwest dust bowl caused farm foreclosures, and by 1933 unemployment had increased by 20 percent.?In December of 1941 the US [officially] joined the Allied Forces in going to war with Germany or the Central Powers, and this further exhausted an already stretched Federal economic administration. The Great Depression lasted until 1939, and was considered one of the lengthier if not the lengthiest recessions in US history.

During the Great Depression city governments did not have enough food and resources to provide for all residents, so as a result the US Government enforced the food rations system in 1942, whereby the sale and purchase of certain foods were limited. The [First] Food Stamps Program (FSP) was enacted toward the end of the Great Depression. The research indicates that single adults with no dependents typically flounder during recessions, high unemployment rates, and homelessness and jobless states. The average single adult with no dependents can expect to receive about $281 maximum in SNAP benefits per month. The monthly amount increases with the addition of each household member. Yet the average monthly grocery bill for one person is about $300, and that amount is usually the result of seeking out the best most affordable prices and coupons/ savings programs; combined with other reduced-price efforts and all around frugalness. Post my divorce I received SNAP benefits for about two years. I was a single adult with no dependents or other mouths to feed and yet, I found the last two weeks of each month were stressful. I was a working person requiring money for lunches and snacks during work days. Even when spending and shopping conservatively, preparing my lunches each work day to save money, I still could not generate enough disposable cash needed to buy and prepare food for meager dinners and lunches until the next SNAP distribution.

I can recall one frightening incident while working on assignment in Amarillo in 2019, just after starting Virtual Administrative Business/ Office Services. I needed to work to feed myself then because SNAP benefits were no longer an option. This was during Coronavirus restrictions that caused a mini recession, and I was unable to get adequate nutrition while working; but duty called! So I managed to assemble a mobile work station in a business center that permitted me to plug-in. Well…. I fainted! One minute I was standing, disassembling my workstation and laptop, and the next I was laying on a cold, hard floor with a pool of blood behind my head! Fortunately, someone from another area of the building just happened to see me right before I collapsed and came to assist. This and other experiences are why I persisted in conducting the necessary field studies in 2015, that subsequently led to the creation of The Angel Project. Note the seven-year span from 2015 until TAP's 2022 launch date. You’ll see why further down. TAP’s Urban Revitalization Model is structured in a unique way, making it unlike any other Government, non-profit, or privately funded program in existence to date! I am committed to assisting our target demographic of young, single adults with no dependents ages 21 to 35, who can expect to experience shortages prior to the end of each month. At or about 1 ? to 2 weeks will be unaccounted for. We can help these people supplement their nutritional/ dietary needs short-term, and we can help with cash assistance in emergency situations. TAP cannot accomplish anything without regular contributions, which serve as funding for buying and distributing needed items to participants! There are food pantries and other charitable organizations and social supports that may meet the needs of people. They do not do what TAP does though!

TAP Participants seeking gainful employment are expected to attend job interviews, and need to “look” physically healthy and presentable! TAP has created nutritionally-balanced meals to help participants feel full and satiated for longer periods! Food pairings are TAP’s specialty! Our specific food combinations can help the body effectively process simple carbs, and slowly release complex carbs in conjunction with protein synthesis. This leads to efficient sugar consumption in the blood stream. Our meals adequately supply the B Class of Vitamins, which strengthen immunity functions; and safe-guard the body from invading viruses, infections, and anemia. Further, our meals provide plant and animal proteins to give people healthier hair, eyesight, and an overall healthful countenance. Healthy people make better workers and employees, and they cost employers less money! Nutrition (internal health) is the key to maintaining a busy schedule and looking fit. With the 100-Year Anniversary of the Great Depression right around the corner, TAP has devised throw-back foods from a bygone era to distribute in TAP CARE Packages! This was a time in which people needed the maximum health benefits at the lowest possible costs or on food rations. Certain foods and grocery items were either unavailable or unobtainable for Americans and Europeans, who had limited resources during wartime; because of trade embargos, blocked shipping trade routes by international enemies, or non-importable goods. Cooks and homemakers had to be creative during meal-planning, ensuring whatever was served was filling, and contained some if not total nutritional value; and could keep people full longer. Our chef is an expert at Old-English Style cooking. Culinary masters like her can only be found among people who have lived on limited incomes or times of food scarcity or insecurity.

We predict a recurring phenomenon similar to that of Ancient Egypt. Joseph, the "appointed one," was tasked with fortifying grain storehouses in key cities and towns in preparation for future drought, famine, and food scarcity. He did this for seven years prior and Egypt was able feed its constituents. Joseph’s boss, the Pharaoh, had a vivid dream one night and asked him to interpret its meaning. Joseph listened to him and promptly told him the dream meant seven years of plenty will be succeeded by seven years of lack in the land. The Pharaoh then placed Joseph in charge of the entire stock-piling project, in addition to his already high-ranking status. None but the Pharaoh was higher in rank than Joseph at that time. Joseph took a fifth?of the harvests of Egyptian farmers during the seven years of abundance. After the people ran out of money, Joseph allowed them to barter their livestock for food (Genesis 41:40-54)! People have to adapt to a depressed economy by doing things differently in order to feed themselves and their families!

In October of 2022 we officially launched The Angel Project. The year 2029 will mark a seven-year period of…..what you may be wondering. In addition to wondering why economic shifts occur. I encourage people really wanting to know to ask an economist. My succinct surmise however, is recessions followed by expansion and vice versa are simply factors of the ebb and flow of economics. A hard swing to the left will inadvertently (due to the laws of physics) swing even harder to the right! The counter-swing has force of motion, inertia, and gravitational pull causing its increased velocity. What goes up must come down! Human interventions that later leads to deficits require overcompensation to bring balance. What I find interesting is the era preceding the stock market crash and Great Depression was the roaring 20s or the Jazz Age. A time of excessive wastefulness and happy-go-lucky sentiments. Europeans’ conservative ways have been largely unadulterated by our country’s obsession with consumerism. Americans have, it seems, an insatiable appetite [both then and now] for bigger, better, more modern things. Europeans for the most part still habitually buy more expensive, well-made things and hold onto them for much longer before replacing them; compared to average American consumers. Moderate to low-level monthly consumer spending, moderate to low-risk capital investing, and low-annual costs and overhead business ventures, and adopting some Euro frugalism could lead to a less-impactful swing post expansion. TAP will be ready in 2029 to help mitigate food insecurity and deprivation! Fortified grains produce flour for making breads and cereals, and they complete all of the essential B-vitamins. Joseph had the right idea! TAP is in the process of implementing its Paradigm for Reshaping Urban Families while addressing participants’ intellectual and physical needs; and social subsidies distribution for community members. ?

Do you have any Great Depression, WWII, or stories from the 1930s involving your parents or grandparents? Or perhaps you would like to share your observational insights on what living/ growing up during that era was like? Send me an email and tell me all about it: [email protected]. More specifically, tell me what you and your family ate to get by! Additionally, if you would like to participate in a Focus Group Questionnaire on the subject contact me! Your input and/ or participation are important to TAP ensuring it achieves its supplemental outreach goals!

Yours Truly,

Pamela R. Patterson, Executor & Office Liaison?on behalf of?TAP