Posts

Community Food Distribution Centers (CFDCs): A Practical Solution to EBT Fraud and Food Insecurity

-
Community Food Distribution Centers (CFDCs): A Practical Solution to EBT Fraud and Food Insecurity Author: Michelle Gamble, (c)2025 Purpose: This brief proposes a new model for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/EBT) to reduce fraud, improve nutrition, and strengthen community engagement through Community Food Distribution Centers (CFDCs). EBT/SNAP fraud and poor nutritional outcomes are ongoing challenges in public assistance programs. This concept replaces or supplements traditional EBT cards with direct weekly food boxes, distributed through CFDCs that partner with local farms and food banks. Each participant receives healthy, prepackaged foods based on weekly menus designed by nutritionists. Recipients fulfill their work-hour requirements by helping at these centers—packing boxes, managing logistics, or teaching nutrition classes. The model restores integrity, promotes wellness, and rebuilds community trust. Core Goals: 1 Eliminate SNAP/EBT trafficking and resale b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kitty Wisdom: Frequently Asked Questions

-
Image
What is Kitty Wisdom about? It’s my love letter to my kitties, Slurpee and Icee. I wanted to tell a story about cat adoption to educate cat lovers about their furry friends. I wrote a personal journey story about finding and adopting my “kitty kids,” and within the context of storytelling I also impart loads of “wisdom” all cat parents should know.   Is this a how-to guide?   Not exactly – it’s really a kind of “day-in-the-life” tale. Within the context of the story, I share critical facts about cat care, food, health, and behavior. It’s not a deep dive into these subjects, but rather an endearing overview of this information without getting too technical. Most prospective and current cat owners need to be aware of some of the critical data, but may not want to get too much detail. For example, the book highlights things like plants and materials that can sicken kitties. Many cat owners may not be aware that certain plants like lilies can actually unalive their kitties...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cats are Trending - Kitty Wisdom

-
Image
  CATS ARE TRENDING Cats are getting more attention than ever before.   Last year cats began trending on the Internet and social media. We saw cats in popular TV shows like And Just Like That where the character Che gives the iconic Carrie Bradshaw a kitten. On social media such as TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, cats took center stage in groups with titles like Cat Lovers. On Tiktok, cat enthusiasts post popular cat videos on the CatTok channel. With so much increased interest in our feline friends, a new book titled Kitty Wisdom: A Cat Lover’s Guide to Adopting and Caring for Kitties is being released for the new year.   Written by author Michelle Gamble, the book is her love letter to her two kitties, Slurpee and Icee. She wrote the book in a memoir style to share her adoption journey and all of the funny, entertaining moments she has experienced with her fur babies. Gamble walks readers through the adoption process and then explores dail...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Border Crisis: A Question of Taking Care of American Citizens

-
Image
  The issue of 2023, and probably well into 2024, has to do with illegal immigration into the United States. Under the Biden Administration, our border has literally become an open invasion of our country. If you're not concerned about it or you believe it's somehow racist to want our open border closed, then you're in for a hard reality.  As our leadership provides sanctuary cities and literally rewards illegal immigration with food, shelter and clothing, the rest of America can well, and let's be blunt, suffer. We literally are paying via our tax dollars for these people to come here, meanwhile our own veterans and countryman (including the homeless) end up kicked out of shelters and left to fend for themselves -- and let's be clear, we're talking about legal citizens who paid taxes or fought for our country.  How has this gotten so out of control? Since the beginning of 2023, 2.5 million migrants have crossed the border from Mexico into the U.S. (I think that...
Post a Comment
Read more

Excerpt Kitty Wisdom: Chapter 4: A Day in the Life

-
Image
  Chapter 4 A Day in the Life “ I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul .” – Jean Cocteau   “The Brothers”                   Have you ever heard in cat talk something called the “zoomies”? I define the zoomies in a visual and auditory way. Watching two cats racing at full speed around the house, across and over furniture, and literally up walls, that’s the zoomies (formally known as Frenetic Random Activity Pattern or FRAP). I usually hear the zoomies when the galloping starts. I can be writing at my desk and first thing in the morning, what do I hear? Gallop, gallop, gallop, crash, slide, meow, chase, race, pounce, jump, roll, and repeat . Most zooming takes place in the morning or late afternoon after a good nap has refueled the tank. I find the zoomies hilarious to watch. My desk faces the hallway so I’ve been ...
Post a Comment
Read more

And Just Like That, Season 2 Disappointing and Disjointed

-
Image
  Let me be clear, I adored Sex and the City . The series was groundbreaking in every sense of the word. It frankly, openly and without judgment talked about relationships and sex in ways that no other TV show had done. It delved into women's issue with moxie and style.  However, this "thing" we call And Just Like That is so degraded and diluted into this sociological/political, over-the-top statement about every sexual and racial comment about today's culture that it's hardly recognizable.  Other reviewers have already explored its tragically misguided narrative and disjointed storyteller, so I am going to stick to character destruction, especially with our beloved Carrie Bradshaw.  In Season 2, Episode 2, our heroine Carrie pointedly refuses to do a vaginal suppository commercial. She fusses and fumes over having to essentially shill for the "vag," and to that end her character flips into uptight -- uncharacteristic -- behavior. She simply won't do...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kitty Wisdom: Bad Kitty

-
Image
  I only wish I had caught this on video … Slurpee got up on the kitchen counter and like a bandido in fine criminal style, pulled a bag of bread down to the ground. By the time we caught him mid-steal, he had trotted off to my daughter’s bedroom with the bag in his mouth. His plan, you ask? To eat his stash under the bed. Speaking of that bed, we discovered that both Slurpee and Icee had started stealing food (cans of cat food, bread, etc.) and eating it under the bed. To suggest that cats don’t know exactly what they’re doing is wrong. The little buggers knew they would be in trouble for stealing and hoarding food, so they hid it. It reminded me of the person who hides food they know they’re not supposed to eat. But, the image of Slurpee swiping that bread and heading off to the bedroom with the loaf in his mouth … well, priceless! He looked like a dog with a ball in his mouth. I used to read this book series called Bad Kitties by Nick Bruel to my daughter Ca...
Post a Comment
Read more