Dear Editor,
I recently had a chance to see some of the great work being done at Manna Harvest by a group of dedicated volunteers. They put on a feed for anyone that is hungry 5 days a week starting at 5:30 pm at 212 N. Main Street in Warrensburg, Mo.

As much as I admired the dedication of these volunteers and the people who donate to this worthy cause, I was angered. Not at anyone using or providing this much needed service,  rather I was angry to see working people, often working two or even three jobs, unable to feed their families.

What happened to the living wage jobs in this country?

In the early 1960’s my father was able to feed his family of seven, provide a nice home, a car and vacations to lake cabins in Canada every summer. He worked on what was then a very normal, union, factory job.

The myth of the high school age minimum wage worker is just that, a myth.  Johnson County has thousands of workers in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s who work several of these low wage jobs and are unable to do what one worker did in the 1960’s.   Studies say worker productivity is up yet wages remain low.

America needs good paying jobs, but our politicians in Jefferson City continue to push policies such as the misnamed Right to Work, designed to cut pay and benefits. They have cut funding to programs designed to give people a hand up as we no longer have enough money in the budget they say. Left unsaid is that tax cuts given to large corporate donors resulted in those budget shortfalls.

We need jobs, good paying jobs. Yet the legislators in Jefferson City forgo billions in federal funds for Medicaid expansion. This, while our rural hospitals, with their good paying jobs, are closing.

Charity is a good thing. Again, I thank all who help Manna Harvest and programs like it, especially here in Johnson County, but a good paying job is an even better thing.

Raymond James