Today was Thanksgiving Day, a national celebration designed to allow people to take a day from their normal hustle and bustle and express their gratitude for the good things in their lives. This celebration is commonly marked by gathering with family and friends and enjoying a lot of good food.
Unfortunately, every year there are people that, due to any of a myriad of reasons, cannot afford to even put together a decent meal, much less a feast that many of us usually enjoy. The Hunger Task Force is one of the agencies that tries to help get food to these people on a daily basis, but make a bigger push on Thanksgiving so that poor families can also enjoy a feast that can last them a week. This year, the need has been greater than ever before, with the number of hungry up by a 25% from last year.
To help the Hunger Task Force accomplish their mission, they rely heavily on the food that is produced at the Farm and Fish Hatchery, located by the County Correctional Facility South (formerly known as the House of Correction). We have already written about the value of the Farm and Fish Hatchery and what a bargain it is, considering that the Hunger Task Force pays the County for the staff and supplies required from the County. the Hunger Task Force also wrote a position paper, from when Scott Walker proposed, once again to eliminate it. The paper highlights what they put into and get out of the far.
A note MCF received from Mary Ryan of the Hunger task force also points out how important the farm is:
The prison farm in question is Hunger Task Force’s farm and fish hatchery located at the House of Correction in Franklin. Last year, Hunger Task Force harvested 315,713 pounds of fresh produce from our farm. All produce is delivered free of charge to 80 qualified charities: food pantries, soup kitchens and homeless shelters. Growing fresh fruits and vegetables including bok choy, apples, potatoes, broccoli, tomatoes, corn and more demonstrates our commitment to providing healthy, nutritious foods to people in need. Read our position paper to learn more about the history of the farm’s operation and explore the farm’s benefits. Hunger Task Force has leased and operated this unique urban 150-acre farm and fish hatchery since 2004.
FranklinNOW, the community paper owned by Journal Communications, has a story on their webpage lamenting the fact that the County Board again did the right thing by overriding Walker’s repeated attempts to destroy this valuable asset. It quotes County Supervisor Mark Borkowski, who irresponsibly states that the facility is a burden to tax payers.
Even more foolish is the position of Franklin Mayor Tom Taylor:
Franklin Mayor Tom Taylor said he generally supports the Hunger Task Force, but in this case noted that the land is prime real estate for the city.
“I’ve already said that it wouldn’t bother me at all if the House of Correction went away and, let’s say, a facility downtown was built where they could house all the inmates,” Taylor said. “The land as it sits at 76th Street and Ryan Road is premier commercial development, and we have that earmarked for future development in our comprehensive master plan.”
It is ironic and foolish to be worried about trying to destroy this valuable asset for even more development when Franklin has been having a series of troubles with the development projects they are working on, from the Boomgaard fiasco to all the problems with their Wyndham Village to the 
continuing struggles with their Fountains of Franklin to their overall lack of a cohesive economic development plan.
A savvy and smart politician would want to brag about being the home to such a valuable asset. Any politician worth their weight would boast about how their community is able to help so many people in need, especially in these economic difficult times.
Instead, Franklin’s elected officials chose to forgo any sense of humanity and commpassion for the poor. Rather, they go for straight for catering to the already well-off land developers, even though their track record in this area is anything but auspicious.
It does make one wonder what Walker, Taylor and the other backers of such foolishness were hoping to gain from such an inane stance.
Franklin’s saving grace is shown by an unscientific poll on the FranklinNOW page which shows that people are voting in overwhelming numbers that the Farm and Fish Hatchery are too valuable to turn over to the whims of some developer.