I remember a thread when GN first started out, where we spoke about how some of us really struggled financially in the early days of being married - or not - and having the children (this isn't a thread about a thread). If foodbanks had been around in those days, I would have been entitled to use them, I think. The girl in the flat downstairs was a single mum with 2 children and she was given a box of groceries from the local church. I was so envious.
To be really hungry, and not to know where the next meal's going to be coming from, even though there's a (small) wage coming in at the end of the week, is soul destroying. How on earth do these families cope, having to get a voucher form GP, DWP, church etc? A small bag of food doesn't last very long.