Food banks (the hidden tax)

Back in the 50s there was RPM (Retail Price Maintenance) which ensured that essentials such as butter, flour, tea and sugar were affordable for all. People (certainly in my area) mainly lived in low rent council houses, and had little debt - perhaps one item on hire purchase. Some of my school friends Mothers were war widows and seemed to manage fine on their WW Pensions and family allowance had just been introduced.

In the aftermath of WW2 there were jobs aplenty and people were used to rationing, 'grow your own' fruit and veg and keeping hens, etc. I think the biggest difference though is that most extended families still lived close together and they and long term neighbours ensured that no one went hungry.

- single mums who don’t receive maintenance from their baby daddies and are happy for the State to be ‘dad’.

Uh huh single parents just LURVE when the non resident parent sods off and leaves them footing the bill...its their fav!

Why now? Because austerity pushes people into starvation. I think that more or less sums it up.

It used to be if people had a job that they new how many hours they would work each week and what they would be paid. However these days many low paid employees are on "zero hour" contracts so have no certainty on the number of hours or pay. This gives people no income certainty and is difficult to budget - as most of these jobs are minimum wage then people never earn enough to have savings for the lean months.

Most Foodbanks only provide emergency food. You need to be referred with a voucher from GP, social services, NHS teams, charities etc. Usually you can only get a parcel to last a few days for a limited number of times each year.

Fair comment ladies.
I too think the whole necessity for food banks is awful BTW I was just trying to understand why there are more and more of them, year on year.

There is a school of thought though that foodbanks are also a political statement. I’m sure I read somewhere that the Trussell Trust, whilst a Christian charity is backed by a Labour politician who wants to get a dig in at the Tory government and their benefit reforms (long overdue in many people’s opinions) and there is a lot of politicking going on with it all too.

I must look it up.

What is the evidence that those just above food bank level give more to Food Banks than better off families?

I always donate food from the supermarket I usually shop at and brands/own brands I usually buy. Going somewhere to buy cheaper, lower quality food, even if I could afford more, always strikes me as insulting to those I am hoping to help, suggesting that they should be expected to eat food I would not eat myself.

Teetime in the main I shop online with Ocado and donate to food banks via their system, so don't have to worry about what's best to donate. All the items you suggest sound suitable but I understand your dilemma.

With Ocado if you donate say £5, they double this to £10 worth of goods. They provide what's been asked for by their charity partners.

www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Donate-food-with-Ocado-250/271532011

It's a scandal that such things exist in this day and age.

I wanted to avoid this thread becoming too political which is why I used this forum rather than News and Politics.

Urmstrongran. I would quite like to get a dig in at any government that presided over what is a tragic situation for the one million plus children in this country living in poverty but I would think supporting an organisation that sets up food banks to try to alleviate the effects of austerity would be a fairly feeble way to go about it.

So the Trussell Trust is Christian. I didn't know that.

It makes for an intriguing though deplorable situation.

We have a government, whose leader is frequently pictured in the press on Mondays entering or leaving church, whose policies are definitely not Christian. Among other things she is happy about austerity and set up the Hostile Environment when she was Home Secretary which led to the illegal deportation of some of the Windrush Generation and now many Europeans and others who have a perfect right to live here.

If Jesus Christ were asked to choose between her and the Trussell trust I wonder which way he would go.

Well I don't really. It's obvious.

p.s. I am not a Christian.

Nice idea to put this on ‘chat’ rather than politics boat

You'll never stop them existing now that people know they exist.

They offer a valuable product for free, so the only thing preventing infinite demand are the rules on referrals and maximum usage (which are only loosely enforced) and a sense of common decency which holds people back from claiming food they don't need.

I think there is now no way to completely do away with food banks now the genie is out of the bottle.

Urmstongran I think the majority of people would prefer not to have to use foodbanks. I don't care who doesn't give or why. Well I do really but I can't base what I do on what others do. I will continue to help if I can. We all should help each other.

Wee reminder about donations:

Families living in 'temporary' i.e. B&B accommodation have no access to refrigeration OR cooking facilities.

So stuff donated to food banks that needs more than a kettle to prepare it is no use to them.

They are supposed to have access to a microwave but in practice many don't. They are also not allowed kettles and have to try and use them on the quiet.

Just something to remember when donating. Stuff that can be eaten cold (beans, spaghetti hoops) is a great help.

How do you know rules are loosely enforced?

Urmstongran

I grew up in dire poverty in the late forties/early fifties. My parents were members of, "The Undeserving Poor". Did that make me a member?

Does having useless parents make any child culpable?

Have a little charity. I'm sure you are not as heartless as your posts sometimes suggest.

If only there had been food banks in those days and my parents had had the gumption to use them.

I still remember going to bed with that dreadful ache in my stomach due to lack of food and being covered by only an old army greatcoat.

I remember turning up at my junior school one Monday morning when I was eleven and being told we were going to have a special test. It was the Maths paper for the 11+. I'd never heard of it; neither, I suspect, had my parents Despite not having eaten since lunch time Saturday I passed it.

How many kids in Britain are facing this sort of situation today when they take GCSEs, for example?

Because the Trussell Trust are not the only foodbank providers Lily65 and they don’t all have the same strict policy of compliance.

Many, and sitting there with toilet paper in their pants because they haven't got sanitary protection and a banging headache because they had crisps for breakfast.

Truly boat I am not heartless I am genuinely trying to ascertain WHY foodbanks are so ubiquitous these days.

Surely this can’t all be laid at the door of heartless Tories and benefit reform - otherwise why did France have them first (2004) and Germany (2005) - the Tories policies don’t stretch that far afield!

Indeed the Trussel Trust are not the only providers but that still doesn't answer the question of compliance.

Perhaps the best way to find out is to help out and really get a feel for the work and the people shuffling in desperate and embarrassed.

I can remember using toilet paper in my knickers in 1965 so upset. But it happened.
And there were no food banks.

Again, I’m not saying it was right. It was horrible (and embarrassing whilst I was at grammar school with ‘posh’ girls) but I’m still trying to get my head around the absolute need for the proliferation of these foodbanks.

I didn’t go hungry though. Although the school uniform must have cost my poor parents an absolute fortune.

Also, when donating, take into account that tins should, if possible, have ring-pulls. Not everyone has a tin opener.
I buy items for the Foodbank from Aldi when I get my own shopping. It's good quality food there, or I wouldn't be buying it for myself.
I usually add in a couple of bags of children's sweets, too.
Most weeks on their Facebook site, the local Foodbank will give a little list of the things they are running short of. Bread can also be handed in, because it's put in the their freezer and handed out as required.

Lily65

I think you have the core of the problem. "Because austerity pushes people into starvation".

When you only feel hunger on the minibus coming back from an an away match to your boarding school and say, "I'm starving", although you know will have your tea when you arrive, how can you possibly understand what it is like for people in real need?

My point is that even if we completely abolished poverty, there would still be demand for food banks now.

It's not as though the people running them are going to shut up shop and go home while there are still people turning up claiming to be starving, is it?

I think somewhere along the line there has been a normalisation n of food aid in the UK, with food banks on many high streets and food donation points in supermarkets. This is despite the UK Government’s commitment to the right of citizens to adequate food under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Wasn't it the case that Labour refused to publicise the food banks because they were embarrassed that people needed them? Then the Conservatives came to power and said why not advertise them if people need them? Certainly when I went hungry in the late 1970's to ensure my DD had food, I would have been extremely grateful if food banks had existed. I donate 3 times a week in Tesco because I certainly do remember being hungry - as a young single mum due to poverty and as a child due to having a useless mother.

Urmstongran daughter is a single parent of two. Maintenance topped up by pt work and UC. UC is a s**t benefit to be on. If she hadn't me, many times she would have starved waiting for money to be paid. Many people on benefits don't have anyone to help. People on sickness benefit turned down by assessors often starve and can end up on the street.
Believe it or not real poverty exits in this country.
When I worked ft I had to take on a pt job. without it I might have had to resort to foodbanks. (incidentally I worked in the --well paid--civil service)

Coincidentally, I was thinking this very thing two days ago. I was in a supermarket out of town, in a very deprived area and I noticed the foodbank donation box was full to overflowing! Maybe being nearer to poverty focuses the mind on the poor people who are even further down the ladder. Whatever the reason, bravo to every lovely person who stops, thinks and donates to these much needed foodbanks!