Food banks

Grantanow

A stupid post. Go back to school.

What? Whose post is 'stupid'? And why?

How rude!

Armynanny

Wondering this because in two of our local towns there seems to be plenty of people eating out with several children, all with the latest phones, others getting deliveries from Deliveroo etc.,

One has to ask - do you know for a fact that these "people eating out with several children" are using food banks? And are they the same people who are getting Deliveroo deliveries?

I ask because if I go into my local McDonald's, I haven't a clue who my fellow diners are, where they live, or how they live. It never surprises me either that there are quite a few children eating with their parents because they (the children) like fast-food and the "happy meal" environment.

??

Doodledog

Grantanow

A stupid post. Go back to school.

What? Whose post is 'stupid'? And why?

How rude!

I think she's critiquing the OP

Thinking of needing referrals to Food Banks. In my town we have Food Banks which do need a referral from professionals but we also have something called a Food Hub.

This is different, where volunteers collect excess/sell by food from supermarkets. After delivering to Food Banks and other charity organisations, what remains is sold for a donation, at regular weekly venues, available to anyone, and saves waste.
Some can feel very humiliated going to a Food Bank, but this offers cheap food without stigma to all comers. There is always a queue when it opens.

MaizieD

Doodledog

Grantanow

A stupid post. Go back to school.

What? Whose post is 'stupid'? And why?

How rude!

I think she's critiquing the OP

Ah, that makes sense. It looked as though it was directed at someone immediately at Rosie or HettyBetty.

swampy I had forgot, the poor should always be grateful, for every crumb that falls from the rich man's table. Given nothing but baked beans one week (would you want to live on baked beans for a week?) how dare anyone complain.

It seems to me that anyone with a plethora of beans would be being sensible by trying to trade some of them for spaghetti so that their diet is more varied.

But, of course, I forget, this lady is poor, she should be effusively grateful for everything she gets, whether she wants it or not.

Very well put MOnica, I was thinking the same.

Sago

We support a local food bank, it does not work on a referral basis.
I’m sure there are people that abuse it but if our contribution means that just one child goes to bed with a full tummy then I don’t care.

Yes. Well said, Sago.

M0nica

swampy I had forgot, the poor should always be grateful, for every crumb that falls from the rich man's table. Given nothing but baked beans one week (would you want to live on baked beans for a week?) how dare anyone complain.

It seems to me that anyone with a plethora of beans would be being sensible by trying to trade some of them for spaghetti so that their diet is more varied.

But, of course, I forget, this lady is poor, she should be effusively grateful for everything she gets, whether she wants it or not.

Well said MOnica.

Monica It seems to me that anyone with a plethora of beans would be being sensible by trying to trade some of them for spaghetti so that their diet is more varied.

But, of course, I forget, this lady is poor, she should be effusively grateful for everything she gets, whether she wants it or not.

👍 Exactly Monica ...equal sarcasm alert BTW! 😏

Forsythia

Having been poor and my parents never had the opportunity of using a food bank, I have every sympathy for those who desperately need that lifeline. I know what it’s like to go hungry as a child, have free school dinners, the works. So I don’t stigmatise those who use them. I think the OP might have expressed her concerns better. I myself wonder when I see segments on TV with women with tattoos, fake nails, the eyebrows, fake eyelashes etc saying they can’t afford to eat, heat their house, feed their kids etc. if that makes me an evil bad person then so be it. I’ve been there, I’ve been hungry, been poor but my mum and dad didn’t have money to waste on unnecessary items. Just my opinion,

I'm with you on this Forsythia, I remember many families who were on free dinners, their fathers sneaking illegally to take coal from the pit tips and balancing sacks on old bicycles to get it home. None of their mothers ever looked or aspired to look like models. Non looked overfed especially the mums. I knew families where the man got the meat and the mother and children the gravy and never want to see it again.
Maybe the OP did not express herself very well, as I said in my earlier post if we owned up a lot of us have wondered at first from their appearance or home why people need to use food banks.

M0nica

swampy I had forgot, the poor should always be grateful, for every crumb that falls from the rich man's table. Given nothing but baked beans one week (would you want to live on baked beans for a week?) how dare anyone complain.

It seems to me that anyone with a plethora of beans would be being sensible by trying to trade some of them for spaghetti so that their diet is more varied.

But, of course, I forget, this lady is poor, she should be effusively grateful for everything she gets, whether she wants it or not.

I wonder if notions about 'the poor' are media-led, or come from simply not understanding what it's like to be poverty stricken - or indeed from thinking (as some do) that nobody is that poor in this country anymore?

I've heard people say things like, "you don't know what real poverty is... and then go on to describe the squalor of some people's lives in countries like India, or on the African continent. Obviously, if you compare someone living life as a beggar on the streets of Bihar or Uttar Pradesh to a family struggling to make ends meet in the UK, the difference is stark. But how does that help? And, anyway, we also have individuals living on the streets. London is full of people sleeping in doorways.

Anyway, poverty is relative to the country you live in.

There's also a difference between the short-lived periods of poverty, and the long-term soul-destroying poverty that grinds you down. With the best will, some people just can't hack life and end up in a downward spiral. I read, some time ago, Jack Monroe's description about her experience. Jack is an intelligent but troubled individual. Some people make bad choices and I think she made a few, but, oh boy, did she ever pay for them! It is well worth the effort to read what she's written. I know about her because I use some of her recipes when I have tinned food sitting in the back of the cupboard - tins of food that on their own are unappealing, but which she can, for pennies, turn into a dish worth eating. And she knows about nutrition and food values, not to mention having priced every ingredient to within an inch of its life...

Her triumphs, and her setbacks, are an eye-opener to anyone who wants to understand poverty in the UK.

Recently we were at a community hub in a very poor area, were there for work purposes.

I asked the vicar who showed us around what was happening to support the community, there were a number of really good schemes but no food bank.
I asked why no food bank, he wanted the funding to help people to learn how to manage their money, he felt food banks were a sticking plaster and massively abused.

I do to a point agree with him but there are so many occasions when they are a lifeline and they will have prevented a lot of people getting involved with the loan sharks who prey on the most vulnerable.

Last Christmas a local factory went up in flames, the staff had nothing and it was to be 6-8 weeks before universal credit kicked in, the food bank we support fed many of these families and kept them going through Christmas.

As I said in an earlier post despite the abuse we have to remember the urgent need of so many.

Therefore but the grace of God go I.

M0nica

swampy I had forgot, the poor should always be grateful, for every crumb that falls from the rich man's table. Given nothing but baked beans one week (would you want to live on baked beans for a week?) how dare anyone complain.

It seems to me that anyone with a plethora of beans would be being sensible by trying to trade some of them for spaghetti so that their diet is more varied.

But, of course, I forget, this lady is poor, she should be effusively grateful for everything she gets, whether she wants it or not.

If we could all have choices then not a problem - but quite honestly would the horse owner not give her kids baked beans if that is literally all that was available just because they were sick of them!! She would rather they went hungry?!! How ridiculous? But if she wants to be ungrateful or thankful that is entirely her choice it's a free country.
This country is a country that allows free speech and the associated freedoms. If that meant that some people were offended by the OPs question then they are free to applaud or condone according to their opinion hopefully without attacking the poster personally.
Unfortunately as we know the world is not a fluffy wuffly place - it has horrible things happening all over and people all with their own struggles but that does not mean that posters need to be silenced because you don't agree with what has been said.
I may not necessarily agree with much that is said by many people and just to be awkward I may even agree with them. But very often they ask the questions that I would like to see answered.

Having a food bank does not preclude other initiatives to help people improve their lot such as money management, CV writing and how to prepare for job interviews to name a few. Our local food bank does all that and it is a food bank plus.
I wonder what evidence the vicar you spoke to has Sago that food banks are “massively abused”?

Dickens Jack Monroe has indeed been very open about her struggles and how poverty grinds you down. She is inspirational but has suffered so much abuse on social media. Once you put yourself out there sadly that is what happens.

There will always be people that play the system but for ever one person that does that there are many that are in desperate need so you have to focus on them.
My Friends neighbour get a taxi to and from the foodbank, he has a bus pass that would take him from the bus stop nearest his house ( 75yds) to the one outside of the foodbank, a bus that he uses at least twice a week. Why does he use the taxi ? I have no idea but the fact he is taking the mick won't stop me donating for those that need it.

grannypiper

There will always be people that play the system but for ever one person that does that there are many that are in desperate need so you have to focus on them.
My Friends neighbour get a taxi to and from the foodbank, he has a bus pass that would take him from the bus stop nearest his house ( 75yds) to the one outside of the foodbank, a bus that he uses at least twice a week. Why does he use the taxi ? I have no idea but the fact he is taking the mick won't stop me donating for those that need it.

Maybe he has an attendance allowance for a disability and he uses that for the taxi - or doesn't want to be seen coming out of the food bank by the people in the bus queue when he joins it?

Or maybe he's just lax with the money he does have and could spend the taxi money on food?

But who knows?

I hope I never end up in the position where I have to use one... I'd be looking over my shoulder all the time wondering if people either despised me for being poor, or thought I was abusing the charity.

I'm more than happy to answer any questions that people need answering about my own time of being offered refferal to a food bank.

Our nearest Foodbank is appealing for (new) hot water bottles, I will be pleased to help with this

grannypiper

There will always be people that play the system but for ever one person that does that there are many that are in desperate need so you have to focus on them.
My Friends neighbour get a taxi to and from the foodbank, he has a bus pass that would take him from the bus stop nearest his house ( 75yds) to the one outside of the foodbank, a bus that he uses at least twice a week. Why does he use the taxi ? I have no idea but the fact he is taking the mick won't stop me donating for those that need it.

I think those "taking the mick" are those who think they know all the ins and outs of other people's situations.

It is good that you still give but you cannot know why he takes a taxi. It could quite easily be the timing of the buses or the ease of bringing his bags home. You do not live his life so please don't judge it.

I find this level of intrusiveness into others' circumstances troubling.

If I thought that a neighbour knew that I was using a food bank, that I has a bus pass, that I used it twice a week, but not on the foodbank day when I took a taxi, and that s/he was discussing all of that with someone else, I would be deeply uncomfortable. Serious question - do people feel the need to know and discuss facts like these about those who are more comfortably off, or is it just the poor whose lives are scrutinised?

Doodledog

I find this level of intrusiveness into others' circumstances troubling.

If I thought that a neighbour knew that I was using a food bank, that I has a bus pass, that I used it twice a week, but not on the foodbank day when I took a taxi, and that s/he was discussing all of that with someone else, I would be deeply uncomfortable. Serious question - do people feel the need to know and discuss facts like these about those who are more comfortably off, or is it just the poor whose lives are scrutinised?

Well said.

I have only known the details of one person in poverty... and that's only because she was in the next bed to me on a hospital ward and chose to tell me.

Otherwise, I haven't a clue about others' daily lives - where they go, what benefits they do or don't receive, etc.

... and if I'm ever in the position to actually know someone who is having a hard time, I hope I'd be charitable enough to help them in any way I could. Without prying into the various aspects of their routines, their budgeting, etc.

Farzanah

Having a food bank does not preclude other initiatives to help people improve their lot such as money management, CV writing and how to prepare for job interviews to name a few. Our local food bank does all that and it is a food bank plus.
I wonder what evidence the vicar you spoke to has Sago that food banks are “massively abused”?

Dickens Jack Monroe has indeed been very open about her struggles and how poverty grinds you down. She is inspirational but has suffered so much abuse on social media. Once you put yourself out there sadly that is what happens.

Jack Monroe has made up quite a bit of stuff. Much of what she has recounted about her life just does not add up.
Of course, I’m not excusing any abuse.

I just wish there had been food banks, hubs - or anything, really - when I was struggling to cope. One grim day (it was a Friday, my day off) I cycled the four miles to Walthamstow market, in the rain, at closing time - with my last fiver - to get a weekend's food for eight. I came back with potatoes, cabbage, onions and rice. We had jacket potatoes, onion curry - and an interesting cabbage/tinned chickpea combination 'stew' that weekend! Monday was Child Benefit day, thank Heavens!

Anyone can have a short period of financial embarrassment due to some unexpected expense or domestic disaster. Still, I can't begin to describe (for people with no idea) the difference long-term poverty makes. We manage, even cope well, day to day - then, suddenly, somebody needs new shoes, the cat is ill - or your purse is stolen. I really yelled at my son when he lost his PE kit, again - and they all pretended it was fine, when I burnt their dinner. A window got broken (£85, emergency glazing) - oh, yes, I remember it all so well!

*Jack Monroe has made up quite a bit of stuff. Much of what she has recounted about her life just does not add up.
Of course, I’m not excusing any abuse*
She’s nothing but a grifter .

Her life story is contradictory, her claims (eg making shampoo out of bits of soap) are ridiculous, and her constant asking for money from people who have none is exploitative IMO. She appears to have MH issues- accusing Jamie Oliver of ‘stealing’ what she sees as her idea of making cheap meals seems delusional- and I used to feel a tiny bit sorry for her, but her behaviour over lockdown (claiming to have lost £££ and demanding furlough, when she works from home and could do so throughout, then adding a ‘give me money’ link to every tweet) was the final straw.

FC is right - there is never an excuse for abuse, but I’m amazed that HMRC hasn’t taken an interest in her.