Food banks

JaneJudge

You can contribute pet food to the food bank too. I don't want to deprive poor people of pets. There is loads of evidence to suggest how having pets has a positive impact on people's mental health and well being.

Our FB has a big box of various pet foods for people to take if they need it. I can think of nothing worse than having to hand over a pet to a rescue because I couldn't afford to feed it

ExDancer

My grand daughter has a pony which she keeps in a DIY livery yard. It costs a fortune.
One of the other owners brought a 4/pack of baked beans into the brew-room which she'd got in her box from the food bank. Her kids were sick of beans she's said, and she wondered if she could swap them for spaghetti instead.
I agree with OP - these banks are being misused.
And before you reply asking me do I want the child's beloved pony taken away from her - well no, but most people can't afford a pony in the first place, so don't use food banks either.
Think about it.
Its stopped me putting items in the box at the supermarket exit.

Frankly, I don't believe this story. Shame on you for passing it on

I donate to our local food bank every week, where I know that all of the shoppers are carefully vetted regularly to ensure they are entitled. I’m sure many of them would love to have the latest phones, meals out etc. but that’s not how it works. Ps. It’s the season of goodwill to all men!

M0nica

swampy1961 But surely you should also be convinced that the situation is as presented.

As I posted in my last post (just above yours) all we know is that someone with a horse at a stable was receiving food from a Food bank. We do not know who was paying their livery bills. it probably wasn't them. Someone else may have been doing it until the family got on their feet again.

Fair comment - but I certainly wouldn't be ungrateful enough to complain about Baked Beans again!! That to me smacks of ungratefulness and rudeness!!

M0nica

swampy1961 But surely you should also be convinced that the situation is as presented.

As I posted in my last post (just above yours) all we know is that someone with a horse at a stable was receiving food from a Food bank. We do not know who was paying their livery bills. it probably wasn't them. Someone else may have been doing it until the family got on their feet again.

This is what I was trying to get at. Thanks M0nica
This is why in our town we try not to distinguish between people's needs and hopefully are not judgemental.
The food bank has a community fridge where anyone can help themselves to up to 5 items daily. It's to save this food from ending up in land fill. I often check it out

JaneJudge

You can contribute pet food to the food bank too. I don't want to deprive poor people of pets. There is loads of evidence to suggest how having pets has a positive impact on people's mental health and well being.

I give cat food to ours. It's the el cheapo stuff (which is what my moggies get). But yes, people have pets before they fall on hard times.

swampy1961 But surely you should also be convinced that the situation is as presented.

As I posted in my last post (just above yours) all we know is that someone with a horse at a stable was receiving food from a Food bank. We do not know who was paying their livery bills. it probably wasn't them. Someone else may have been doing it until the family got on their feet again.

ExDancer

My grand daughter has a pony which she keeps in a DIY livery yard. It costs a fortune.
One of the other owners brought a 4/pack of baked beans into the brew-room which she'd got in her box from the food bank. Her kids were sick of beans she's said, and she wondered if she could swap them for spaghetti instead.
I agree with OP - these banks are being misused.
And before you reply asking me do I want the child's beloved pony taken away from her - well no, but most people can't afford a pony in the first place, so don't use food banks either.
Think about it.
Its stopped me putting items in the box at the supermarket exit.

It is exactly this situation that makes me wonder if some peoples need is as great as they make it out to be.
Sadly foodbanks are a very necessary help for some people but their pride won't allow them to let their families go hungry.
But sadly life does have the people who will always take what they can get without actually considering the need to forgo something else first such as Nails, Going to the pub, takeaways etc.
I used to drop the odd quid in a beggars hat until I realised he was taking turns with others!! I was being made a mug of - so soon stopped that!!
I used to work in a Bursaries office where applications had to provide evidence and some of the bank accounts had £1000's more than I could ever hope to even earn - so I'm with OP and ExDancer - I need to be convinced if I'm to be parted from what used to be my hard earned wages/now pension!!

The horse was probably owned from the time when the family were much better off. Being rich, or poor is not necessarily a life time situation.

By the way Ex-Dancer, did you confirm that this lady was paying her own livery fees? Because, it is possible that they were being paid by someone else, probably a family member, until this lady is back on her feet again and a child need not lose a beloved horse.

When we were going through a jobless period, an aunt offered to pay the children's school fees, until we were on our feet again. Fortunately DH was soon back in work, so it wasn't necessary, but we in our turn have offered to pay for all DGC's extra-curricular activities if DS and family have any problems.

You should never leap to judgements until you have carefully checked all the facts.

Before everyone jumps down the OP's throat, they just wanted to start a conversation.
There are people who spoil it for others in every corner of society. I dislike this "Holier than thou" mentality which plagues these threads.
None of us are perfect.
Years ago there was a celebrity called Lady Isobel Barnet. An aristocratic lady who was rather amusing and witty.

I remember her on a a chat show talking about the poor and how wasteful and profligate they were. How she could feed a family on very little and indeed her sister or someone close to her did.
This was the same woman who was caught shoplifting (she was a kleptomaniac) and committed suicide because of her shame.

ExDancer

My grand daughter has a pony which she keeps in a DIY livery yard. It costs a fortune.
One of the other owners brought a 4/pack of baked beans into the brew-room which she'd got in her box from the food bank. Her kids were sick of beans she's said, and she wondered if she could swap them for spaghetti instead.
I agree with OP - these banks are being misused.
And before you reply asking me do I want the child's beloved pony taken away from her - well no, but most people can't afford a pony in the first place, so don't use food banks either.
Think about it.
Its stopped me putting items in the box at the supermarket exit.

You say "think about it". I don't think I can say most of what I am thinking.

But do tell me why you think it is wrong for the person to see if she could get some variety for her children. Exactly what harm is she doing? It seems the help she is getting is enabling your entitled vision of life.

CatsCatsCats

Ziplok

Strange the OP has never been back …

I would have been surprised if she had been back given the insults that have been flung in her direction.

Why couldn't people have enlightened the OP to how food banks work, without all the nasty comments?

The OP might have been remembering when people could and did exploit 'the system'.

Well you would have to be rather naïve to think it was an honest enquiry.

You can contribute pet food to the food bank too. I don't want to deprive poor people of pets. There is loads of evidence to suggest how having pets has a positive impact on people's mental health and well being.

How blinkered of you to stop contributing to food banks based on one horse owner.

Not many horses in inner London, so I'm happy in the knowledge that 95% of my donations are likely to go to someone in need.

Geez, I wonder what planet I'm on sometimes!

My grand daughter has a pony which she keeps in a DIY livery yard. It costs a fortune.
One of the other owners brought a 4/pack of baked beans into the brew-room which she'd got in her box from the food bank. Her kids were sick of beans she's said, and she wondered if she could swap them for spaghetti instead.
I agree with OP - these banks are being misused.
And before you reply asking me do I want the child's beloved pony taken away from her - well no, but most people can't afford a pony in the first place, so don't use food banks either.
Think about it.
Its stopped me putting items in the box at the supermarket exit.

Why couldn't people have enlightened the OP to how food banks work, without all the nasty comments?

Some people have!

We have a community lunch each week. It's run by volunteers and there is no charge . Anyone can go. I go. I put a donation in the pot towards buying next week's supplies. It's 3 courses and we get around 40 people each week. Some Ukrainian families come as do people from the homeless hostel and those like me who live alone.
My hope is that people will chat and enjoy the themselves. Unfortunately my middle class friends don't join because they say they can afford to eat so don't need charity. The don't understand it's for everyone.

Ziplok

Strange the OP has never been back …

I would have been surprised if she had been back given the insults that have been flung in her direction.

Why couldn't people have enlightened the OP to how food banks work, without all the nasty comments?

The OP might have been remembering when people could and did exploit 'the system'.

Unbelievable. Except it isn't. In the 1930s and 40s a government with huge economic problems picked a group and "othered" them.

The Germans far-right falsely accused Jews of causing Germany’s social, economic, political, and cultural problems. Some German's supported this. Apparently, nothing has changed except it is now the UK othering the poor.

It's as Granny23 says about older well to do Men collecting from the food bank to deliver to people in need, we should never judge a book by it's cover. Even if a person looks well to do it does not mean that they are in today's economic climate. I agree it is a very ill timed and insensitive post by armynanny at this time.

If taken seriously, Mcdonalds has a 99p menu, so I suppose a family of four could have a cheeseburger each as a treat? It's hardly throwing the boat out

Lady of the Manor looking down her nose at the peasants.

Strange the OP has never been back …

Is the OP serious - it's almost a bingo-card of judgemental perceptions about food banks and the people who use them?

Eating fast food, nail / hair extensions, the latest iPhone (hands up all those that would even recognise the latest iPhone!)... all that was missing was the huge flat-screen TV and the flashy car parked outside.

When people talk about those visiting food banks as if they were just popping into Sainsbury's - to get free food... you know you are dealing with individuals who don't have a clue.

And why the assumption that families with young children eating in McDonalds are visiting foodbanks anyway? As for the Deliveroo deliveries, my sitting room looks out on to the main street and I haven't a clue who gets deliveries of what, or when.

It's all so ridiculous that I've got to assume it's a wind-up... surely no-one can be that ignorant?

Perhaps if the OP volunteered at one they would understand.