Food banks

I remember watching the series Kathy Burke did about money - one was about a foodbank, and the man who helped run that particular one addressed that issue very well. He said if he could help someone out with food and that meant, for example, that a woman could treat herself to a manicure or similar and give herself a boost which would help her, mentally, to carry on for the rest of that week, then he had done a good job.

It is Christmas so I guess it’s Scrooge having another pop at the undeserving poor, before he reaches enlightenment and is able to rest in peace again.
Happy Christmas everyone 🎅

why would you begrudge a child a meal - read the above posts and find something better to do than troll - volunteer at a foodbank maybe

i donate to a foodbank that is non referral, the couple who started it hated to see people have to sit with the tickets waiting to get food, they take anything from food to clothes, the people who go don't go because they can, they go because they don't have a choice, they whisper to the helpers " do you have something i can give my children for a birthday gift" can you imagine having to do that. while visiting my dad a friend of his who has 2 children he sees at the weekends, i gave home £10 pound to take his kids to mcdonalds and he burst into tears. he helps out all through the winter in the local homeless unit and any extra food he is given at the end of the day he hands out to people living on the streets. he needs a phone as he has to log so many hours looking for a job or his benefits get cut. my mum gets her hair cut at the local training college free but she always gives in £20 and that can go towards things that other people might need but can't afford.
so armynanny next time you are out and if you can afford it stick a few tins/packets in the foodbank and think yourself lucky that you don't need to go to a foodbank and don't judge someone who has maybe skipped meals so she can TREAT her kids to a cheap happy meal.

Armynanny

Just wondering if food banks encourage those who are less well off to spend their money on things like McDonalds, the latest iPhone, having nail/hair extensions, with the view of well it doesn’t matter if I spend money on these I can go to the food bank to get our food? 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.,

Wonder no more Armynanny. You have your answer from the posts above.

Why are people so judgmental and uncharitable?

No, why are SOME people so ignorant. To make a post like the above without checking your facts, finding out how Food Banks work, most of all assuming that if you see someone in McDonalds with a smart phone or hair extensions, they are also getting food from a Food Bank. On what basis(if any) are these conclusions reached?

Actually this post is so ignorant, I actually think it is a send up, a sophisticated version of the mothers and plimsoll stories that used to flood the site when the school holidays started.

Aspen

Who or what is OP?

It means the Original Poster - the person who started the thread.

Nice thoughts for christmas Armynanny... not

Who or what is OP?

You dont just choose to go and get your shopping for free every week from a food bank. To use them a voucher has to be obtained, many foodbanks are only open on certain days, difficult when having to work. The food is usually quite basic with a lot of tinned food as it can be heated quicker saving energy.

If you see a lot of people eating out with hair extensions, nice nails or phones why do you assume they use a foodbank any way?

You come across as rather judgemental and uncharitable.

May I just state 'the bleeding obvious'? Family A are out having lunch with their children, Family B are at home wondering what on earth they are going to give their children for dinner. Likewise, I am fortunate enough to be able to put the heating on because I am cold; this does not prevent me from knowing that others of my age are not able to do so.

In every town there are plenty of people out and about - at McDonald's with iPhones and polished nails. I wouldn't know an iPhone from another phone - however, I see people all around with mobiles, I assume at some cost. I see people wandering in and out of cafes, I assume eating - at some cost.

How people spend their available funds is a mystery. That people spend unnecessarily, is odd to me, but only me.

We don't get to dictate spending by our own children over 18 - why would a foodbank choose how people spend their money?

I suspect OP doesn't have insight into foodbanks.

I think the people that start threads like these are projecting their own feelings on to the people who use food banks. As if they are thinking that because they themselves would behave in a certain way to get what they wanted, then other people are all like them.

grannyactivist

Armynanny

Perhaps you don’t quite understand how foodbanks work. People can’t just rock up and expect to be given food. In my town they are referred by GPs, health visitors, welfare staff at schools, social workers and council staff etc., who, having identified that a family is in crisis, issue them with a food bank voucher that entitles them to receive a foodbank parcel of three days’ non-perishable food. Just three days of basics.

I’ve been involved with foodbanks for many, many years and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve experienced someone trying to game the system.

People may have had a reasonable standard of living, during which they bought a nice car and a pricey phone, before falling on hard times. A smartphone is vital for anyone receiving benefits - it’s the means by which people enter information into their compulsory journal if claiming Universal Credit.

People who use foodbanks do sometimes have families and friends who may treat them to a manicure, a hairdo - or yes, even a trip to MacDonalds. I keep a stash of cinema tickets to hand out to people who need a little uplift and I’m gutted to think that someone may be querying how they can afford a cinema trip when they need to use the foodbank.

OP, here is your answer.

Why are people so judgmental and uncharitable?

Quite, grannyactivist. I once arranged for a couple of bags of food for an independently living student (17 years old) who was broke. It took two weeks to get the authorisation through and for her to get the food. I'd have thought contact from her school tutor would be good enough, but no.

Armynanny

Perhaps you don’t quite understand how foodbanks work. People can’t just rock up and expect to be given food. In my town they are referred by GPs, health visitors, welfare staff at schools, social workers and council staff etc., who, having identified that a family is in crisis, issue them with a food bank voucher that entitles them to receive a foodbank parcel of three days’ non-perishable food. Just three days of basics.

I’ve been involved with foodbanks for many, many years and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve experienced someone trying to game the system.

People may have had a reasonable standard of living, during which they bought a nice car and a pricey phone, before falling on hard times. A smartphone is vital for anyone receiving benefits - it’s the means by which people enter information into their compulsory journal if claiming Universal Credit.

People who use foodbanks do sometimes have families and friends who may treat them to a manicure, a hairdo - or yes, even a trip to MacDonalds. I keep a stash of cinema tickets to hand out to people who need a little uplift and I’m gutted to think that someone may be querying how they can afford a cinema trip when they need to use the foodbank.

Yup, I think you've nailed it Galaxy.

Galaxy

You dont get the same class of trolls anymore.

Agree

One cannot wander into a food bank and ask for a bag of food- it does not happen that way. Also I believe one can only go a few times a year.

There are many people with children who are well able to afford a trip to Mcdonald's and we rarely know if it is a weekly or an annual treat.

It is very easy to jump to the wrong conclusions.

You dont get the same class of trolls anymore.

Deep sigh

I know there are people who think along those lines, but you've overplayed your hand, OP 😂

Madgran77

*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.,*

And what exactly suggests that any of these people eating out with their fancy phones have anything to do with a Food Bank then?

Came on to say exactly this.

I wouldn’t be able to recognise ‘the latest phone’. My granddaughter’s looks very similar to mine which looks almost identical to my son’s rand new superdooper phone.