Welcome to Britain’s Victorian Christmas……..

I think most if not all countries in Europe have food banks these days, so the OP is wrong if she/he thinks it’s just Britain.

Casdon

It’s not the existence of foodbanks at all that’s so much of a concern to me as the growth in the number of them, driven by demand as more and more people live on the breadline.
‘Trussell Trust, which support the largest network food banks in the UK, had around 35 food bank centres in 2010/11, 650 in 2013/14 and nearly 1300 in 2019/20 [1, 2]. (By food bank centres we mean individual venues.’
pure.hw.ac.uk › files
Something has gone badly wrong when so many need them.

With very mixed emotions I say isn't it better that we have so many foodbanks? When there were only 35 in 2010/11 that would surely mean that the majority of the country couldn't easily access one. In my area there are quite a few Trussell Trust ones in various locations, but each is only open on one day a week. I'd rather nobody was ever in need of a foodbank, but there must have been people who could have benefitted before they came into existence who just went hungry. As far as I'm aware Trussell Trust only accepts non perishable food, definitely the case in my area. We have a large depot from which the curated supplies are sent out to the hubs on their operating days.

Keeping-quiet I m not naive very far from it obviously I can’t comment on other shops only the ones I ve worked in but you are using charity shops as a whole not saying perhaps it happens in some charity shops and all the ones I ve had experience with you have to PAY for your purchases we DO NOT cream stuff off and I find it offensive that you suggest it’s normal to do that

I agree Bluebelle the charity shop I volunteer in ensures that staff buy goods, no one is allowed to just help themselves. Some of the staff go over and above what is expected of them - I have regularly taken home perfectly good clothes that wouldn't sell because they have a stain on. I launder them and take them back to the shop. Not everyone is on the make, there are still plenty of people who genuinely want to help. Our shop made £59,000 profit last year, so buying from charity shops is a lucrative way of making money for charities.

I don’t think it’s just Britain that has food banks Oreo. I’m not naive.

However Britain is where and I live and what concerns me. I think food banks are merely a symptom of a Britain that is failing its citizens. A destructive Neoliberal economic ideology which has been embraced since Thatcher by successive governments, has meant an over emphasis on free markets and minimal regulation, privatisation and a stepping away from doing the things which support the well being of its citizens and a healthy society.

CurlyWhirly
Same here. I wash clothes, I repair them. I buy Cushion infills and piping to make cushions from material that would go into rag.
I collect and deliver donations. My partner does small repair jobs in our shop.

Thanks curlywhirly I often take things home to wash as do my colleagues I work in the children’s section and often get beautiful warm coats but mucky cuffs I can’t let them be thrown out so they go home into my washing machine We all go over and above and I feel really upset that people think all charity shop workers are on the make

I think most of us know they're not, Bluebelle and others.

As for volunteers taking fresh food home from food banks - the food banks I know of do not take fresh food.
In some areas there are community fridges which take surplus fresh food from supermarkets and local producers. Anyone can collect this food, the aim is to help prevent food waste. If anything would be thrown out because it's left over is it not better it is distributed to the community rather than binned?

'Warm spaces' run by volunteers here offer baked goods given by a local supermarket, to go with the tea and coffee they make for anyone who would like to go there.

I am saddened to read that anyone would believe that when I volunteer at the local foodbank, as I have today, that I would take food given by the donors intended for the recipients.

keepingquiet

I agree. I used to put items in the food bank collection when shopping but I stopped a few years ago.

We have a new community store opened locally but hardly anyone uses it because it doesn't really sell stuff people need, just excess items the supermarkets can't sell.

I have become as cynical about them as I have about charity shops- the volunteers taking items home and selling them on e-bay.

I do wonder if food banks are like this too- how much of the produce actually gets to the invisible needy?

I know someone who worked full time but whose neighbour brought him sausages and bacon every week from the local food-bank where he was a volunteer.

It is about time we got to the bottom of what is really going on.

Controvesial I know, but I know of a 14 year old who was volunteering.

He stopped as he got disallusioned.
He said people were coming in with mobile phones that were better than his.
Plus had their nails done, and hair coloured.

I dont much doubt there are some genuine people in need.

Not going to write any more as I am pretty sure all this has been discussed everywhere, many times before.
With much the same things being said each time.

Just writing a recent perspective of what happened locally.

Well I jjust agree with the OP. No matter who ends up using (abusing?) them, no-one should have to rely on food banks in the UK in the 21st century. They are so Victorian.

We have four food banks within two miles. What amazes me is that most of the people who go to them are middle aged and drive cars. How can these people afford cars but appear rely on food banks something is definitely wrong.

keepingquiet

I just want to respond as I think as often happens some people have misunderstood my meaning.

Why do we need food banks? The simple answer is we don't- I am sure they began with the coalition governments austerity measures and so put pressure on those with not very much to help those with very little whilst, as some have said, the rich got richer. The inequalities in our society are rising and giving a few packets of pasta bought in a supermarket where the CEO is a billionairre is the ultimate irony.
Who helps out the poor here? The not so better off.

Charity shops are a different matter because they serve a number of useful purposes- but I feel people are a little naive in thinking some contributions are not creamed off.

How to we care better for our society? Consider that we are only as rich as our poorest citizen and stop looking at the very rich as the ones we should be raising up.

The only place I look for evil motives, as some claim, are with those who keep their riches close to their own chests whilst expecting the poor to keep the poor fed.

What kind of country have we become?

The first food bank in the UK was started in 1994, under a Labour Gov and one year after Germany. To provide food for the homeless, not those that are kept in poverty by low wages, greedy landlords and housing developers.

Why wouldn't an adult have a better phone than a 14 year old?
It's not necessary to wear patched trousers and a potato sack in order to find yourself in need of help.

Who are these people that go week after week to food banks? As far as I'm aware Trussell Trust food banks usually require a referral from a recognised source, and that will be valid for up to 3 or 4 weeks. It's a short term support not a lifestyle. I'd hope if my world suddenly collapsed from under me that there'd be a place I could go to get enough food to keep me and my family going until government support kicked in. Nobody is immune from needing help during their lifetime. Those of us that have never had to resort to such desperate measures should thank our lucky stars!

Australia has 3 million people described as living in poverty which is disgraceful. For the UK to claim 15 million it is hard to believe. I think that is incredible and wonder why. Perhaps the definitions vary? Our local town has a place where people in need can get a free meal and numbers are rising which is alarming. In the city we never used to come across people living rough but over the last few years a few are turning up, especially since Covid. Nothing like the scale of some other countries but it is there. Not so much young ones, more middle aged.

MissAdventure

Why wouldn't an adult have a better phone than a 14 year old?
It's not necessary to wear patched trousers and a potato sack in order to find yourself in need of help.

True, but there’s also an old saying about “cutting your coat according to your cloth”

Asset rich, money poor.

MissAdventure

Why wouldn't an adult have a better phone than a 14 year old?
It's not necessary to wear patched trousers and a potato sack in order to find yourself in need of help.

What is it about phones, nails and tattoos that riles people of a certain mindset when it comes to those who claim anything?

It used to be flat screen TVs that got the flak, but the realisation that it's all but impossible to buy a curved screen on now seems to have finally caught on. I'm a lover of gadgets, but I would struggle to identify 'the latest iPhone' in a lineup, so there must be some eagle-eyed types scrutinising the phones of others in the queue at the foodbank.

It has been said often, but to reiterate - if someone is claiming unemployment benefit they have to be contactable, and have to prove that they have researched the job market and applied for work. To do this, they need a gadget of some kind, and a phone is often the cheapest and most versatile.

Also, in many families, someone (probably in work) gets a new phone and passes the old one to a family member. The trade-in rewards aren't high, so it's worth it. What people see as someone having 'the latest iPhone' may well be a hand me down, and why not? Isn't it better to pass things on than to put them in landfill in case an 'unworthy' recipient gets pleasure from them?

'Nail technicians' are not particularly well-paid, and many will live as neighbours with the people getting criticised for having their nails done. If they paint a friend's nails in return for babysitting or whatever, isn't that just a case of the neighbourliness that is often seen as lost and lamented? The days when those who had little 'looked after one another'?

I agree that you don't need to be scruffy just because you don't have a lot - in fact looking as good as possible is often very important to the hard-up. It's about pride. It was always the case that working class women had their hair done every week and scrubbed their doorsteps so that outward appearances were maintained, even if there was limited money in private. Fancy nails are just the modern equivalent of a shampoo and set, or a beehive hairstyle. Fashion. Why do people resent it so much?

If it was my 14 year old, the little prig would be getting a good dressing down if he was bleating about someone's phone.

Phones have to be paid for and charged so I can understand why, when you are very poor and don’t have enough food to eat, you might get questioned for being able to pay for one- particularly if it is a very up to date one. After the war when we were poor we didn’t have phones - not until the late 1960s when things eased up a bit. All our money went on food and the house. We certainly didn’t own a tv.

How does someone who seems to be homeless and living in a tent recharge their mobile phone and post on the internet?
Serious question.
Thank you

Allira

How does someone who seems to be homeless and living in a tent recharge their mobile phone and post on the internet?
Serious question.
Thank you

I guess they use the mobile phone charging port lockers that are in shopping centres?

No idea.
Perhaps shelters and drop in places provide the means?
Because unless someone is totally non existent to the powers that be, they will need a phone.

nanna8

Phones have to be paid for and charged so I can understand why, when you are very poor and don’t have enough food to eat, you might get questioned for being able to pay for one- particularly if it is a very up to date one. After the war when we were poor we didn’t have phones - not until the late 1960s when things eased up a bit. All our money went on food and the house. We certainly didn’t own a tv.

Food banks are to help people over a rough time.
I was asked if I needed a referral to one, not because I was living in a box on the street.

I lived where I am now, with my tv, central heating, and everything g else.

The fact was that I was too unwell to work and had no money at all coming in