DH is using community pantry for free food

I mean there is nothing wrong with having two aims but to go to the extent that you don’t even tell your volunteers what your real aims are seems almost unbelievable. I guess there is no real way of knowing though if someone posting online is genuine or just saying what suits them to give support to their own argument. Obviously that applies to me and anyone else who mentions they or a friend or a relative volunteers too 🤷🏼‍♀️

its all quite disingenuous.

I’ve read all of them. You seem to be saying both that you say you are combating stigma by mentioning it’s about food waste in your advertising and that to get funding you have to say you are working to combat food waste as that’s what funding is available for. Really though you want to combat food poverty and everyone should infer that and understand you have to say it’s about combating food waste to get the funds. Then the interaction with someone who works for a different branch is suggesting you even recruit volunteers to work for you on the basis you are working to reduce food waste but really you want to do something else and you don’t even tell them that. It just sounds a bit implausible honestly. My husband volunteers for our local one predominantly on the basis he’s a keen environmentalist and reducing food waste is something he genuinely cares about. If it’s not really operating for that purpose maybe he’d rather volunteer somewhere else that’s more closely aligned with his goals and than somewhere where the family & friends he’s encouraging to use the service are in fact unwelcome and sneered at for believing the local hub when it says it’s committed to reducing food waste.

This doesn't sound like what most people here are talking about.
Most are not actively fundraising/registered charities - they are run entirely by volunteers. They only offer food, not classes etc and they do supervise what individuals take.

Our one is only open for a couple of hours a day (different time every day...they post on FB), and very likely is inaccessible for those most in need, but that's just how it is at the moment. I've said upthread that they are considering registering as a charity - maybe it will then open at more regular times and reach more people who would benefit most.

Are you working with your food bank to make it more accessible to the 95% of your clients? Why does going to your hub not have the same stigma as going to the food bank?

Food banks more often have long-life items like tinned goods, packets, etc. and are short on fresh foods. They can also be difficult to access (some are by referral from statutory agencies) and only provide food for 2 or 3 days. The ones in my area limit provision to 3 times a year, so they are only really good for emergency rations, not ongoing food poverty. A lot of people therefore rely on getting fresh food, and sometimes tins etc., if they're lucky, from food pantries. Those usually say they are to cut down on food waste, which is great, but people who rely on them to feed themselves and their children end up without if people who can afford food take the goodies instead. Whatever the scheme is called.

Tell you husband to volunteer there for a couple of months as payback for all the freebies, to see who is using it. He may then understand that there are many desperate people who need it more for survival than he needs his 'bargain rush'. He can get that elsewhere.

I agree it depends on whether he's taking food intended for people that are struggling or whether he's reducing food waste by buying end of life food that would've otherwise been wasted. What's the general demographic of the other users?

@XenoBitch

Sorry, that's a "yes and no" to all of what you wrote, not directly as a response to "would I be judged if I turned up for the first time".

No. You wouldn't.

In a way it is good that he shows that the food there isn't beneath him and that the high earners are happy to eat it.

It depends on what is the local demography. If there are many struggling families around, it would be better if the food was for them first. If there is enough to support the local poor people, than it is really about reducing food waste, and more affluent people joining in, getting some food from time to time and donating a bit of money to the charity will do more good than not going there at all.

Try reading my last post.

So just so I have this clear. Your organisation lies to the people who provide them donations (& funding) about what their charitable goals are and you work for them and are comfortable sharing that on a social media site? Just that sounds odd.

Yes and no.

We run slow cooker workshops. We run "grow your own" schemes. The funding bids say how important it is to combat social isolation and build community spirit. We have CAB too. The food hub is a tiny bit of a large charity I run. We host the NHS, local authorities, banking pop ups, all sorts. We've got a community allotment, gardens, all sorts.

Yes, on paper that's what the food hubs are. And yes, to get the money in, you create things these courses. And 5% of the users are there to be shown how to make a stew, and they wouldn't be there at all if they weren't getting a free slow cooker at the end of it. But they do. And it's nice. And the funders get their pictures.

95% of our users need food because they don't want to be seen at a food bank. That's not to say they don't recognise that they are also reducing food waste, but that's more of a coincidental benefit, and a helpful disguise for why they are there.

We actually had to move our community fridge because some greedy women who went to a morning "legs bums and tums" class would grab anything they could on their way past. They would clean it out, every week on that particular day. Having just paid £10 for a leisure class, at a time most people in work, would be working, they'd shamelessly stuff their bags, out of view. Then, someone else who'd been working all day, on minimum wage, struggling, would come in at 5pm, need food, and there would be none.

We support just under 6,000 people in our area.

Community pantry’s are for everyone and everyone has the right to help prevent food waste.

food banks are for people who are struggling and I think you need some proof? I’m not sure though and apologies for my ignorance. I’m in a fortunate position not to have needed one yet.

I think as long as he’s being sensible and not rushing in and taking it all(!!) then it’s fine!

Yes, I've been involved from the very beginning and we've been going for nearly 10 years now.

I appreciate it's area dependent and varies from Fridge to Fridge, but we're able to cover costs from financial donatione from our visitors so haven't needed to write a funding bid apart from the one written to set the Fridge up.

I think people are not understanding that this is not a food bank but a zero waste place to stop food going to landfill. We have one locally and they often still have food left at the end of the day, its for everyone and the aim is to cut food waste

That doesn't sound like what OP's husband went to, nor all the other community pantries most other posters are describing.

For those who like a bargain, try Discount Dragon. The food isn't that healthy (no fresh food), but if you look regularly there are things you might want. I got a big box of free Mars bars today, I won't eat them, but I'll take them into work nearer Christmas.
Not just food.

I find this unacceptable.

I'm not sure what's funny about that. Your organisation has chosen to join a scheme that doesn't align with its aims. Manage it better or put up with the community using the community fridge.

Christ. Not everyone who receives a benefit is in poverty.
Food banks have systems in place (including salaried positions) to ensure those most in need have enough to eat. Food hubs are not there to meet this need.

I walked past our local community fridge last week and they were offering bags of carrots and apples to passers-by - they said they’d had a huge delivery of them from a local allotment group.

I took a bag of each but I now know I am an child-starving deviant.

Thanks. I was intending to tomorrow but it turns out they will closed (it is in a church and a funeral will be taking place).

Ours is open to anyone. They all are.

We once had 49 crates of courgettes that would have been mush within 24 hours, so yes you definitely get gluts of things and you can barely give the things away. We have a local supermarket who gives us stuff that half of it, is so it doesn't take up room, rotting in their bins costing them more money to be collected by a waste disposal firm. It's just how the system works.

I appreciate your viewpoint, but I think you would perhaps be surprised to hear how the cogs turn in the background. Are you part of writing the funding bids? Thank you for volunteering though, we couldn't run without you guys and we are eternally grateful for your dedication.

We would welcome you at ours.

Please visit your local one and talk to the volunteers.

@FortnumsWeddingBreakfastTeaPlease

Well, I am confused.
My local one says several times on their site that it is open to everyone. They also offer courses in cooking, English for non-speakers, CAB drop in etc.

But from what some people are saying on here, they are actually foodbanks and people not in need should not be going to them?
Surely if that is the case, they need to make it very clear with their marketing. Hidden meanings don't help at all.

I have never been to one. Am I going to get judgemental looks and whispers looks from the volunteers because they assume I am "grabby" and just after bargains because they have not seen me before?

That’s disgusting behaviour