I manage a food bank... AMA!

[FoodBankManager]

Hi all,

I run a food bank as part of my job. We have recently opened up our community shop, too, which means people who have received emergency food parcels can pay £3 per week to choose items for 3 months to help them get back on their feet.

AMA!

That's good to hear 😁 more reasons to shop at Morrisons! (They should bring that back 🤣)

If I donate a large bag/box of tea is it split into smaller bags or does one person get the lot?

It's preselected. Our volunteers might ask what flavour soup they want or if they want white or brown bread, but generally they get what they are given. They get 3 days of food and a suggested meal plan. (The food will last more than 3 days however!)

So for a single person will get something like:

Cereal
UHT milk
Loaf of bread
Soup
Beans
Tinned or fresh fruit/veg
Tinned or fresh potatoes
Pasta or rice
Tinned meals (ie stew or chili con carne)
Tin of tomatoes
A snack such as crisps/biscuits
Rice pudding/ custard
Tea bag

So that would be cereal for breakfast, soup/beans on toast for lunch, evening meals of pasta and tomatoes, pasta and chili, potatoes and stew, plus snacks.

Yes! That would be lovely for our community shop.

Sometimes we create recipe bags up too (we had about 20 jars of chili powder donated and we always haved mixed beans so one of our volunteers wrote a recipe for mixed bean chili and asked everyone to try and make it)

In the nicest possible way, how do we make you redundant?

You're very welcome!

We are independent so can do exactly what we want how we want. There aren't any Trussell Trust ones near to us but I might see if I can seek one out and ask to visit to see how they run as a few people have said that :)

We'd split , anything like that, wash powder, pasta, tea bags etc and photo copy the label(with non food but especially food items so people know what they are getting/to obey food guidelines)

I've spent the last 90 minutes answering some fab questions, thank you so much for the intrigue and support!

I'm going to bed (and my phone is about to die) but I'll be back tomorrow then answer some more questions 😊

Have you ever worked in politics? As you've not answered I'm going to assume that after 3 months if a recipient has not been able to sort out their difficulties then they're on their own. I hope the other agencies involved are able to give them continuing assistance even if you are not able to.

What a sorry state the country is in. Not only do people have to rely on charity there are so many that need charity that they can only help people for a finite amount of time before they are left with not even the work house to fall back on.

Thanks for responding to my supermarket question, it’s great that supermarkets also donate on top of that. Sometimes there are several trolleys loaded up in my Asda and I had wondered what the mechanism was for getting it there.
I’ll definitely add some more bits next time I’m in, including washing up liquid!

You say workhouse like it's a good thing..?

@SnackyOnassis Depressing isn't it? When the workhouse seems better than what we have now. What does happen to the people who fall through the massive holes in our safety nets?

I'm a registered referrer to Trussell Trust food banks and they are more of an emergency provider than a long term resource for families. After the first four visits from someone I've referred, I will need to make a case for them to continue to get help.

This is not a criticism of them in any way. The TT is an umbrella organisation that enables very small groups to provide food, that wouldn't be able to do so without a large organisation supporting them. So there would be far, far fewer food banks without them. And of course these small organisations don't have the resources to support increasing numbers of customers for very long periods.

I'm also interested in what happens after three months, I also volunteer in a FB and we support people for many, many years ... there doesn't seem to be any 'quick fix'. As FB volunteers our role is to distribute food ...but more and more we seem to be picking up the pieces from under resourced social services and other 'professional' agencies. It's such a difficult position and I feel too much is left for well meaning, but basically unqualified, volunteers to try to deal with.

If you don't mind me asking - what is the issue with Trussell Trust? I donate regularly, so interested tonhear your perspective.

A lot of people have some prejudice against the Trussell Trust as it is a religious charity. I'm not religious, so any defence of them on my part is quite independent.

The food banks themselves do not carry any religious baggage with them at all, though many are located in church halls.

What the TT does as an umbrella organisation is hugely valuable. People in need cannot travel far because they can't afford the bus fare. So it's important that there are as many food banks in as many locations as possible. But running a food bank isn't easy. The TT provides a template and the technology for very small groups to open and be supported practically, legally and technologically by the trust. So it's the nearest thing to a charitable franchise, if that makes sense.

The size of each individual group has its drawbacks though. They won't have the ability to store fresh food. They might only open once a week. They will want to help as many people as possible, but won't have the resources to do so for long.

As I said, I'm not religious. The Trussells (a husband and wife team who set up the organisation) are. I don't share their faith, but I have huge respect for what they've done, and tens of thousands of people have benefited from it. Any criticism leveled at their food banks should not come from a dislike of religion. They don't use the banks to proselytise in any way.

The FB I am involved with is independent... we have looked at the TT model, in fact a representative from TT came to a presentation to us and was keen for us to 'buy into' their model (yes, there is a fee). But we felt it was too 'corporate', too many rules and regulations, policies to follow etc (it sounded a bit like being at work which is not what I wanted from my volunteering) ... I have no doubt that TT do a great job but for us, we prefer to remain independent.

They only provided three emergency food packages per year per family and we’ve had many people referred to us who’ve been treated very poorly by the volunteers at the one near us.

Many families need a little bit longer term help if they are waiting on benefits to come through and one package isn’t enough in a lot of cases. This is the reason 3 other local foodbanks/pantries have opened in areas close to us. The TT were dominating all of the supermarket excess food/foodbank trollies. A lot of the food was being sent to other foodbanks under the TT banner outwith our area and those that needed their help in our area weren’t being adequately supported.

Can I just be perfectly clear here, my dislike of the TT is how they operate a food bank near me and is nothing to do with religion. I just thought I’d point that out.

You're very welcome!

Value items are perfectly fine, we always try to buy the value or own brand products when we go shopping, and I think our clients are grateful for anything. We have a mix of value, own brand, extra special own brand and branded products on our shelves from donations.

When we make emergency food parcels I try to make sure we don't make it all value brand as someone is already in a bad place if they're needing a good parcel, and put in some nice treats where possible.

Also I think it's nice sometimes to have sweets as treats at Christmas or school holidays but we do try to make emergency food parcels nutritional so they would be extras. But honestly anything is gratefully received.

We might offer an extra 3 months if they are still struggling, but would request that they are seeking help elsewhere. It's not useful to keep providing food without dealing with issues that have led to this. If someone is struggling to buy food because they are paying off huge amount of debts for instance, we can't just provide food, we need to be supporting them to a) get a debt management established to make repayments manageable so they can still afford food without turning to food banks, and b) supporting them with budgeting skills to help them not get in to the same situation as time goes on.

But equally we have a waiting list and lots of people who require help. The VSCE are doing an amazing job supporting people but we can only do so much; we can't change the system, we can't increase benefit payments or stop benefit sanctions, nor can we increase minimum wage. We try our best and support people as much as we can.

Thank you, it's our amazing volunteers that do all the hard work

I'm glad you mentioned Fray Bentos pies, we have had them in in the past and people have not wanted them due to the length of time they take to cook. Quick easy meals are always much easier! We have run cookery courses in the past using slow cookers as they are cheaper to run and for ingredients and more nutritious too. We need to change people's way of thinking but in the meantime things like tinned meals are a good option for meals that don't use much energy to heat.

10 per day prior to the community shop.

Now it's 5 per day, and 15 visiting our shop. So supporting more people but it's better support.

Yes we are always inundated at Christmas! And we do get them all year round but definitely more at Christmas. I think people are just more generous around that time of year.