Food bank for Christmas

[Didicat]

In usual primary school style they have told us late yesterday they are collecting for a food bank items to be in school THIS Friday.

My brain is already spent, Christmas holidays break needed already.... so I have a tenner to spend in Aldi....

What would you buy?

@CuriousaboutSamphire

Actually the more you think about that 'solution' the more ludicrous it seems. The medicalisation of being poor!

Well, quite. The re-invention of the almshouse.

Actually the more you think about that 'solution' the more ludicrous it seems. The medicalisation of being poor!

For all the talk of 'Dickensian dystopias' this is by far the closest we've come in this discussion to the workhouse; people having no choice but to stay in hospitals so they don't starve to death.

But you just don't undertstàaaaaaaaaand!

Nope! As a solution it remains incomprehensible. And nobody is going to pop along and agree with you, because it just isn't a solution!

As others have said, whilst decrying Dickensian poverty you are actually suggesting a return to it!

@JamieLeeCurtains

For those who work or volunteer at food banks, can I please ask a question that's come up before but I haven't yet seen answered, and its about Over-The-Counter medicines.

I mean things that you can pick up on the shelves of supermarkets, like E45 cream, Sudocreme, Vaseline, throat lozenges, paracetamol, ibuprofen etc.

I have psoriasis and PsA arthritis and if I ever found myself in dire straits between homes, GPs and payments (e.g. escaping abuse), I'd be desperate and grateful for some OTC stuff to tide me over for a few days.

I'd be interested to know what's acceptable? Thanks.

Stuff like that aren't on any of our pick lists but we have a box for stuff like that, which the clients help themselves to if they can use them.

Over the counter medicines we don't carry. We will add them to a specific bag if we are told they are required. But we don't carry them I don't think we put them on the help yourself shelf either!

Oh, and just for birds... Something all volunteers are in agreement with.

www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/12/food-banks-a-sticking-plaster-as-uk-demand-skyrockets-warns-charity-head

@CuriousaboutSamphire

But you just don't undertstàaaaaaaaaand!

Nope! As a solution it remains incomprehensible. And nobody is going to pop along and agree with you, because it just isn't a solution!

As others have said, whilst decrying Dickensian poverty you are actually suggesting a return to it!

Let me make it clear, I do understand - you disagree and that is fine but please don't run away with the idea I don't understand.

As I said I have been at the sharp end of this problem, I regularly meet my MP, I support many activism groups that hope to address these issues. Don't for one minute think I am naive just because I don't share you view.

I offer you courtesy and I'd appreciate the same.

Despite what comes across I'm not advocating mass starvation - I'm trying to offer a solution - I want to eradicate poverty as much as the next person.

I know you think closing foodbanks will cause mass hunger and I don't expect you to agree but the reality is it won't. The media and the MP's will drip feed you their agenda to maintain the status quo but believe me if you shut foodbanks you will start addressing the problem and no-one will starve.

Tinned fruit, Tinned veg, tinned fish/meat. Soap, shampoo, loo roll,toothpaste.

I can't stop foodbanks but hopefully I can at least get 1 or 2 mumsnetters to reconsider their value in a modern age.

You are advocating Mumsnetters stop donating to foodbanks?

@JamieLeeCurtains

I can't stop foodbanks but hopefully I can at least get 1 or 2 mumsnetters to reconsider their value in a modern age.

You are advocating Mumsnetters stop donating to foodbanks?

I'm suggesting they consider whether they are reducing poverty or increasing it before they donate.

Despite what comes across I'm not advocating mass starvation - I'm trying to offer a solution - I want to eradicate poverty as much as the next person

You are advocating taking food away from people who can't afford to buy it, and the results to that would be the same regardless of whether you think people will starve or not. Your solution involves taking food away from people to the extent that they end up in hospital. You can say you're not advocating starvation as many times as you want, but if people need to end up in hospital from malnutrition for your plan to work then isn't it a major part of your plan?

Don't for one minute think I am naive just because I don't share you view.

Personally I don't think you're naive because you don't agree with me, I think you're naive because you are attempting to apply an overly simplistic solution to a deeply complicated situation without even thinking it through yourself.

I know you think closing foodbanks will cause mass hunger and I don't expect you to agree but the reality is it won't

WHY won't it? Please share with me the knowledge that has led to this realisation.

I don't believe you. Nothing you say assures me any if your mooted outcomes will happen if food banks simply shut their doors.

You have nothing to back up your assurances. No process, no timescale, no reasoning, no explanation, nothing. You are not even pretending to listen, discuss, exchange information. Just that rather American Preacher approach - trust me cos I say so!

All just pie in the sky - as opposed to on the shelves!

@CuriousaboutSamphire

I don't believe you. Nothing you say assures me any if your mooted outcomes will happen if food banks simply shut their doors.

You have nothing to back up your assurances. No process, no timescale, no reasoning, no explanation, nothing. You are not even pretending to listen, discuss, exchange information. Just that rather American Preacher approach - trust me cos I say so!

All just pie in the sky - as opposed to on the shelves!

I can't get you to believe- that's your choice.

Let's chat again in 10 - 15 years time and see where we are then.

I'm suggesting they consider whether they are reducing poverty or increasing it before they donate

I'd suggest that people make it a rule to contact their MP every time they donate and let them know that this level of poverty in the UK is completely unacceptable.

OK. If you message me your address I'll pop round in my TARDIS and we can hop forward....

@FeminismIsForALLWomen

I'm suggesting they consider whether they are reducing poverty or increasing it before they donate

I'd suggest that people make it a rule to contact their MP every time they donate and let them know that this level of poverty in the UK is completely unacceptable.

I'd agree.

@CuriousaboutSamphire

OK. If you message me your address I'll pop round in my TARDIS and we can hop forward....

Yea can do that I'm up for a natter and a cuppa :-)

I can't get you to believe- that's your choice.

You could quite easily get people to believe you if you had any factual back up to your opinion at all, but you don't.

If what you're saying is true it would be easy to get us to believe you with facts, but instead you're saying "I'm right, I can't tell you how, but trust me!"

@CuriousaboutSamphire

I don't believe you. Nothing you say assures me any if your mooted outcomes will happen if food banks simply shut their doors.

You have nothing to back up your assurances. No process, no timescale, no reasoning, no explanation, nothing. You are not even pretending to listen, discuss, exchange information. Just that rather American Preacher approach - trust me cos I say so!

All just pie in the sky - as opposed to on the shelves!

I understand you don't agree, we are all different.

It makes the world go around :-)

And yes, as Feminism said, anyone donating to any food bank could join Trussell and other food banks and lobby MPs to make us unecessary.

National Living Wage
Universal Credit
Better chasing of all parents owing child benefits
In depth look at how supermarkets keep their stranglehold in our food supply

All sorts of reasons governmental, organisational and individual. The list is endless... and does not include making being poor a medical condition!

Our school have done a 'reverse advent'. Every day for 24 days we take another item in. It's a bit of fun for the kids, for a good cause but also means I need to be super organised. To be fair we have been told in advance and seems to be working well with the head standing outside the school gates in the morning with his trolly This is our list-

Tinned potatoes
Instant Gravy
Custard
Christmas pudding
Christmas sweets
Jam
Drinking chocolate
Noodles
Squash
Cup soup
Tinned ham
Crisps
Sugar
Coffee
Triffle mix
Biscuits
Tinned vege
Chocolate bars
Tinned fruit
Sponge pudding
Tinned fish
Christmas cake
Fruit juice
Mince pies

@CuriousaboutSamphire

And yes, as Feminism said, anyone donating to any food bank could join Trussell and other food banks and lobby MPs to make us unecessary.

National Living Wage
Universal Credit
Better chasing of all parents owing child benefits
In depth look at how supermarkets keep their stranglehold in our food supply

All sorts of reasons governmental, organisational and individual. The list is endless... and does not include making being poor a medical condition!

Exactly, couldn't agree more.

It also wouldn't do people any harm to read into the news a little deeper.

Forgetting this topic for a second - people often read the red top tabloids and believe everything they are told. If you have a nation of people fed with nonsense news you get a nation of idiots.

At elections half the population haven't a clue what they are voting for - I don't care whether a person votes Tory, Labour or Monster Raving Loony so long as the do at least understand broadly what a party stands for.

It also wouldn't do people any harm to read into the news a little deeper.

Forgetting this topic for a second - people often read the red top tabloids and believe everything they are told. If you have a nation of people fed with nonsense news you get a nation of idiots.

Yes I've touched on that point myself in this thread, a lot of people do genuinely believe that poor people just don't want to work or can't manage their money largely because of what's written in tabloids, and if we could get people to stop believing what's most convenient to them in favour of what's true we'd be all set. Critical thinking is incredibly important, which is why I expect people to be able to back up their opinions.

Festive friends chocolate biscuits. They only cost about £1.25. Mince pies you can get done for as little as £1. Tins of tuna and tinned fruit like pineapple chunks or peaches. Coffee, T bags, spagetti hoops, baked beans with sausages in, tinned corned beef or those little steak and kidney puddings that cook microwave.

@FeminismIsForALLWomen

It also wouldn't do people any harm to read into the news a little deeper.

Forgetting this topic for a second - people often read the red top tabloids and believe everything they are told. If you have a nation of people fed with nonsense news you get a nation of idiots.

Yes I've touched on that point myself in this thread, a lot of people do genuinely believe that poor people just don't want to work or can't manage their money largely because of what's written in tabloids, and if we could get people to stop believing what's most convenient to them in favour of what's true we'd be all set. Critical thinking is incredibly important, which is why I expect people to be able to back up their opinions.

Yes, exactly.

The government and the 'blue rinse' tabloids paint the picture that the unemployed are feckless and workshy. Channel 5 programmes like 'Benefits St' or 'Life on the dole' etc propagate this myth.

I forget the exact figure of what the unemployment costs are and the amount fraudulently claimed but the figure is vastly less than the tabloids lead you to believe.

The reality is jobs are getting more scarce, I accept now and again we get a mini boom but the trend is for technology to replace jobs whilst an ever increasing population chase the few vacancies.

Rishi Sunak today announced mass investment in helping people gain employment, how on earth will that help? If I have a factory that needs 100 new staff one year I don't employ 200 next year because they are better educated etc. The way out of poverty is to grow the economy.

If you are interested in this kinda thing try reading 'The road to Wigan Pier revisited' by Stephen Armstrong. Its a rethink to George Orwells famous book about the lack of welfare in the 1930's and compares it to todays inequality.