Food bank Fussiness

[VeronicaFranklin]

I volunteer at a local food bank on a Saturday morning, recently due to cost of living we've had more and more people using it.

All sorts of people, some working families, some exclusively on benefits, some elderly, retired due to ill health and some homeless / alcohol/ drug addiction. There really is no face to food poverty and it's very sad to see so many people struggling to feed themselves and their families. I feel glad there are places people can turn to if they need help...

However...

We give people a sheet when they arrive, they tick a number of items (depending on if they are a family/couple/single person) they wish to have, I go off to pack up their items.

More recently I've had people complain if they wanted something we had a previous week but don't have this week, i.e. requesting Frosties and we only have Cornflakes, or Semi skimmed milk but we only have skimmed. One lady said to me on Sat when I didn't have the soup she liked ' well it just isn't good enough'...

Also people arguing with us if say someone has received a certain brand (donated) and they haven't. For example someone got 'Asda's own washing up liquid and saw someone had got 'Fairy' brand washing up liquid and started complaining it wasn't fair...

I just feel really disappointed. Everyone is entitled to help and most people are very thankful but we rely solely on donations and charity surplus to run the food bank, many of the volunteers give up their time to help even when their circumstances aren't much better than those using the food bank and we often buy items to bring to cover the shortfall in donations especially toiletries such as sanitary towels and toothpaste, but I can't help feeling recently like people are being ungrateful.

Is it unreasonable if you're getting something for free to feel you're entitled to complain? How would you handle it?

You have successfully signaled your virtue….now in the real world…I help run a food bank and we have exactly the same issues as the OP. We don’t expect people to be grateful but we do expect them not to be twats

We have a few people threaten violence where I volunteer. Usually towards other service users but occasionally towards volunteers. A few of the service users are hot headed and they can be under the influence of drink and or drugs. If they were just acting like twats we would be happy 😅
Obviously they are a tiny number of people out of a large group of service users

You're a cheeky little one @VeronicaFranklin adding the word 'all' there! Maybe you are not too good at reading, but you have completely misrepresented my words by your addition.

It reads a lot as though you have wound up this little debate for fun.

Interested to know how you know I have not stepped into a food bank, many times.

I can say I saw the Loch Ness Monster. Until there is evidence there is no evidence - researchers have hunted unsuccessfully for both your 'three-generations of worklessness' families and the Loch Ness Monster but neither has been found yet.

Completely unacceptable to complain. The people donating might not be able to afford the Big Brands, but are still doing what they can. How ungrateful can you be?!

I’d suggest to them that if they weren’t happy, they could go to a supermarket and buy their preferred items.

Suggest they ask for a refund

@legsarerequiredforjumpingdancing

So not only must the clients of the food bank be sufficiently grateful to validate the egos of the volunteers, they also have to feel fine that they are lumped in with homeless junkies in the minds of the community?

The OP and many on this thread can pile on and blithely post about the entitlement of food bank clients, the luxury cars they drive, and the weed they smoke. They can imply that they feed many people who are 'undeserving', and can even state that many go on to sell the food they receive, but those who are forced to rely on donated food have to take what they're given and have no right to feel they don't belong among the alleged reprobates they find themselves queueing alongside?

You would rob them of the right to feel a sense of shame? They've been reduced to the level of one-dimensional figures performing some volunteer's idea of poverty.

They've been reduced to the level of one-dimensional figures performing some volunteer's idea of poverty

this in the same post as calling homeless addicts ‘reprobates’ is just…so hilariously lacking in self awareness. but nice try

@Imthedamnfoolwhoshothim

The question I posted was rhetorical but thank you for the acknowledgement that this thread is in fact an exercise in demonising the poor who rely on food banks, an open invitation to pile on with spurious personal anecdotes and paint as ugly a picture as you can get away with.

FYI, this particular corner of the internet is moderated, and threads where similarly offensive stereotypes and rumours targeting racial and ethnic groups are removed.

I know, I’ve reported your ignorant and offensive statement about people suffering from addiction problems in the hope that they’ll suitably moderate it

We exist on donations, how do you thing the donor of cheaper stuff feels when someone turns their nose up at it?

How would they know? Do you publish stats on a Facebook group or something highlighting which products were shunned and who donated them?

Just on the 'luxury car' point. Food banks are there to supply food in an emergency. There are a number of ways an emergency can occur.
Your employer goes bankrupt and your salary doesn't get paid into the bank.
You are suddenly taken ill or laid off work and have to wait for a benefit payment.
You work fluctuating hours and your UC claim doesn't keep up with your circumstances.
You leave an abusive relationship with no access to funds.
In all of these situations you may well have a good car that you owned before the crisis hit and have no time to sell it before you need to eat.

My family have them. The older ones used bad back. The younger ones use Fibromyalgia. They're in the Welsh valleys though so I doubt they looked there.

this thread is in fact an exercise in demonising the poor who rely on food banks, an open invitation to pile on with spurious personal anecdotes and paint as ugly a picture as you can get away with - this is what I feel about this thread. I don't believe that anyone who truly cared about food bank users would start a thread such as this.

Exempt this isn't offensive and only deamonsises rude twats. Who should be called out a lot more.

I think you'll find that most foodbanks have a give back option. It's not like we are new to this, unfortunately!

We also have swap options, sometimes for somethings. But the basic bag is the basic bag - and yes, we have vegetarian, vegan, coeliac etc versions, if you contact us in advance.

For example we have a Help Yourself Shelf of oddities, bits and bobs that have been donated. It is usual for clients to take one or two items.

This -

How would they know? Do you publish stats on a Facebook group or something highlighting which products were shunned and who donated them?

Well I'm glad that I now know how shit some people think my LIDL donations are.

Yip - food bank users deserve better than lidl doncha know..

Not true, @Imthedamnfoolwhoshothim

It demonises all food bank users, a completely predictable result when you cast aspersions on food bank clients.

The thread has attracted stories about luxury cars, weed smoking, the mythical fourth generation of worklessness, and has already seen some posters wonder if their donations of own brand food and household items would be received in the spirit they are donated.

This is a horribly irresponsible thread, and the fact that so many posters can't see the perniciousness of the narrative they've been sucked into is shocking.

"I don't believe that anyone who truly cared about food bank users would start a thread such as this."

Yes - that's why she gives her time for free each weekend at a foodbank, she's just there to judge, gloat and demonise the service users.

Get a grip!

@FairyLiz, do you think this thread might put off potential volunteers?

Having a moan in private is fine. Starting a thread to criticise on a public forum is incredibly irresponsible.

I don't think you can hold the OP responsible for potentially putting off volunteers. We have plenty of threads discussing how terrible it can be to be a nurse and work for the NHS. I don't see those posters being told not to talk about their personal experiences in case they put others off.

And oh the irony of supporting the right of the OP to moan but finding the moaning of the powerless offensive when presented with food they or their children won't eat.

The post suggesting they ask for a refund belongs in 1822.

I think it's potential donors that could be put off; the more you push the 'feckless service users who aren't grateful' narrative, the more people think, 'well I'm not donating if that's the case'. Not so much volunteers - they do need to know that some people will be difficult to deal with, in much the same way as nurses do. Nurses have to maintain confidentiality, and have to treat equally whoever comes in, regardless of what they've done. If they complain about it and need to decompress and talk about it, which is healthy, there are mechanisms to allow them to do so. It's human to feel frustration at times, but there are ways of dealing with it privately, so that it doesn't become goady and encourage others to think badly of whatever clients or populations are involved.

This is a horribly irresponsible thread, and the fact that so many posters can't see the perniciousness of the narrative they've been sucked into is shocking.

You seem very bothered by my thread, enough to comment as much as you have. So I suppose you are arguably ensuring it stays a hot topic for debate rather than just scrolling on by.