to be utterly ashamed and disgusted with this. Food banks iced buns and Weetabix.

[carernotasaint]

i found this article really upsetting. I cannot believe that we have come to this.
As the athletes and dignetaries arrive for the Olympics i cannot muster any enthusiasm for it. I also couldnt help noticing the attitide of some of the people running these banks. Comments about people "not being able to get up early" and the fact that they are happy to hand out iced buns (which are of no nutritional value but lets fact it you"d eat them if you were bloody hungry) and then saying that Weetabix is a bad idea because it soaks up too much milk I have never felt so ashamed to be British.
www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jul/18/food-banks-on-hand-outs

LadySybil thats lovely. I know we have 2 food banks in my town but i dont know where they are. When the council tax benefit cuts come in next year things are going to be even bloody worse.

www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/mel-kelly/well-trousered-philanthropists-tory-party-chums-and-food-parcels-for-poor

Is it "the Tories" though Kayano? I don't think they've been there this time round long enough for this kind of need to have filtered through tbh. In my opinion - upon which I'm prepared to be corrected -the banks and financial institutions should be first in line for questioning, then the political parties who did nothing to stop them. Someone's got all the money - the question is - who? And how do we get it back from them. Oh. We don't do we.

It's depressing if you think about it. I had to work in a homeless day centre as part of my nursing course for a few weeks (odd mental health placement), I spent 3 weeks sifting through harvest donations. So much fresh food was wasted as the manager didn't want to give it away so it sat, rotting. People are kind, but some people see donating as an excuse to clear the crap out of their cupboards. I wouldn't dream of donating donating packets which are years out of date or half eaten packets of biscuits.

I'm overrun with cans of tomatoes, cakes and pasta, carer. I'll be OK if there's a zombie attack though. I just wish I could find a home for them.

There is a link on the side of the page here for people who want to find their local bank and donate.

Oh Lady that fresh food all sat rotting? Jesus.

Carer - these volunteers "speaking out of turn", i.e. expressing their private opinions were talking to journalists, not their customers. If somebody on Workfare spoke privately/anonymously to a journalist, then no, I wouldn't expect there to be any sanctions against them.

If either the workfare/food bank volunteer spoke made their views known to their customer, then yes, I would expect there to he sanctions.

Hope this answers your question. I really couldn't tell from your OP exactly what you thought you might be BU about.

Fair enough Vestibule.

Thank you, Smiling

Yes, it was terrible. People are so generous; church groups, schools etc. I ended up leaving as much fruit as I could out for people to take away. There was just piles and piles of vegetables though. They couldn't use them all, and they just kept coming. The manager should have donated them elsewhere. As for Christmas puddings, god you should have seen them all. Social services used to send people to collect food. There was a list of items on the wall which we were supposed to put in bags; 2 cans of beans, packets of pasta and sauce, a loaf of bread, 1 loo roll, 1 bar of soap, not a lot at all. I used to ignore the list though, and found a great use for the fruit and veg .

"i used to ignore the list though and found a great use for the fruit and veg"
I would have done exactly the same.

Ooh ive just had a thought. My parents have a big pear tree in their back garden and the pears are usually ready to pick in very late August. Loads of them. Would the food bank accept them?

It is really hard to manage BTW. Everyone has an opinion so fair enough, go and volunteer and make it all better. The people like me, who have worked in the field for ever will defer to your ill thought out ideas.

We used to have a free for all with the fresh stuff. There wasn't enough for everyone so someone had to miss out. Always appreciated... baby food, nappies, high quality canned stuff. The attitude that if people are hungry enough they will eat anything makes me sick. You should see some of the crap we were given.

" The attitude that if people are hungry enough they will eat anything makes me sick."

Yes, me too. I think the point was that the bank workers are trying to give the recipients some dignity, by not giving them things that will embarass them, like Weetabix that have to be eaten with water, or cream crackers that have to be eaten dry (jam and spread are both quite expensive). They were clearly trying to put together full meals, very sensibly. To have the "they should be grateful for anything they get" attitude is not very helpful.

Brian jam i expensive. I do think the attitude that if they don't have cheese they should use jam and butter is a bit, "they have no bread, let them eat cake".

Sorry is not i.

Baked beans is a problem as the get given too many, not because they are not suitable.

If you are receiving a food parcel a tin of baked beans and some tinned meat makes a better meal than 2 tins of baked beans!

We have one near here, our church and many other groups have got involved donating food, in only the second month more food went out to families than came in, the need is growing so fast.

Although I am really glad it's there and helping, it makes me slightly worried that food aid for Eastern Europe that gets much of its donated items at Harvest will lose out this year as people look closer to home.

BOGOF's are a great way to donate without it hitting you too hard if you have enough food every week but not enough spare cash to buy more for the food bank

I said I eat crackers with butter and jam - it's certainly not because I think others should put up with it (or I'm like Marie Antoinette), it's because it's normal to eat them with whatevers available in our house.

I'm bemused that they don't give them out for that reason.

But Laurie did you see the picture of the cupboard? They don't have ANYTHING in the house. They have often eaten everything in their place before they can face the food bank. There is nothing to put on a cracker. No cheese, butter, spread, jam. Nothing.

I have plum trees in my garden and they are covered. There's no way I can eat them all, I'm not sure on the foodbanks fresh fruit policy though (I found one, it's not too far away but it may be easier to save a few pounds a week and go to their local supermarket once a month rather then save the BOGOFs).

Thanks Lady Sybil. i will find out what the fresh food policy is with my local ones.

What a heartbreaking article. It drives me utterly insane when people say that there is no real poverty in this country . It's devastating and totally shameful that people can't afford basic necessities. I understand why you mentioned the Olympics OP - I cannot imagine how much money will be spent on wining and dining dignitaries over the next few weeks, while there are people in this country without two pennies to rub together.

This should be the job of government - to catch people before they fall through the net completely. I blame the bloody Tories too.

"Ooh ive just had a thought. My parents have a big pear tree in their back garden and the pears are usually ready to pick in very late August. Loads of them. Would the food bank accept them?"

The food bank collection point in our local Sainsburys has a list of suggested suitable items on the side and it is always non-perishable things like tins, cartons and packets. If you had a surplus of fresh fruit it would probably be best to contact the food bank direct to discuss as if you just put them in one of the collecting points they might get squashed or go off while waiting to be collected.

Incidentally I had difficulty understanding from your OP what it was you found disgusting - the fact that there were food banks at all or the comments from the volunteers who helped out there.

And sorry but I still don't understand where the workfare angle comes in to this.

Here in Canada, what people do is put out fruit and veg in their front garden or whatever (from their plants and trees) and a sign saying 'free' then whoever needs it, takes it. Easier for people and less embarrassing then the food bank. You'd have to check it was legal in the UK and it depends where you live I suppose.

Just read the comments at the end of the article. One lady wrote

You can wash the sauce of the baked beans and put olive oil and lemon on them.......

Where does she think you will get oil and lemons from if you can't even afford to buy yourself a tin of beans!