Thinking about donating to foodbank. AIBU to be dubious

[SwingYourPantsNow]

OK, I know I'm probably being unreasonable here.
I've been thinking about donating to the foodbank, but I'm in two minds. It's a self referral one. That means you can rock up and declare food for yourself without being referred. How does that even work?! How do you go about proving you're in need and can't feed yourself?
Sorry in advance for stupid questions.

I was waiting for a delayed ESA payment, ten days late and no food for me until I got it. Thankfully I have a domestic abuse officer in the council who got the token I needed for my food bank, but if I had to self refer I would. I'm self referring to a lot of places at the moment, an advocacy service, Women's Aid, social services etc.

maybe i will phone and ask AGnu, thanks for the reply, but i do not even have petrol to get there atm.
(waits for someone to tell me i should not have a car, well to pre-empt that it is 7 miles to the bus-stop)

You should walk those 7 miles barefoot Nigellas

Hope you manage to get something sorted, having no food is the pits.

See, yolothankgod that's exactly what I mean - surely self referral is far too easy to manipulate and you don't know if it's like your stepdaughter just out for the free food or if it's the majority in genuine need

thank you agent zigzag

YABU. Do it with heart and soul. Not begrudgingly.

Swing I guess you just have to hope that not all people are like that

Nigella erm that would be a rather odd thing to lie about

And no I don't like her and this 'incident' was the icing on the cake .
Oh and you don't know me so please don't accuse me of lying .

yes it is quite odd i do not know why you are harping on about it tbh

See, yolothankgod that's exactly what I mean - surely self referral is far too easy to manipulate and you don't know if it's like your stepdaughter just out for the free food or if it's the majority in genuine need

Then don't donate to them

I'm sure nobody gives a shit whether you chuck a few tins of baked beans their way...not even the genuinely needy.

This is such a pointless thread. Just donate to a food bank that insists on referrals.

Nigella I were being polit but fuck that for a lark !

Who the fuck do you think you are & better still what the hell do you mean 'harpering' on about it , I mentioned it as I thought it was relevant to the thread .
So when you are done attacking me for no reason you might wanna get off your dam high horse !!!

This is the first and hopefully last time that I lose my cool with anybody on Mumsnet so I do apologise if anybody is offended apart from Nigella

Just donate to a food bank that insists on referrals.
There isn't one local.

Yolo, so SD decided to thieve from the needy, from a self referral food bank. That's not the issue here.

I think you should calm down actually, as you are undermining the tone of most posters on this thread - somewhat.

I live inner city, the food banks around here are not self referral, in fact I understand they are quite difficult and strict about referrals.

I know this because I thought of volunteering.

Anyway, back to thread. Maybe you should start your own YOLO.

well what I meant by 'harping' is that you seem a bit obsessed by your SD and the foodbank as you have mentioned it on a few occasions now as I recall.

Op has a genuine question about how self referral food banks work. It has been touched on a bit, but maybe some people who know could answer the question rather than attacking the op.

Tbh I do understand where you are coming from op. We can all only afford to donate a certain amount, and want that to be used where it would have the most effect.

There isn't one local

Then don't donate at all

Honestly OP even genuine people in need would rather do without a couple of packets/tins of food donated by someone on a power trip, I'm sure.

Really, your lack of donation will not make a difference to anyone.

Go on your local council website and find out where council-run food banks are.

Before anyone asks, I realised that maybe I shouldn't volunteer for fear of embarrassing someone I know locally.

Op has a genuine question about how self referral food banks work. It has been touched on a bit, but maybe some people who know could answer the question rather than attacking the op.

Or maybe the OP could ask the food bank people herself if she's that interested?

Maybe she thinks that aibu is a knowledgeable and helpful place?

Splash Well, I've just tried to point OP in the direction of non-self referral food banks. As I've said above, I found the council run banks near me just by googling. It wasn't difficult. I can't afford donations which I felt really bad about, so thought about volunteering physical help, then realised that may not be the right thing to do on a local basis, and I can't really go further afield.

Now, all I can do is morally support those who organise, donate to, and use food banks.

:(

Maybe OP should have posted on other threads that discuss genuine hardship. The have good foot fall.

I have wondered the same thought as op and I posted on a thread about a year or so ago and I got some really interesting replies. I asked what was the most needed items. The list was:

Tampax/sanitary towels
Nappies
Toothpaste
Washing powder
Deodorant

and the one that broke my heart was 'cake mix and some icing and birthday candles for my little girl's birthday'.

Yep. I put in cake mix, candles and icing just in case there are parents out there who have a little one and no money. I like to think that a child blows candles out on a cake that they might not have had otherwise.

I am not rich but what is a few quid here and there.

I would take the food along and feel reasonably confident that it will be well used and appreciated. I think stories such as that of Yolo's DSD are few and far between, thankfully.

Well you did ask red