Does anyone know someone who has had to use a foodbank?

[furryjammies]

I'm very lucky that I have never been unemployed - although at times, especially when the kids were young we hardly had any money and I had to be really careful, buying huge bags of potatoes and cooking everything from scratch to save money - no holidays, nights out etc. I don't know anyone who is living in poverty, although I do know some who got heavily into debt - mostly because of going on lavish holidays etc. Do any of you have friends who have had to rely on a foodbank and if so, what were the reasons? Not judging at all just wondering how common it is.

l ive in Brazil, so yes I know people living in severe poverty. They are not starving because of basic welfare systems, but they often use candles as they can't afford electricity and their homes are barely furnished.

I do know people in the UK that are living in poverty by UK standards and some that have in the past. I don't know if they have used foodbanks, I don't ask and they don't say.

Most seem to be people with children. I think the criteria for fostering and adoption are so strict

They're strict because taking children into "care" is expensive and has a tendency to produce poor outcomes.

I did. My start at my new job (after being unemployed) got delayed a month due to occupational health but they accidentally told hmrc I’d started when I was meant to so I didn’t get my benefits that month and wasn’t due to ghet paid til the end of the next month, hence no money at all. You’d think it would be an easy thing to fix but I spent hours on the phone and no one would sort it for me.

Those of you whining about your taxes being used to prop up the lazy workshy poor - have a think about how much of your money is being funnelled towards the already wealthy, and wasted on government incompetence and ^deliberate cruelty*. It's your taxes contributing to these contracts given to private companies who profit from rendering people destitute. It's your taxes that line the pockets of private landlords (remember, housing benefit goes to the landlord, not the tenant so your taxes are fuelling a nice lifestyle for the person who inherited a couple of houses.)

Check the time starzig, you may have missed your medication.

My your a vicious lot on here ....!

I wouldnt know if any of my friends/associates had used a food bank . Why would I know unless they told me. I was brought up in the 70s in a broken home on a council estate . I have known real poverty which was far worse than that which is presented as poverty today. I have to say i had no awareness of anything like a food bank in those days thought we all survived so must have been fed.

The only charity i recall was mostly via the catholic church . We sometimes received a parish food parcel at Christmas which i thought was nice.

I have to say though that i started work at 16 and have not had a single days unemployment since so i have paid the state back many times over for bringing me up. Im also now quite comfortably off thankfully. Th memories of poverty are never far away .

I see the Trussel levys charges to use its branding/services..

www.trusselltrust.org/get-involved/start-a-food-bank/

I'm not even gracing it with a quote, but those two lines that Starzig posted will linger in my head for a long time.
If my supermarket was open right now, I'd get in the car and fill a carrier bag for my local foodbank, just to get the bad taste out of my mouth

It's hateful that using a food bank makes the person 'open season' to poke into their life and find out why. People deserve privacy and dignity not scrutiny and micro-surveillance. The fact they even need to ask for help probably violates their own values of "coping" and being able to stand on their own feet, but they have to, otherwise they'd starve. What a choice.

And the comment above about people paying good money to prop up sectors of society. Whoever that person is, they are an object of pity, imagine being plagued with those thought processes, how can they live with themselves.

sigh

1. My sister has to use the food back sometimes. Sometimes I send her money. She's trapped in poverty in an area of the country with a very high unemployment rate and in an expensive, private house that she had to try and do up herself (landlord pretty rubbish). Too long a wait for council properties - all bought up by buy to let landlords. Three children and two years ago had to escape a very bad domestic abuse situation that has left her devastated and experiencing MH problems.

1. a colleague. We're low on low wages - about £12k. She has two children and no partner. One child with special needs.

I hope they are 'deserving' enough for you, OP.

If people are paying good money to prop up sections of society they have every right to make reasons and causes their business

Vile. Poverty doesn't happen by bloody accident. It happens by design.

There's a startling lack of empathy from posters here. From the OP saying they want to learn more to have more empathy to the judgmental comments

Why do we have to know someone before we care about this? Why do we have to know why? I can go to Tesco and fill my basket many times over, I'm lucky to have that ability. If someone is so hard up they need to use a food bank, let them.

I wish this man had used a foodbank.

voxpoliticalonline.com/2019/04/21/the-dwp-was-responsible-for-the-pneumonia-that-killed-stephen-smith-will-his-survivors-support-legal-action/

DH grew up on food banks and milk stamps in the 80’s/90’s.

His mum had a decent job but his dad left and didn’t contribute so she struggled to put food on the table. Ironically they were quite wealthy before he left and according to BIL she used to laugh and be quite disparaging of those who used food banks —but that’s her all over—

I’m close to using one. Had a very profitable business but our main client didn’t pay us so we parted ways. Put our savings into buying another business that has been losing money hand over foot. Previous owners accounts seem to be a fairytale. My dh got a full time job to see us through but had to give up when dm was critically ill and couldn’t help with the small amount of childcare we needed. No entitlement to tax credits based on last years earnings and no savings left.

not every town,city or village has a food bank

a fair few years ago now but a old neighbour(1 adult, 3 small children under 4)had all her money stopped/frozen at no fault of her own as someone told the job center the dad living there was working while the mother was claiming,there was no dad as she was a single parent and dad wasnt even involved in the kids lives and had never lived with them

all money,rent, council tax was stopped days before and she didnt know,she only knew when she went to get her money to find no balance

she phoned them to find out and they told her why and she has to wait for it to be investigated

a week later she was desperate(i was lending her washable nappies even though her baby was smaller than mine and in reusables) and went to the job center crying for help,they told her there are food banks but none here(we are a small mountain village in the valleys of south wales)and the neared one was in a city which is a hour and half drive away from us(she had no one to take her) and as she didnt come under their area/council theres nothing they can do till all this is cleared and sent her out

we(me and another neighbor)found her sobbing on her doorstep after she walking home 50 mins from town(where the nearest job center was)with a double pram and a baby in a sling thing

she explained and a few hours later the other neighbor i was with organized a whip around from neighbors to help and she had £220 for what she needed,she then spent it on a weekly shop and gas and electric

2 weeks later she had all her money reinstated as it turned out to be a malicious report and a few weeks back dated money as well and a letter of apology

she did try to give the money back to who helped but we are a small community here and no one would except so she organized a small barbecue for peole

Dont agree with 'poverty is not a spectator sport' attitude

So it is a spectator 'sport' to you @Starzig? Is the winner the one who gives you the most deserving reason for being there or the one who later dies from a suitably 'poor' cause, Starvation over Pneumonia?.
Let me guess the 'Winner' is the One who lets you poke them the longest with a sharp stick and the prize is knowing you got your moneys worth

Perhaps @starzig would like to formulate a game show or reality TV series so she can get her money's worth out of the poor people.

Her posts are disgusting.

Yes

Disability benefits stopped for "reassessment" despite having lifelong permanent physical and mental health problems

I know kids who have stolen from a food bank collection point.

Yes. 2 words, universal credit.
The working poor are living in poverty unlike anything we've seen since Victoriana times. Glad you've not had to witness it or had to use the food bank yourself. Same goes for things like having to sit in a cold house that's run out of gas and electricity with no hope of being able to get any for days while waiting for payday.

Yes, they use it because cash is so tight they barely have a fiver left at the end of the month. It allows their kids to do an after school club and not always be wearing hand me downs. They both work by the way. But if you’re on minimum wage and zero hours contracts you don’t have much bloody wiggle room.

If people are paying good money to prop up sections of society they have every right to make reasons and causes their business

Please then share your medical records, your road usage information, and depending on your age your educational records.

I pay for them all with significant tax contributions each year, I'm entitled to decide if you are worth it. And we all benefit from those even if you also make use of the technically private sector.

I know of one family who have used a food bank, father work's full time, mother work's part time, both on low wages, they have 2 children
I alway's try to put a couple of item's in the trolley for food bank at my local supermarket weekly, sometime down the line it could be you.

Yes we have used a food bank in the past. It's opened my eyes to poverty and how it's often a hidden problem but it's everywhere. I used to just sell things I don't need anymore but now they get donated and we also put items in the donation trolley at our local supermarket.

No matter, how much combined tax we spent on educating starzig it obviously wasn't enough. Unfortunate soul.