Food banks

[Parker231]

www.trusselltrust.org/get-involved/ways-to-give/donate-food/

Posted in AIBU for traffic.

I’m a volunteer at a local foodbank. We are getting desperately short of donations and run the risk of not being able to help those who need it.
I’ve attached the link to search for what your local foodbank needs (everyone is different as to what stocks they have). If you are doing your shopping tomorrow, it would be very helpful if you could add a couple of items for the foodbank. Thank you

We're grateful for pasta n sauces. We give out a minimum of a litre of milk to every referral (more if large household).

Cuppa soup or pot noodles are great as they only need a kettle which uses less electricity and many might have in one room accommodation, and we count them as a snack not part of a meal.

Ahh thank you. I have a few that my son has gone off that still having dates. Also I noticed in b and m they have like carbonara instant water pasta pots things that are half the price than the supermarkets. Great idea saying about microwave rice too in a previous post. You could a quick flling dinner with that with say a tin of meat balls which I also have some that he has gone off.

No, we like pasta n sauce packets. Great for ying single people (some who are still really just kids).

And that lets me tell my favourite story!

We gave a student starter pack to one young man (you know the Tesco microwave, kettle, toaster type pack) and he was so happy. He came back a few days later, embarrassed but thinking we lmight like to see his kettle.

Yes, he realy had emptied the pasta n sauce packet into the kettle then boiled it

We gave him a new kettle and I signed him up for some cookery sessions.

Lol funny. I hear you can do eggs in kettles though. Dont know what the tea would taste like after.

Ours asks for tinned meat with a long life (stew, curries etc) and tinned desserts if people ask what to get.

It opens twice a day and gives a cooked meal and people can pick up a food package. For families they also deliver food. They never turn anyone away and the queue varies from 15 people to 40 when they open (others come later)

I’d encourage people to donate to their local food banks/larders/Pantries and not just The Trussel trust. The Trussel Trust is a franchise and has the monopoly of supermarket donations as well as gets funding from the National Lottery Etc. The Trussel Trust in general are NOT short of food. They also only allow a limited number of food parcels per person, therefore is someone needs more than one parcel in the allotted period they aren’t given one. Pantries/larders were set up in Scotland to combat this and you also don’t need a referral to have access to food from Pantries/larders.

Our local aldi has a food donation in store basket. I've dropped some items in there.

@HoardingSamphireSaurus in my first year at uni one of my flat mates did that! We all got charged for damaging the kettle!!

The Trussel Trust is a franchise and has the monopoly of supermarket donations Not true. Most big supermarkets also give to FairShare, which will supply many of the pantries you mentio,n for which the pantries pay a far higher annual fee. Lidl, Aldi and M&S give via Neighbourly to a range of food banks & pantries.

Many pantries charge clients a membership fee plus a small fee per week but you will leave with food worth far more. There are a variety of sources of food help and it shouldn't be a competition between them.

I gave today to my local church bank not the Trussels one. There was a two different trolleys.

The Trussel Trust is a franchise and has the monopoly of supermarket donations that's not true.

And why begrudge them lottery money?

They are a bloody food bank! And we can all access lottery cash if we write an application. I write one most years and we usually get a decent amount of money.

I'm not religious. That the people behind the Trussell Trust are, makes no difference to me. When it comes down to it, the vast majority of charities have their origins in churches, or people of faith. The one that I volunteer and am a trustee for was set up by the Bishop of my town, and many of our volunteers quietly belong to churches (which I only know because some of the people we help are religious so we try to match them up with a helper who shared the same faith).

We are however, not remotely a religious charity. It's just our history that is, as is the same for the TT.

If a particular allied food bank is using food banks to proselytise, then please let the Trussell Trust know. It is strictly against their rules.

It bugs me when people refuse to help a charity that has its basis or history in a church or faith. If they're not proselytising (which is against Charity Commission rules) then they're helping people and deserve your support. I've actually found (as an atheist) that when someone we support is in desperate straits and we can't help, it is the religion-based charities that are the most pro-active and quick to act for us. And I'm grateful to them for it.

Religious association actively puts off some people from reaching out for help, so I would rather give to charities that are strictly non religious. My Irish friend said she would starve before accepting help from a church group.

@Roystonv I'm 100% with you there. Having been in the position of needing a food parcel from social services (before food banks existed) I can honestly say that if you're returning to a cold damp flat with 50p left on the meter a pot noodle and a tinned sponge and custard is more use and welcome than an apple and a bag of dried pulses that you can't cook. You're possibly under weight anyway, my BMI was 16 at its worst, and you need something that will stick to your ribs a bit. I've said this before but if if I ever found money back then I'd buy stodgy, filling hot food - chips, pizza etc. Not "healthy" stuff. You live in the moment much more and savour every mouthful of this meal because you often have no idea where the next one is coming from.

TESCO INSTORE COLLECTION FOR TRUSSELL FRANCHISE FOODBANKS
18-20 NOVEMBER 2021

For those who are interested. This should mean that any Tesco store with a Trussell connected foodbank should have a manned collection point during those few days. Hopefully those Tesco's who do not have Trussell Franchises nearby are encouraging other foodbanks to join them...

I am not anti-faith food banks
I donate to 1 monthly and donate and help at another. Both have no religious message at all and both are helping the most needy- homeless, migrants, during lockdown-single older men who were out of work etc

I also work professionally in the 5-10% most deprived communities in the country- I know the conditions in many houses as `I visit them. I do referrals to FB including TT- mostly families

My 2 interactions with our local Trussell Trust FB were awful. It is held in an evangelical church. The 1st time they were talking about their clients in the most demeaning -way- people who couldn't be trusted, people who had brought this upon themselves, who were squandering their benefits, who couldn't be given too much as they wouldn't know what to do- who couldn't have alcohol etc. It reminded me of the Victorian deserving and undeserving poor. TT only helps the deserving poor.

TT is by referral- lots of the most vulnerable do not have access to services that will refer them. That is why I support the 2 local churches that have food missions. No questions asked- no judgements. Treat people as you would want to be treated- with respect and kindness.

@LittleOwl153

TESCO INSTORE COLLECTION FOR TRUSSELL FRANCHISE FOODBANKS 18-20 NOVEMBER 2021

For those who are interested. This should mean that any Tesco store with a Trussell connected foodbank should have a manned collection point during those few days. Hopefully those Tesco's who do not have Trussell Franchises nearby are encouraging other foodbanks to join them...

Yes, my Tesco is working with Fare Share on those same dates and they're asking for volunteers.

(As someone running an "independent" foodbank) my understanding is that TT needs referrals from a GP, social worker etc, and limits the number of visits from one person (household?) to three a year - though I believe that was not the case during covid, and in fairness I don't know if they've reverted to that - perhaps someone reading knows better. But this approach, if it's the one taken, is massively out of kilter with poverty in Britain today, imo. The "had an emergency boiler broke five week UC delay" situations are massively outnumbered by people in chronic, grinding poverty who need ongoing support.

@TreborBore

Religious association actively puts off some people from reaching out for help, so I would rather give to charities that are strictly non religious. My Irish friend said she would starve before accepting help from a church group.

I can totally understand this. Many Irish Catholics were forced to renounce their religion during the famine in order to get food.

There's a food bank supermarket near me for people who are on Universal Credit or referral. It does cost £3.00 but you can get enough food to last a week if single.

TT I volunteer out does up to 5 parcels in a 6 mo period for a client but will pretty much always provide a parcel if children are involved. And often bend and allow another if there is a desperate need.

Sounds like some TTs are more religious than others but it's probably best not to generalise and prejudge them as many are not religious at all (as is the case here).

Have been in this morning and the cases being referred are heartbreaking, and there have been LOADS more parcel referrals this week - probably record numbers.

Yes. The restrictions are now out of date. Theyused to follow the benefits 'gap', bank holiday weekends and the like.

But now the gap can be much longer, as benefits take longer to arrrange, amend etc. I think that would take a while, the legalities of it for them are more onerous, I think the number of parcels is a fundamenal part of TTs existence.

Have been in this morning and the cases being referred are heartbreaking, and there have been LOADS more parcel referrals this week - probably record numbers.

Aargh! Us too. I have to go in tomorrow and work through what we need going forward now. Our stock levels looked good last week. This week we are looking at a significant increase. The budget will change things too.

Spreadsheets to the fore, another weekend gone!

Our independent food bank is referral only, loads of people can refer not just drs/social workers and it’s limited to three times a year for three to four days.

BUT

We have many other avenues people can access food and, other support with no limits at all. They are religious organisations, but make sure people know they will not be preached to. There’s no ‘deserving’ poor here. We have two ministers in our county who lived in Aberfan in the 60s, as ministers and saw how those families were treated after the disaster there (among the awful things said were they couldn’t get compensation as they’d waste it). Anyone, and people have tried to take this approach and force faith on people, are told in no uncertain terms to leave.

The independents without religious ties where I am have too many criteria that must be met in order to help someone - maximum help now is six weeks. The night shelter for example will only accept someone who has a mental health nurse, or social worker. And must queue from 6pm (they have six) and must be out before 8am.

*six rooms