To remind people that food banks need donations

[LemonViolet]

I just saw a segment on the BBC news about food banks experiencing supply shortages. Which makes sense, given the cost of living crisis. They have more people needing the service and less people donating as everyone is tightening their belts.

I am a sporadic food bank donator. It just doesn’t occur to me that often as I don’t go into supermarkets and see the visual reminder of the collection station. But I am lucky enough that I can still afford to donate. I’ve just looked up my local food bank and they have about a third of their list of requested items marked in red as low or out of stock.

So I’m going to do my good turn today, pop to the supermarket, and drop a shop up to the local collection point tomorrow. And I thought I’d share on here and see if I can spur anyone else to do the same.

If you’re a regular donator then AMAZING
If like me you just donate once in a while then now is the time they need us, if you are able to.
If you haven’t donated before but you can spare a little, then look up your local service and see what they need. They usually have lists and instructions for donations online.

If you’re not able to donate then no guilt trip intended at all. I am worried posting this thread may be taken as being smug or boasting or patronising. I really just want to nudge others like me that can do this but just don’t think to that often.

This

💯

I give £10 a month, wish they weren’t needed, saves me knowing what to get, often in lidl pick up tea/coffee for box.
seems best option direct debit if you can

Exactly

Also, if you shop with Ocado, you can add a 'You give we give' voucher to every delivery (£2.50, £5 or £10)

From the website: "We convert your donations to groceries, direct donations, or a combination of both, match it (up to £25,000 per week), then give the total amount to our partners. So, for every pound you give, our partners receive two pounds worth of groceries and/or money"

I am actually at the point where I am seriously considering no longer donating to food banks.
I have been heavily involved for years.

They are now so enmeshed with govt I feel like they are being used as an extra tax on those who try to help (who are often only one unexpected bill away from needing a foodbank themselves).

I have experienced complaints (never used to get them) along the lines of 'people want chocolate cereal for their kids', 'you aren't catering to vegans' & the one that has pushed me to the point I am at now 'why don't you donate pet food?'

If you need other people to feed you in the long term, you can't afford a pet.

There have also been cases of men bullying 'girlfriends' with children to milk foodbanks then taking the food so you are donating, but the people who need it are still going hungry while some scummy bloke profits.

I've found that I'm helping to feed some of the same employed people year after year because their awful wages (in jobs like care home staff) never improve enough for them to stop struggling.

So, so many of them are single parents (almost always mothers) with absent fathers who never pay a penny of child maintenance.

Food banks as they are now, should not be a way of life.

I see people saying on here 'I'm thinking I might have to use a food bank' as if it's something you can rely on always being there & it fills me with despair.

Maybe food banks need to be shut down & civil unrest needs to happen so that the govt have to face up to the fact they have made this happen.

I don’t think the government made it happen, but they certainly jumped on the band wagon.

We have a local group here who batch cook and deliver meals three times a week - mainly elderly, because they can’t afford gas/electric/food.

At least the local food bank asks all there clients to come in with proof of benefits and do benefit checks with them to make sure they are entitled to everything they can claim. Plus they’ve also set up cooking lessons for those who are no longer in foster care and have never cooked a healthy meal.

These people are doing some good, but the government should be paying for it and training and paying staff to do this type of work. It shouldn’t be a given.

Many people who use food banks do so only for a few weeks, and it would be a shame to re-home a pet for temporary difficulties.

My local food bank doesn't ask for donated pet food, but it's the sort of thing they will buy at the odd times there is need.

I knew food banks had been around for a while, but was a bit shocked to realise they had begun in 2000. Those are the years the country thought it was rich, and the government was giving cash handouts to all new mothers, and to all new babies. There should have been an outcry then, because if they had never started, then it would have been harder to expand and creep up to the level of use today

I found my local stores tiny food bank donation point, they seem to have hidden it away anyway it is now filled with cans of peas thanks for the reminder OP.

I have experienced complaints (never used to get them) along the lines of 'people want chocolate cereal for their kids', 'you aren't catering to vegans' & the one that has pushed me to the point I am at now 'why don't you donate pet food?' who is complaining to you? I just put them in the donation box and shuffle off

Benefits that include vouchers for super markets to be spent on specified items would be much better.

It would help teach budgeting and cooking skills and ensure everyone has a basic amount of suitable nutritious food to live on.

Getting to the last resort of a good bank is really unhelpful

Or they can get money that they could spend on what they need most at that particular time. Food vouchers can't pay for power or rent.

Dreadful idea - cost of running the scheme is hugely more expensive, and it is more cumbersome for government, participating shops (because of course not all will, this limits choice) and of course the recipient.

And its pie in the sky to think that those in fuel poverty are going to be able to afford to exercise cooking skills.

Puddings are calorie-dense and sate hunger, so yes I imagine are useful for the food bank.

Or don't you think desperate hungry people deserve something so decadent as a pudding?

@compassionforpastself I said that was sarcasm

Since so many people think the poorest in society deserve just a tin of beans.

Like I said, I always include treats in my donation

I have always worked through smaller foodbanks & have from time to time some direct contact with families I have supported, I don't just drop a few tins in a box somewhere.
That is direct feedback from families receiving donated food.

NOT all families, or even most, who get that they are in a horrid situation & are glad of a bit of help, but I have heard all three of those complaints now multiple times.

@Snugglepumpkin exactly!
Was ok with the idea of food banks being a stop gap. For people who lost their jobs, abused partners, etc.

People on FT wages shouldn’t be relying on food banks and other than lobbying my MP, also donating to lobby groups and not voting Tory not sure what else I can do?

Also I have seen food banks buy specialised pet food (like parrot food??), cater to dietary preferences.

I don’t think poor people should be happy with lentils/veggies/zero treats but surely you should be grateful for what you get rather than making demands?

People referring to food banks as a ‘service’ again is worrying.

The first food banks in Europe was set up in France in 1984 and followed by Belgium in 1986. IIRC, foodbanks first in North America. Does that shock you more than the UK with it starting much, much later here in comparison?

Today, its right across Europe.

Starting these sorts of threads really goes a long way to normalising the working poor.

@Snugglepumpkin Ah I see that makes sense. I do agree partly with the argument that any food is better than no food I don't see the problem with asking for vegan food if that is their choice.

I'd like to know how much income the food bank system generates for supermarkets and the government.

Person works and pays tax and national insurance on their income. Person does food shop paying vat where required and generating profits for supermarket.

They then donate to the food bank allowing the government to continue to ignore the real issue. Nifty con by government and supermarkets.

But wouldn’t that money be spent in a supermarket anyway if the family wasn’t needing to go to a food bank to get supplies.

I used to be a regular donator. I just cannot afford to right now. I suspect many are in the same situation

Well said.

Yesterday I added a very large bag of pasta and some marmalade to the food bank bin. It cost me less than £2.