To wonder what will happen to food banks when

[dottypotter]

Nobody has anything left to donate because they are all feeling the squeeze themselves.

It's tight for everyone and as they only rely on donations what would happen?

That’s interesting because we do live in an affluent area and there’s no evidence of that kind of spending round here. The foodbank is constantly appealing for donations too.

I think the government have shown what they will do. They will leave things until it is really desperate, then shove some cash at the poorest and most vulnerable placating them temporarily and creating resentment and in fighting in the working classes in order to assure their next round of working class voters by dividing the working class into work hard working class and not working hard enough working class.

Or they will give government money to the food banks whilst the right wing press and its bots continue to spout out derogatory messages about food bank users who "have smart phones and smoke" So it's their own fault

We had a local election in May the councillors were clambering for a photo Op it's seen as community helping community!

Saying that nobody should feel embarrassed or ashamed for using a food bank.

It isn't just a UK problem though. Blame the Tories if you like, but every single high wealth country in the world has food banks, and all have increased in usage over the last 20 years or so.

@andreac74, that is just my point if they don't know they need to be taught so at least they have the choice then whether to do it or not. At my son's secondary school they have a garden and grow simple produce like salad leaves, carrots, herbs. They also have a drop off any excess fruit/veg from garden to the Food tech room and others can take some. I am send in cooking apples, rhubarb and plums from trees in my garden. I think a few more schools could do this it really takes little organising. The student do it themselves once they know how.

There have been 'informal' Food Banks around for a long time, just not so many and not so 'obvious' . Many churches have run similar schemes for years and it's always been well known that if you need food or are hard up you can turn up at a church or vicarage (obviously a new problem is that many churches are closing and there are fewer vicarage's around ...).

Not this again!

I don't live in "other countries" i live here

There are 930 food banks in Germany....used by 1.2 million, in the UK there are 2600, used by 2.7million... despite the UK having a smaller population.

You ve voted for these morons, start taking responsibility, instead of trying to shift it or is that a Tory trait? appears to be.

@caringcarer absolutely! i remember listening about a program running training for young to be mums, so many couldn't read, had no facilities etc etc but all were so keen to learn, they wanted the best fr their kids.

Funding cuts meant the program closed down.

@AndreaC74 same with SureStart - cut to pieces by the Tories. There are no excuses.

I’m not saying there aren’t genuine cases like that person. That’s horrific. I get that there can be problems with benefits and some people fall into a gap.

There was a programme on about 10 years ago Tower block of commons and there was someone on benefits who spent a large chunk of it on cigarettes and complained they didn’t have enough money.

I don’t know what proportion of people using food banks could also be spending money on things like cigarettes or alcohol but I think in the past some people had to make different choices when there wasn’t free food available. Yes there are genuine cases, but I do wonder if we’ve reached a point where demand has grown to meet the supply of food banks rather than the other way round.

Cigarettes are addictive
If you have ever tried to lose weight - coming off cigarettes is much harder
Expecting people to give up fags when their life is falling down the pan is just An ill informed judgment

The vast majority of people who use food banks are in dire straits-

yes a percentage may be able to manage better if they knew how ( but they don't and seeking out and learning new stuff when your stress levels are high and you are at your wits end is virtually impossible - at your wits end = beyond your current mental capability

And yes a percentage use them who shouldn't but the costs of filtering them out is immense and I think that if we had some extra cash we should help those at their wits end first

In the past when people had to make difficult choices a lot choose gin and oblivion over trying to feed the kids

Seeing Sunak sat there this week saying ‘it is difficult for everyone right now’. It’s such BS. It’s not difficult for him and his wife for one… AND there is plenty of wealth in this country.

Maybe Soup Kitchens should be brought back. I'm sure they existed long before food banks, but you don't really hear of them these days. Somewhere to get, not necessarily just soup, but hot food served. With the recent Warm Spaces initiative, I've seen some churches offer warm food too.

Whilst many people are really hard up some are not and continue to donate. I personally donated items to an independent food bank in my town.

@Cheshiresun I worked in a Food project for almost two years till covid shut it down. It served a two course meal and gave out free food and sold subsidised very cheap food. Currently in my town you can get a free hot meal two days a week at two different churches, a breakfast at a community centre and tea and toast at two cafes places. They have basically rotated the days so there is a different place open Monday to Friday.

Happy days then... i remember my first drive into London in the early 90s, drove down to the Embankment at 6am, a Ranger Rover, tail gate down serving soup, queues of men lining up for a bowl, 10mins later i was in the city, fabulous wealth, then to our offices nr Aldgate East tube, Sally Army Hope house and Victorian levels of poverty.

Nothing has changed & its shameful.

Warm Spaces WTF????

We've a Govt of multi multi millionaires and yet millions of people they supposedly serve have nothing at all.

@Cheshiresun they exist in my area. At a local childrens centre (though everyone is welcome, they offer a massive range of services) they provide a hot meal every day during school holidays free of charge to all comers made from donated food that would go to waste - and have done for years, they provide an incredible amount of support. A homeless charity do hot meals no questions two days a week, just queue up, and a church does hot soup and bread one day. Among the warm bank places (pretty much 9-5 every day between places) I think you get free hot drinks and biscuits at all of them, but I am fairly sure that anyone hungry will get fed at a number of them

Our local Tri-services charity has a food bank they run in their centre in our local town (open to everyone once a week) and they have so much donated by the supermarkets and local businesses that it’s a struggle to store it all. We help out occasionally, people can just turn up to get whatever they need and it was a bit galling to see a huge family turn up in a Mercedes SUV costing £100k ( parked round the corner ) 🙄 and leave with a dozen bags of food. Yet the genuinely needy often refuse an extra bag as ‘too much’ .