Southwark food bank will be closed on Monday the 19th

[pinkbear95]

Now don’t get me wrong, I understand the Queen of the country has died. I understand it’ll be a bank holiday and a lot of businesses are making the decision to close out of respect for Her.

However, how is it anywhere near reasonable to close a food bank on Monday?! I’m not sure if it’s just Southwark or many others but I genuinely think that is inhumane and abhorrent. The Queen never went hungry a day in her life. During the cost of living crisis, a food bank has decided to shut. Surely not?!

Depends where in Southwark it is based. Some parts of it will be within the areas that the police and transport for London are warning will be very very overcrowded.
The staff/volunteers might not even be able to get there.

Oh come on, you are just looking for reasons to be indignant and righteous now. Food banks are closed more than they are open, and one day will make no real difference.

I personally think volunteers should have as much right to pay their respects if they wish.
Instead of getting angry, why not offer to help on the days they are open to help with the backlog. Or buying extra bits yourself and run a community kitchen for the day?

I'm baffled that people who don't work Mondays are asking for a day in lieu, people who are a working are getting paid overtime rate and lots of people are getting a paid day off but there is an expectation that people who already give their time for free should do so.

This is backward thinking at its finest and a prime example of offence bandwagoning.

*should CONTINUE to do so

@ClottedCreamAndStrawberries how do I sound entitled plus I don’t even know what thread you’re on about.

How does closing a food bank for a day honour the Queen? That’s what I’d like to know

You are right, OP.

Volunteers should be forced to continue volunteering on their assigned day even if it isn’t convenient because they can’t find childcare, because they can’t afford to turndown overtime rates, or because they just have something else they want to do. They should still volunteer!

Incidentally, did you know that many (most?) volunteers have more than one volunteer job? Volunteering seems to attract a certain type - those who generously give of their time and may find it difficult to say no. This is in contrast to some people who have never volunteered a day in their lives because they are just so busy with other things to do.

The volunteers probably can't get childcare

Majority of votes show IABU so fair enough🤷‍♀️

How does closing a food bank for a day honour the Queen? That’s what I’d like to know

It's so the volunteers, who work for free, can pay their respects if they choose to do so.

It's not even difficult OP.

Find something else to be offended about because this isn't it.

OP is the food bank you volunteer at opening on Monday?

Face-palm. Food banks give out several days worth of (often dried, tinned) food. There is no need for them to be open every day.

@DifficultBloodyWoman I actually volunteer once a week at a food pantry in a children’s centre in my local community. Don’t assume, it makes an ass out of you and me😉

So volunteer to open that one on Monday? Take a days unpaid leave if you can't get annual leave?

Fair enough. I was thinking about the actual users of the food bank as opposed to the actual volunteers and what they’ll be doing on the day. I wasn’t trying to find something to be offended about😂 I just thought it didn’t make sense

Not sure if you’re being purposely obtuse but one person cannot run a food pantry. It also doesn’t open on Mondays, it opens once a week on a different day…

Food banks routinely close on Bank Holidays.

The only difference is that this one is on short notice.

Deciding now means they can adjust the amount handed out in their packages to cover the extra day - just like they do every other Bank Hol.

Who says that's the point?

Volunteers are people too...they are entitled to the bank holiday off same as anyone else. And since childcare and other services will be closed, its quite possible they won't have enough people available to actually open the service.

Perhaps think about it for more than three seconds before getting irate?

I made no assumptions about your volunteering. It was a fun fact that I found very interesting and thought others might too.

@LongLivedQueen exactly. It's more about the volunteers not being physically able to get there. Anyone needing food might also not be able to get there.
TfL (Transport for London) are basically advising people not to travel unless you are going for the funeral.

@LongLivedQueen there’s absolutely no need to be rude.

On their Twitter account they’ve said ‘Our service will be closed on Monday 19th September to mark our respect on the day of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll’s state funeral.’

Now if they would have just said ‘we’ll be closed on Monday as it is now a bank holiday.’ I wouldn’t have given it a second thought at all. The reference to ‘mark our respect’ is what made me think, ‘well how does closing a food bank for a day for those that need it most, make sense.’

So it’s quite literally the point because that’s what their Twitter account says…

We found that and had to rethink our Monday provision. It's always tricky, Bank Holidays being what they are.

Nobody has complained. The majority of our partner agencies are also closed that day.

It's the sort of thing that does sound absolutely awful but when you think about the practicalities, it's obvious what's happened.

I certainly agree though that their tweet is terribly phrased. The concept of closing a food bank out of respect is horrifying, whereas it makes a lot of sense if it's happening due a combination of volunteers not wanting to come in, any paid staff if they have them possibly having a contractual entitlement, and people not being able to come in if they rely on school or private nurseries for childcare. They would have been better saying bank holiday, or due to logistical difficulties.

Southwark Food Bank is based in Peckham, nowhere near all the funeral stuff, and most of the volunteers live locally. So I don't think it's about anyone having difficulty getting there, it's more likely to be due to staff/volunteers wanting to watch the funeral that day, and/or having to look after children who won't be at school. It normally closes on Bank Holidays.

They run a referrals-only service and run a few sessions per week, usually in different church halls, so it just means that somebody who might have gone there on Monday will now go in on Tuesday or Wednesday instead. But as all the places which provide referrals are also shut on Monday, it won't actually make much of a difference to many people at all....

There is also a Peckham Pantry project, which has also tweeted about being closed on Mon 19th, which will impact on a lot more people.

Realistically any day that schools and/or nurseries are shut without much warning there's going to be a ripple effect. There is one even during planned holiday times.