What will be the answer when foodbanks start running out of stock

[ItisallPooh]

I know more and more people are having to utilise food banks. In our area, a huge employer shut its doors last month for the last time, many families had mum, dad and sometimes even grandparents working there. I personally know quite a few families really worried about affording everything.
Whilst I was doing my weekly shop, it occurred to me that it has been ages since I put more than one item into the food bank trolley. To be honest, there are times I have struggled to even put one thing in. Costs are rising so much, our two income public sector incomes are not stretching far at all.
I noticed that the food bank trolley used to be piled high. It never is nowadays. And more and more people are having to rely on them. What happens to the people who are struggling when even the food banks start running low on stock?
I keep thinking about it all evening. Our family are doing ok, not brilliantly but we are coping but I remember growing up being hungry and knowing that I couldn't ask mum for something to eat because she had no money left. We were living off benefits as she was undergoing cancer treatment, we had left my dad and our business as he was abusive. Our situation did eventually improve but it haunts me. I hate the thought that there will be families in exactly that situation with the added issue of heating and electricity costing a fortune too.
Food banks are wonderful but working families SHOULDNT have to be accessing them. Their wages should cover it. What a state this country is in. What is going to happen when even the food banks are struggling to help people because other folk can no longer afford to put stuff into them.

That was a troll

Obviously food banks should not exist. But here we are, they do and it doesn’t look like they’re going to go away any time soon.

I work for a giant charity and the need continues to rise, and now includes people who previously would have been donors.

We are buying baked beans for the first time in years, previously we always had enough donated.

I actually don’t know what the hell is wrong with us all that we have allowed this to happen. There is enough food for everyone, no one should be going hungry. It feels akin to a war crime to let people go hungry and homeless when we have such wealth.

Our biggest donors are older white people.

I've read some things on here but this is disgusting.
Children are actually starving over here now by the way, it's not going to happen it's already happening

Obviously many foodbank users genuinely couldnt cut back any more, but the fact is some use the foodbank because then they can spend their food money on something else, like a treat. We do need to open our eyes to the fact some people are not good at prioritising what they spend money on.

BBC news article are covering a story about a woman forced to go on a prepayment meter for energy who has only 20p left on it. She owed 11k to the energy company.
Search for her name on FB and 2-3 years ago she was complaining on a cinema FB page about having paid £80 on tickets to a kids film and not being given some promotional item or other.
You don't run up 11k of debt in a couple of years. So at a time when she probably already owed money to the energy company, she spent £80 on cinema tickets. Not saying people should never have treats but clearly the time for luxuries has passed if you can't pay your basic bills.
The govt need to devote more energy to helping vulnerable people to manage their money, and to access the benefits they are entitled to.

The problem with that is that some companies are struggling too. Not all companies are large corporations. It's all very well to say the government should raise the National wage, it's not the government that pays it. Companies are subject to the same inflationary pressures of rents / mortgages / energy.

How do you know it wasn't one of her kids birthday treat? Or her family paid and she was complaining as they had paid but not got the promotional offer? How do you know the debt wasn't applied if the energy company realised their had been an error and applied the 11,000 after she had gone to the cinema? It can happen.
It's awful in todays society people take it upon themselves to go Facebook detecting to see if they deserve to visit a food bank or not. You don't know their full circumstances.
Your point about the govt helping vulnerable people budget is a joke, the only thing they do is cut benefits as enough judge people like you kick up enough of a fuss that someone dared spend money 3 years ago so they shouldn't have food from a food bank so the govt cracks down on everyone

That's exactly the point. If you owe money for a basic energy bill you can't afford an £80 kids birthday treat!
I'm sorry but if I was thousands in debt to the energy company I'd be buying my child a £1 box of maltesers and explaining that we had to pay our bills!!

Her family would have been better helping her pay her energy bill than spending £80 on cinema tickets.

Probably.be a black mirror episode soon of people visiting a food bank and before they are accepted they face a trial of social media detectives who go through years worth of posts and receipts to see if they should starve or not in case they bought branded coffee from 5 years ago they don't deserve food as they should budget better

This just proves my point entirely.... There are people out there think celebrating a child's birthday comes above paying your essential bills.
If I was thousands in debt to the energy company I'd be saying to my mum no dont buy cinema tickets put that money toward the debt please it will help us more.
Keeping a roof over kids heads is more important than birthday treats.

@KweenieBeanz
it is true that there is a small group of food bank users who are long term, who have no real prospect breaking the dependency. It is rare, though. The vast majority of our clients are short term users who have run out of money for food because of a crisis such as job loss, illness or accident.

Putting a hand out for a food parcel is not as easy as a lot of people seem to imagine. Our clients are those who are courageous enough to come forward and are often deeply ashamed. It isn’t a fast, easy process either, and the parcels are not flash. No one is doing it for the hell of it.

I really wish naysayers would take a break from talking crap and volunteer at a food bank, even for one shift. It’ll blow their tiny minds wide open to see the desperate need in our communities.

This is what happens when you expect Joe Public to feed Jane Public. It is not sustainable long term.

I agree op that working families shouldn't need food banks but everyone's circumstances are different, I am a debt counsellor and help at a food bank - the number one problem is debt not income.

Benefits are sufficient if you live in a council/ha/rented property low enough cost to be covered by the local area rate and you don't have debts. However from personal experience through work I know that people are in houses too big/expensive so the housing element of their uc doesn't cover their rent, people have lots of unsecured debts due to unscrupulous lenders or borrowed before circumstances changed, some have feckless ex partners, more children than they can afford (families with 4+ children are over represented compared to frequency).

Long term financial literacy needs to be improved, I've spent hours explaining compound interest to clients! Secondly we need good quality long term rental homes suitable for families (houses or flats but need to be cheap to heat, have outside space for children even if shared). Finally we need to ensure men (well could be women but nearly always men) pay for their children, get rid of the various ways child maintenance is avoided - how about compulsory attending the job centre/searches if you claim you aren't working (or claiming benefits) to avoid paying!

But actually, if she'd gone somewhere like citizens advice for help with debt they'd have gone through her spending with her and highlighted exactly this - that bills come first.
And the reason places like Trussell Trust want a referral is so that they can do exactly this, get people involved with services to help them make more of the money they have.
Because that way the money available to help people, can help more people!

People are definitely and increasingly finding feeding themselves a problem, adults as well as children. It's totally unacceptable in 2022 in the UK. 🙁

"NHS data revealed in 2021/22 some 10,724 patients were so malnourished they needed hospital care – an increase from 3,773 in 2009/10."

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/doctor-treating-record-numbers-malnourished-28360170

Some of this is also due to underfunded social care. Some people need carers to come and help them with food /eating and the care sector is an absolute disgrace.

^This.

Realistically they will give out less food and tighten up their criteria for assistance.

Absolutely this, there should be a lot more support available to help people with budgeting and it should start at school!

It is abhorrent that we have a need of foodbanks. We are one of the richest nations in the world but the wealth is handed to the few and (unsurprisingly) doesn’t ‘trickle down’.
Yet another example of right wing media creating hate and divisions to avoid setting the culpability at government’s feet. People refuse to see what is happening. Blame the asylum seekers, blame the poor, blame the woke, blame Muslims, blame anyone except those who are truly responsible.

We are all responsible for every child. We all benefit from providing an educated and healthy younger generation.
Every person should be fed and have acceptable housing. We all suffer when people (veterans, the seriously unwell, people with learning disabilities and those in financial despair) are left to freeze on the streets or accommodated in overcrowded prisons.
The increased polarisation of wealth affects us all; it isn’t avoidable in the longer term as race/class/difference hatred and anger escalate.

Look back to 1933 and let’s learn from history what happens when we ‘other’ people and create a culture based on blame and dehumanising groups.

I think some posters are kidding themselves as to what “rock bottom” looks like. The crisis we’re heading in to, people have already got second jobs, they’ve already asked friends for help, they’ve already cut back on everything non essential, they’ve already warned their kids that Santa isn’t visiting this year. If that was me, you can bet I’d turning to something illegal - whether it’s stealing food or prostitution - to get food for my kids and keep a roof over their heads.

I agree that the government now takes advantage of the existence of food banks. Its not coincidental - that’s what the “big society” push by Cameron was all about.

This thread started as a good discussion, but it has descended into a discussion about whether people who are struggling are worthy of help, or if they are 'scrounging' unecessarily. We are forgetting that a lot of people with wealth scrounge too. How much money did we waste during the pandemic to corporate fraud or dodgy contracts that failed? Businesses get a lot of grants for things that they don't have to evidence have taken place.

Instead we are arguing about cans of baked beans! Yes we are the ones that donate, but if you don't donate, it shouldn't really bother you that much. You should be worried about the money coming out of your pocket as a taxpayer that is wasted by people who take tax payers money to lead a more privileged existence, which of spent differently could do much more good in our communities.

But lets keep arguing about the tins of beans and custard shall we....

Spot on !

Thanks CaronPoivre I do find some people's opinions so frustrating. They can't critically think or see that what is ckming will affect pretty much everyone. Thry just repeat what they have read by right wing press. Its reassuring to see on here people do have compassion and can see the bigger picture and don't fall for divisive media, but some people are beyond help!

Daft wasteful things, like rent & fuel I guess🤷🏻‍♀️