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.

Most poor people know a lot more about budgeting than middle-class people.

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

I said this on the other thread which I now see was deleted, but if food banks operate on referrals, then someone has objectively decided that a person is in need, and isn't spending £80 on cinema tickets when they have £11K fuel debt (how can anyone have that sort of fuel debt anyway, and I thought the energy companies could only go back on year).

onE year

So there you have it OP, no need to worry; if the food-banks run dry there's an army of 'middle-englanders' ready to step in and advise the poor how to do poverty better. Brilliant.

Well I'm much better at one than the other... (even if I do say so myself! 😂).

Joking aside. Neither of those should be something anyone needs to seriously contemplate & I don't (can't) believe that things will come to that. I believe (because I have to) that no matter how bad things get with the Govt/Benefits we will help each other out & people will get fed.

Do we need to be putting more thought/resources into more places to provide a hot meal to people than food banks? Maybe school would let people use their kitchen/dining halls in the evenings & supermarkets would donate or sell at cost the food & people could volunteer to do the cooking.... less food waste, less fuel for individuals, a warm place to spend the evenings...

i know there's a mix of 'soup kitchens'(?) & they're developing some 'warm spaces' but does anyone think we could (as individuals) be putting more resources/effort into these?

Food banks are great and I assume some people would prefer to just get a bit of a hand with food & cook for their families at home, but maybe a lot would prefer to 'go out' for 'Heat & Eat' ? It could be a nice environment for kids to play & adults to have some company (or not if they choose). Even as a warm place for teenagers to study etc.

maybe I'm just dreaming, but it sounds good. I'm not at all religious but I think I'll ring my local church & see if they've got anything underway already & need volunteers.

What the point in doom lingering over stuff that hasn’t happened yet?

Btw if anyone in need is reading this some local authorities are offering 'warmer places' - hubs, libraries, community centres available for people to warm up and get a free hot drink.

sorry it's long...feel free to swipe past!

@MummyGummy

I don't know.

Im not sure how you'd determine 'most in need' without totally humiliating people. I've never used a food bank (but I don't kid myself that most of us are only a couple of paydays from a complete change of lifestyle, and a couple more from needing help). I know that if I needed to, having to go through a referral process up & having to show strangers my bank accounts & bills would make me not want to, it would be so humiliating having people sit as judge & jury. I think people are entitled to their dignity.

I think that step change etc should definitely be encouraged.

move to somewhere cheaper. I think you're over simplifying this! If they have a mortgage, expecting them to sell, move away & buy a smaller place, whilst they can't even feed themselves is just beyond comprehension.

if they rent, it's the same really. There is nothing on the rental market here under £1200pm & they're rare, they're mostly over £1500 (and that's for very small 2/3 bdrm terraced houses, there aren't any smaller or flats, even if you wanted them.

Even if these mythical 'cheaper homes' existed they'd be moving away their support network, kids school & their jobs.

I really have no idea how you think 'moving to something cheaper' is an option, for all but the very occasional person.

I do agree there is an percentage of people who feel entitled to be supported to live a lifestyle they want to & yes some people on benefits do take the piss, but I believe they're very much the minority & others shouldn't be punished because of them.

I agree that children need to be taught about budgeting, and personally I think our curriculum needs to change to allow for more practical teaching. Teachers don't have the time with the kids to teach more on top of what they do, but I think things need to be swapped out.

you also have the difficulty of 'how' do you teach life skills in a way that allows for the difference in home lives?? There are many ways to 'budget' and different things different families prioritise and teaching something that either goes against culture/family beliefs or whatever is going to cause stress at home. (You only have to look at how school teaching Healthy Eating, causes problems

There have been articles on the BBC about children having to share a toothbrush, a young mother with a newborn who can’t afford to top up her electricity etc. In the mothers case she was with an older man who already had 3 children, and would have known when she got pregnant their financial situation was difficult. Why bring a child into that? And in the background of the pictures were all sorts of toys/clutter which just aren’t necessary

the 'young mother'. It's very easy to say she should have known better & not got pregnant. But not everyone comes from a stable, loving family that have given them the the skills to make good decisions in life. He's older, maybe he made her feel wanted, loved & secure for the first time in her life, yes he's probably a controlling twat, but she's feels he's HER 'man'.

As for 'the clutter' maybe they were given the toys? 4 kids have a lot of clutter🤷🏻‍♀️ Plus yeah, possibly some unwise spending, but again, a few cheap items she's bought for the kids probably made her feel better. Not wise, but not life changing either.

I DO agree some people need help getting out of a poverty cycle. But I don't agree with the tone of your post. It feels very much like blaming people like the young mum for most likely being brought up the way she was, and not having the life skills she should have been taught. She needs help not judgement.

& Food Banks should be there for those that need them, when they need them, for as long as they need them.

Food banks shouldn't be needed. But unfortunately they are, and due to all sorts of issues, low pay, bad life decisions, losing a job, simple bad luck or being a refugee. It's a global problem though, not just UK, and not just party politics, every single country in the world has some form of food bank or feeding program. Even much admired Scandi countries, Germany, France, Italy etc.

What is the global solution?

The single best thing to do would be to fix Universal Credit so it works in real time, and people aren't stuck with zero cash for five weeks while it updates. Ditto fix the weekly salary/monthly UC bug which is fucking unforgivable in this day and age. A large number of people using food banks are suffering from UC delays, so if you fixed that there would be more room to help people with more intractable poverty.

Yes it would cost some money. But it would also get people into work because they'd have the confidence to know that a job that didn't work out wouldn't leave their kids freezing and starving for five weeks. It would help with the dire shortage of seasonal labour in some areas, and keep people out of the black economy.

I agree

Yes.

Local Public Health Directors have some good advice on how these might be publicised and implemented. I've included most links but images and other items available in the Twitter thread.

twitter.com/Lisa_McNally1/status/1583777771536326656

1) Are warm spaces accessible?

Are you expecting people travel for a long time in the cold to access a warm space?

Use travel time maps to check coverage across your area.
And make allowances for age and disability.

Time travel maps app.traveltime.com/

2) Are your warm spaces comms stigmatising?

The image below was recently used in an article about a Council's warm spaces.
What do you think?

3) Are your warm spaces open at the right time?

Guess what?
It gets cold on Sundays too!

4) Are your warm spaces more than just warm spaces?

We can reduce the stigma of warm spaces, and tackle social isolation, by creating other reasons for people to access them?
Film afternoons, games clubs, history groups, arts and crafts etc...?

5) Do your warm spaces offer advice and support?

Why not use the spaces to help address the reason people have to use them?
Money saving advice, keeping your home warm, claiming benefits and Government payments?

6) Promotion beyond the internet?

How would someone know about their local warm space if they aren't on t'internet?

Yes, leaflets and newspaper promotion are more expensive.
But not as expensive as the people who most need warm spaces not knowing where they are!

7) Are you running warm spaces WITH your community?

Council buildings are OK.
But what about grants to your voluntary and faith sector so that they can run their own warms spaces.

This will address a lot of the issues mentioned above!

8) Warms spaces aren't just for Christmas!

Are you going to set all this up just to let it stop in April?

Social isolation is a major killer in the UK and the warm spaces could surely offer a warm welcome all year round?

There's going to be so much I've not thought of.

So go ahead and tell me what I've missed...!

You forgot TWELVE FUCKING YEARS OF TORY MISMANAGEMENT OF THE ECONOMY in that list.

But that's my point. It is entirely irrelevant, as every other country in the world has the same problem. It is not unique to us or our government.

It's called 'forward planning' so when it does happen people aren't running around like headless chickens screaming 'ohnohno the foodbanks have run out of food, whaddowedo???'

It is not entirely irrelevant.

Cameron's Tory government introduced Austerity. Pay freezes and public spending cuts. Then they brought us a rushed Brexit that they hadn't planned for. It was and continues to be an expensive, destabilising mistake that has trashed our reputation abroad. Making the trade deals we need less forthcoming. All this made us vulnerable an ill-equipped to deal with Covid (cuts to NHS due to Austerity) and the CoL crisis (people's wages hadn't risen sufficiently also due to Austerity).

And that's before we get to corruption, the £210million Rwanda bullshit and Liz Truss crashing the economy a few weeks ago.

Global stuff is happening to everyone. Global stuff and TWELVE FUCKING YEARS OF TORY MISMANAGEMENT OF THE ECONOMY is happening to us.

So with the government contribution of £66 last month my energy bills cost me 14 quid. Food costs have obviously gone mental. But I honestly don’t think we’ve hit the poverty levels that are comparable with the 80s yet and what’s happening with this inflation fasting rise for benefits that we’ve been hearing about that happening or not ?

Really?
I volunteer at a food bank. This weekend we had so little fruit we were only able to give one banana and one apple to each family.
Some are families of 6.

Can you imagine what it's like to share 2 pieces of fruit between your 6 children?

And then you have some people throwing away good food items they get from a food bank, it really is a puzzlement with some persons perspectives at times.

Do you have evidence that this is happening? Can you cite it?

Only a previous posters thread that I posted the original ops post, on page one on this thread.

But there hasn't always been food banks. When I was growing up there was no such thing. Mum paid the bills and we lived on what was left. Luckily school dinners were free as we're milk and school snacks so only had to worry about breakfast which was porridge and something for tea.

@Hawkins001

Do you realise how food banks operate?
We rely on donations, there are weeks when we have quite odd assortments of food.
Does being poor mean you have to like everything? Are the poor not allowed to dislike cabbage or maybe, god forbid have intolerances etc

If someone gave you a bag of free food, would you absolutely love or like everything in it?
Do you think there's a possibility that you may end up not using everything you were given?

Get off your high horse and maybe do something to help instead of spreading your damaging and pointless nonsense.
Donate bread to your local food bank. Loads of it.
This week we only had enough to give each family half a loaf each!!

You mean the thread that was deleted by MNHQ as it was clearly the work of a troll? OK.

I Believe the reason for the thread being pulled by mumsnet, was because it was not in the spirit of the site.