Foodbank buying items from shops?

[girlfriend44]

I always thought that foodbanks were given out of date stock when I saw them collecting from shops and supermarkets.
I have now found out they buy items from certain retailers at a reduced price.
They put orders in. Where does the money come from to purchase?
Also they have vans, which cost money in petrol etc.
Anyone else think the same, never realised they were collecting stuff they had ordered in. I thought it was donated to them?÷

Sadly, yes.
I understand people wanting to do something, because something is better than nothing, but I also feel that more professional and trained support is needed.

Think support of dealing with addictions needs to be better promoted and show it’s free.

Since the lottery has restricted sales of ten scratch cards per transaction, the woman in a pp used to buy 20-25 cards of £2 and £3. Now she buys 10 £5 ones.

Untrue in some cases. I just googled -

"the foodbank has been running for over 12 years it is totally non referral with no paper work involved we provide around 500/600 food parcels each week people travel from all over Glasgow"

"Our fully stocked community pantry is open to everyone. (No referral required) Pop in anytime during opening hour"

"Our food bank is open from 10am to 12 noon monday to friday
All those who are in need are welcome with no requirement for a formal referral."

"Members of the community are welcome to come along and help themselves to bakery products, fresh fruit and vegetables and cupboard essentials. The pantry is open 7 days a week 11am-3pm and no referral or assessment is needed."

And that's just in Glasgow. Now I am totally on board with reducing food waste and think it's briliiant that there are organisations which are redistributing food which would otherwise have gone in the bin. But let's not pretend that food banks are only for people who can't afford food - anyone can "rock up" to any of the places I linked and get free food, whatever their financial circumstances.

l did, and replied to it.

You’re thinking of olio. It’s a wood waste thing to save food from landfill bonus side is it can help people who cannot afford as much food as they require or even any food at that point in time.

It’s fabulous tbh. I’m a registered fwh on olio and sometimes there is enough waste to fill the whole of a 7 seater. It’s bonkers what some of these shops would be throwing in the bin.

I didn't say they were the same - my answer was in response to being asked if drug addicts should survive. Foodbanks didn't really exist at that time, but we (and other agencies) did also collect leftover food (which we got from a local bakery), which they could take away after the meal (rolls, bread, filled sandwiches, sausage rolls, cakes etc) and we also had a small selection of clothes they could take if needed. We did what we could but it was hole plugging.

The one where I cleary wrote that there are genuine reasons why some people may need foodbank support?

Regulatorsmountup Maybe be thankful you can afford to buy your food /essential items /medicine and not be having to use a food bank? What a judg mental post!

My friend works for the charity which, among other things, runs our local food bank. They get donations but they also apply for grants to cover their running costs.

How did you think it worked?

These are independent foodbanks like Cycle, which uses food which would otherwise go to waste. Local churches also run foodbanks. Our community pantry here is a mix of free and low cost food. To access foodbanks like The Trussel Trust, Salvation Army and others who are funded by charities, donations and grants, you need a referral. And that’s important because it means that the person referred may have multiple need, and a referral to a foodbank may be just one part of multiple referrals for the help they need. For those people ‘rocking up’ at any one of the organisations you’ve mentioned, would mean a bag of food and nothing more.

girlfriend44 -Why don't you volunteer to help out at a food bank or a soup kitchen? Get to know the stories from the people who use these facilities. Yes it can seem daunting if it's out of your comfort zone, but 99% of the users are just grateful for food/hot meal. You may get a lot out of it.

I had to use a foodbank a few times years ago when ds was little. I’d left my ex husband, I was working min wage but claiming top up housing benefit. He called them to tell them I was committing benefit fraud as he paid child maintenance, just to be a dick. Obviously it wasn’t fraud, but they had to immediately suspend my claim to investigate the claim and he decided it was best not to pay maintenance while they did so. Absolute prick, we almost got evicted and the council work at a snails pace to rectify things. The council do refer us to the foodbank though.

Ds and I are both coeliac, so we can’t just eat anything. Luckily, food banks use donated money to buy gluten free food.

The awful thing is, I did have people, even on here at times, tell me I should have been grateful for any free food and just eaten it regardless of dietary requirements. Anyone with any understanding of celiac disease will understand why that’s maddening to hear.

Depends.. we can accept:

a receipt for a large unexpected bill
a pip/ dla statements
a screenshot from their bank showing lack of funds

There is a bit of flexibility eg if someone had just been placed and they can show their paperwork to say it’s the first month in the properly or if a social worker contacts us we often offer a 1 off emergency parcel without the evidence.

That's kind of how I see foodbanks - hole plugging.

I suspect a lot of unconscious bias at play. The concept of people volunteering their time and money seems alien to OP.

But the OP is just talking about "foodbanks". If you want free food do you really care if it's coming from a charity, a church or an independent community pantry sort of place? And yes, if you're a CF who doesn't need free food but just wants free food, there is nothing stopping you "rocking up" to foodbanks and that is what the poster I was responding to said didn't happen. When it clearly does.

Maybe there is an argument that people should be better informed about the ethos of the foodbank they are choosing to donate to, and the consequences of the no referral needed approach.

What?

Yes, hole plugging only goes so far though.
I personally don't feel able to do any more hole plugging for the time being, I'm busy trying to make sure I don't make any holes of my own. We can all only give what we're able to give.

Addiction is a huge and very specific life issue, it must have felt impossible to help them properly, because yes just keeping them alive with food is not going to change their long term outcome. However, with other people using the food bank, I do believe that temporary support with the basic requirements of normal functioning can do a lot to help someone through. It's like they don't have to be trying to cover all bases at once, so if the food is mostly taken care of, they can focus, for example, on getting back on track with their income.

I think that as food bank referrals come from a support organisation, then people who are there do have the bigger picture being addressed by other support.

But housing associations don’t run on air. How will they buy / build new stock or carry out repairs if people don’t pay rent? The government used to provide grant but those days are gone.

So you thought there was a time limit on poverty, like people are only poor for a maximum of 18 months? How would that work exactly?

I don't disagree. I just don't feel personally able to help for the tome being.

The independent ones may do that, but charity run ones won’t. Why would they want to give you food that’s likely to make you ill ?

People can donate money to foodbanks as well as food so I guess that’s how they buy the food.

Fair enough. I don't really know what I can do other than plug holes. Sorry my earlier responses may have been overly harsh.