Pennsif’s Progress #594 – My first day at the Food Bank
From what I have seen of food banks in the big cities my local one is rather a low key affair.
The population of the town and surrounding catchment area is only about 3,000. There is certainly some unemployment and poverty in the area but it is quite well 'contained' so the 'clients' for the food bank are measured only in handfuls each week at most.
The foodbank is only open for business 3 days a week, staffed by a rota of volunteers mainly drawn from local churches.
I have just become one of the volunteers and today was my induction day. I will mainly be 'on call' for the food bank on Wednesdays.
When I am on call I will get a phone call when I client want to come to collect a supply of food. Then I have an hour to go to the supermarket to pick up sufficient bread, milk, spread, fresh fruit and vegetables according to the size of the client's family and whether they have children or not.
Then I take the fresh goods back to the food bank HQ to make up the rest of the 'food parcel'. The aim is to supply enough food for 3 meals for 3 days.
The food parcel is made up mainly of tinned and dried food, pasta, tinned meat meals, cereals, tea, coffee etc according to a prescribed menu structure. Parcels also include toilet rolls, toothpaste, soap, sanitary towels.
Clients (people needing food) are not allowed to contact the Food Bank directly - they have to be referred by one of the 'agencies' both third sector and local authority. Each agency is initially given 10 vouchers to use for people in need.
A client is only allowed a maximum of three food parcels in succession to cover any difficult, emergency situations. This is commonly when their benefit payments have been delayed. Then the agencies are supposed to have sorted out their situations.
The Food Bank has plenty of food. It is also has plenty of money from donations.
One of its biggest problems is ensuring the food stock gets rotated so the oldest is always used first. That is real prepper territory!
Alas no clients came today but it was fascinating to see how this food bank operates.
I see all things nowadays through steem-tinted spectacles - but I am so far struggling to see any steem angle on a food bank.
I suspect there is but I just need to think this through a bit harder.
Just for interest I saw this recent article in a leading British newspaper about food banks...
On the way home from the food bank I visited another local charity who are going to make use of a dozen leverarch files I no longer need.
Steem did slip into the conversation and they are keen to sign up.
That has given me a whole new idea.
But it is 3am now so that will have to wait for my next post...
RADIO :
SteemRadio - schedule of all the steem radio shows - week beginning 30 July 2018
The Alternative Lifestyle Show - Friday 3 August - guests @wwf, @gregorypatrick, @plantstoplanks & @adventuroussoul
The Alternative Lifestyle Show - Friday 27 July 2018 - with @kennyskitchen [recording]
BLOGS :
Pennsif's Progress #596 - Should I, Shouldn't I ... tell him about Steem?
Pennsif's Progress #597 - Getting it right
Pennsif's Progress #599 - Time for change
PROJECTS :
A Dollar A Day charitable giving project : July 2018 - summary of donations received and given out
[CONTEST] A Dollar A Day charitable giving project : What can you buy for 1 SBD?
Headlines that caught my eye... 19 July 2018
Pennsif's Live Sustainability Curation Digest for MSP - week ending 29 July 2018
[ images by pennsif ]
New users that can earn to support their own charity organizations like the groups already using Steemit. It’s a start. 🐓🐓
Yes, especially if we could help them get some delegations to start off better.
Is no one offering delegations anymore? I did not know this had become a thing of the past. 🐓🐓
Oh, I think there is still a good number of delegations to get, but you have to know they are out there and others have to nominate you for a lot of them I think.
I am glad you were one of them! 🐓🐓
Thank you :)
That's both excellent and weird compared to food banks here:
Excellent because you get fresh food. That's almost unheard of here. Maybe a food bank would have two or three bins of one kind of veggie each that got donated, if that. Almost never meat, eggs, milk, or anything with protein at all except beans. I can't really use any here because it's all processed stuff I'm allergic to. It was already a problem when I only had figured out a few allergies; now it would be largely impossible. And they also don't bother with toilet roll, sanitary napkins, toothpaste, etc., unless someone happened to donate a few. When the food bank gets government funds, there are rules about what size family is allowed to take what food, so even if they had tinned tomatoes which I could eat, those were always only available to families with children for some reason.
Weird that they limit the number of times people could use it. But you're open way more often, too. Here most are once a week.
There are different rules for different food banks. In one community centre, there is a donation twice a week from a local Waitrose, both food bank donations from customers and excess stock. These are set out on tables according to type and anyone is welcome to come in (no referrals, no registrations, everyone is welcome) and can take one item from each table.
In the neighbouring borough, the food bsnk receives funding from the local council as well as donations, is open five days a week and has many other supporting activities (health checks, welfare rights, jobseeking support). However, people have to be referred there, it isn't open door. I was interested that very few people come back for more than one parcel. I'd like to think this is because their problem was solved but I suspect it is because it is too much to go through.
Other places, especially churches, run kitchens where people can get a meal. Although the funded projects probably meet the immediate or emergency needs of more people, the community groups provide more long-term support and the opportunity to form relationships that support people more widely.
When I volunteered with one that was connected with a health org, they often got donations of day old pastries from Starbucks and they literally had freezers full. So after getting their more healthy food, people could take as many pastries as they wanted because there were always mountains. At a food bank I was a client of a couple of times, they got day old pastries from a grocery, and again, mountains of slightly stale pastries, only less healthful food overall because they didn't aim for the health needs like the health org one did. It was pretty much the diabetes food pantry there.
You have begin nice job by food bank, it is very helpful for human.
I have to admit I have no idea how food banks work here. I know we have places people can go for a free meal and we have Christmas baskets for the less fortunate. But I'm not sure we have proper food banks.
Yesterday I found a food sharing group. It's not for the less fortunate (although they are certainly welcome), it's simply for people who would like to 'save' food from going to waste. I'd really like to go and give it a try in September. From what I gather you have to get there around 11 am and may not get any food until 3 pm, but you should get a big bag full of free food that would otherwise go to waste. It would be awesome if we could cut out grocery budget that way.
I'm looking forward to hearing of that new idea of yours :)
Excellent Job @Pennsif - A well worthy cause.
I hear from the 'donation' basket at our town that they they are always short of Meat based tinned products.