Food banks. Can anyone explain to me please

Re: so you say that's shallow

I'm not the expert, but I can tell you there are so many factors, from Mental health issues, through a whole host of mental and physical abuse issues, family break ups, debt etc. On what I've seen the genuine cases are 9 plus in 10, rather than 1. The idea promoted by my friend though is just part of a multi facet approach to get peoples lives back on track so that foodbank use is short term. I wouldn't categorise anyone I've met as a scrounger, I've had conversations with people who say the foodbank was a lifesaver, one in particular rang me a couple of weeks ago for me to pass his thanks on, and to volunteer his services now he was sorted round. As I said earlier before anyone passes adverse comment, they really should volunteer to spend a day on the delivery Van.

 

Re: so you say that's shallow

Do you realise you'd be asking certain posters on here to base their comments on facts, and why let facts get in the way of a story. The source of their information is probably from the likes of the Mail, Sun, Telegraph et al.

 

Re: so you say that's shallow

Oops double post.

 

Yes. Monday to Friday 9-5.

 

As a student I managed to live on £6 a week for food for a couple of months. Mostly chicken nuggets and fishfingers, which were 40 for 50p. Chips. Instant noodles. Beans. Peanut butter or jam sandwiches or toast.

Not exactly healthy but I didn't starve.

 

I could write a dissertation on the stuff in this thread

I'm a debt advisor at StepChange and maybe a couple of calls a week I refer people to foodbanks as they simply do not have the income to afford to pay all essential bills and living costs, e.g. food. It is most commonly temporary circumstances such as awaiting benefit claims to come through (some take 13 weeks).

I won't go into any detail because if I start I'll be up all night writing a post. The one thing I will say is that there is huge ignorance from most people towards debt and financial difficulty.

I'd say that at most 1 in 10 people I advise have got into trouble because of careless overspending. And even with those people, it's usually been an honest mistake, and let's face it, we all make mistakes. More common causes of problem debt are:

Relationship/marital breakdown
Bereavement
Illness/injury (including many mental illnesses)
Losing a job
Having to take a lower paid job
Having children (sometimes happens unplanned of course)
Even just the increased cost of living (not so much right now when inflation is low but current problems can have been caused initially by this.