Food banks not being used properly

[ubermaus 10]

Wouldnt even know where a foodbank is. Hardly well advertised.

 

---------- Post added 06-04-2015 at 23:18 ----------

 

So tell the staff at the food bank, if you suspect someone is abusing it.

 

Not everyone is eligible for food bank handouts - you have to be registered with Social Services and your application to use the food bank be validated. You cannot just turn up and demand food. The 'heroin addicts' you've been observing so closely may well be bona fide claimants. You do not know their circumstances.

 

And I suppose that in the end, the food bank staff cannot control what the recipients of the food do with it after leaving the premises.

 

Well they have a heroin habit to support. No money for food.

[aliceBB 10]

Wouldnt even know where a foodbank is. Hardly well advertised.

 

---------- Post added 06-04-2015 at 23:18 ----------

 

 

Well they have a heroin habit to support. No money for food.

 

Your point is still obscure.

 

What exactly are you moaning about?

[Hesther 10]

A rise in the use of food banks we all know about and no doubt a lot of people are using them correctly because they're in desperate need of a meal but I have seen first hand the misuse of food banks, I've witnessed a man come out with 2/3 shopping bags walk round the corner and throw some stuff in a black bin, I've also witnessed and heard heroin addicts laughing about what they've got and how much it's saved them

(I know these men were heroin addicts because I spend a lot of time working around the area where they live and have seen them making phone calls from a phone box and 10 mins later collecting from a shady looking man in a nice car)

 

Are the numbers of people using food banks being inflated by the misuse of them?

 

I rather fear from looking at fly on the wall documentaries on the tv where people are managing on a can of beans for a couple of days, that people are not accessing them who are in dire need of help. I think this is often the case with such things. I know food banks use criteria to assess whether a person can have assistance, and I think that in itself is already going to put a lot of people off from getting the help they need.

 

I've also seen families with nice clothes and a nice car and posh accents drive up to food banks and stuff their car boots with food for the week and its all too easy to jump to conclusions but when you hear their stories, they have either been made redundant, or have become too ill to work, etc.

 

I don't think you'll get many people abusing the system to be honest, especially with foodbanks insisting on recommendations from health professionals, the DWP or whatever it's called at the moment, churches, etc. I'd hate the thought of having to live on no frills tinned and packet food that had been picked by someone else, and not be able to feed my family my choices of food. I think it's a shocking state that a developed country has gotten to this.

[Super Hans 10]

I think most people who use food banks probably haven't forgone every superfluous luxury in their lives.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they went straight from the food bank to the news agents for fags, booze, lottery, whatever.

[tinfoilhat 11]

Wouldnt even know where a foodbank is. Hardly well advertised.

 

---------- Post added 06-04-2015 at 23:18 ----------

 

 

Well they have a heroin habit to support. No money for food.

 

I didn't know food banks existed till around 4 or 5 years ago. They are mentioned quite a lot on these forums now. Were they mentioned pre 2010? Pre 2006? I'm going to guess no.

[El Cid 221]

I've witnessed a man come out with 2/3 shopping bags walk round the corner and throw some stuff in a black bin, I've also witnessed and heard heroin addicts laughing about what they've got and how much it's saved them.

 

I assume that they get given a prepacked bag of goodies, and a few things they do not like, it would be better to reuse these items, but most of the food is going to deserving people, is there a problem?

[Mister M 1,626]

Any service or benefit that is organised specifically for the poor, like food banks or JSA, will always come under greater scrutiny and be viewed with suspicion.

I don't doubt that there will be occasional instances of abuse, but that shouldn't detract from the fact that food banks are desperately needed by most who use them.

On a not unrelated subject, Governments have given banks billions upon billions of pounds in response to the credit crunch (which the banks played a major role in creating), yet according to Parliamentary enquiry, the banks are shoring up this money and not lending it out to businesses to ease cash flow problems. However, this is rarely commented upon....

I just think that for some people, kicking the poor is easier for people to do than kicking the rich.

[liza D 10]

From what I gather anyone who goes to one of these places has to be recommended,be assessed, registered, attend meeting and generally jump through hoops. All for a few things that people have thrown out of their xmas hampers.

 

The OP should stop moaning about people abusing these places and start moaning about the reason they are cropping up all over the place.

 

Does he/she also spy on the soup kitchen users or those being fed by the Salvation army.

[pretty_big 10]

From what I gather anyone who goes to one of these places has to be recommended,be assessed, registered, attend meeting and generally jump through hoops. All for a few things that people have thrown out of their xmas hampers.

 

The OP should stop moaning about people abusing these places and start moaning about the reason they are cropping up all over the place.

 

Does he/she also spy on the soup kitchen users or those being fed by the Salvation army.

 

Like I've said I'm in no doubt people genuinely use them, maybe the reason for a few of them opening up and also a few thousand to the figures is a snowball effect of misuse.

I do actually work near a Salvation Army building also I'll keep an eye out...

[Mister M 1,626]

Like I've said I'm in no doubt people genuinely use them, maybe the reason for a few of them opening up and also a few thousand to the figures is a snowball effect of misuse.

I do actually work near a Salvation Army building also I'll keep an eye out...

 

Yes please do. And when you see someone entering or leaving the Sally Army wearing nice clothes, post your observations on the forum, and someone might point out that the person you observed in nice clothes works there

[tinfoilhat 11]

Any service or benefit that is organised specifically for the poor, like food banks or JSA, will always come under greater scrutiny and be viewed with suspicion.

I don't doubt that there will be occasional instances of abuse, but that shouldn't detract from the fact that food banks are desperately needed by most who use them.

On a not unrelated subject, Governments have given banks billions upon billions of pounds in response to the credit crunch (which the banks played a major role in creating), yet according to Parliamentary enquiry, the banks are shoring up this money and not lending it out to businesses to ease cash flow problems. However, this is rarely commented upon....

I just think that for some people, kicking the poor is easier for people to do than kicking the rich.

 

You need to blame Gordon brown for dishing out billions to banks and getting sweet Jack nix in return. It was his responsibility and he wasted the golden oppotunity he and the country had to reform the banking sector. It was unforgivable.

[psynuk 10]

not just gordon though, blair; major, thatcher, regan and a host of other leaders all decided to let the banks 'regulate' themselves.

 

Food banks have been around for a long time..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunger_in_the_United_Kingdom

 

I'm not sure what the op's point is it's hardly any kind of revelation that somebody might be abusing charity.

I got the impression that you are trying to downplay their importance or necessity by highlighting a few bad apples.