Tales from the food bank (27)

Maybe Rishi Sunak was onto something at yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) when he declared, not in these exact words, that “you’ve never had it so good.” There was no cost of living crisis, no unaffordable fuel bills, inflation was no longer running at 19.2% so there was no need for food banks after all. Well, we were unusually quiet today – quieter than I’ve ever known it – so it could be in just a week Sunak has sorted everything out. After all, stranger things have happened, but not many.

I jest of course because it was only a week ago I told you that we were issuing twice as much food as we were taking in and I was worried something would have to give and that something, of course, would be our callers who, I feared, we would end up turning away. Perhaps, with the numbers down on recent months we will be able to eke out a few extra weeks with existing stock.

We operate out of a church, which is normal for food banks. This means we have plenty of space, decent kitchen facilities and it’s nice and warm. I would like to think that churches operate food banks on their premises because they think it’s a good thing to do and not to impress God. My colleagues who do God appear to come along for the right reasons. And it’s not just the food bank they allow on the premises. We have a warm space, a community café and all manner of stuff going on during the week and it blurs into the religious aspect of a church. There’s no obvious proselytisation going on and long may it stay that way.

Because it was quiet, I was able to chat to my colleagues who are becoming friends. They’re volunteering for two main reasons. They want to give a bit back to society and they enjoy what they do, which are the exact reasons I give when asked. I’d say most of us, though not all, are comfortably off but we both sympathise and empathise with the callers who aren’t. I certainly do. And even in the bags we give to people, there are items I could only have dreamed about having when I was a kid.  Many of our callers clearly feel that exact same way.

The person who runs our food bank is leaving in a few weeks. I’ll be very sorry to see him go. He’s warm, friendly and efficient and a pleasure to work with. I get the impression he feels a bit awkward because he is clearly moving on to a better job, with higher wages and the opportunity of advancement. He shouldn’t feel awkward at all. He’s very smart and could probably have chosen far more lucrative opportunities before he came to us (long before I did). I said that he had given a lot to the food bank and now he should take something out of life that benefits him. Life should be a mixture of give and take. The only feeling of sadness I have is that people have to move away from food bank jobs to get a decent standard of living.

I’m happy to volunteer for nothing and I don’t want to be paid for what I do. But I do support the idea of professionals doing the organising and administration and being properly rewarded for it. However, that’s not how things work in Broken Britain. Someone whose job can literally mean life or death for some people has to rely on buttons to live on.

Sunak hasn’t really solved anything. 13 years of his party’s government have caused the mess we are in, where millions live in poverty in a rich country. Sunak is the richest politician in the land for Christ’s sake but he doesn’t care. And I am pretty sure that the quiet day today was a blip. Next week, on the cusp of the coronation weekend, I’ll be there again, feeling very angry inside at what I will see as grotesque squandering of public money while people are relying on the kindness of others, many of whom have little themselves. I’ll keep my gob shut at the food bank, but I’ll be seething when I see all that excess that accompanies any royal occasion.