At our food bank, we weigh the food when it comes in and we weigh it all out again. It’s likely to be for accounting purposes or it’s just in case the Daily Mail invents a story about how the food goes to waste. Either way, it’s a lot of food and today I learned just how much.
Our little food bank covers a relatively small area but even so we gave out enough food for 56 people. It weighed in at over half a ton of food. That is a typical amount, apparently. And it’s astonishing. If that figure was replicated across every food bank some 2000 tons of food would be issued every time each one opened.
If issuing food for 56 people sounds a lot for one short afternoon, well that’s because it is. We usually get a few no shows, but today it was only two, including one whose bags had already been prepared for them. That meant we were very busy from beginning to end, which at least means time flies for us volunteers if not for our callers who sadly have to wait a long time. Among the gloom shines a small light, though.
When the final orders are being prepared, we put the chairs and tables away in the corners of the church. In recent weeks, a number of our callers have assisted us in putting them away. We’d never dream of asking but they do anyway. When we thank them, they just thank us for what we do. It’s better still when we end the day with a good news story.
One of the last callers explained that they were returning to work on Monday following a physical injury that took them over a year to recover from. They explained to me that it would have been easy to have become institutionalised by the welfare system and remain on poverty benefits for longer, but they really wanted to work again, for the money and the self- respect it gave them. “There were dark times when I felt like giving up,” they told me, “But I’ve come out the other side.” All they needed now was enough food to get through the weekend. In a better world, I don’t think people like this should need to go to a food bank for help. There must be a better, state-sponsored way. After all, from Monday, this person will be contributing to the exchequer. “Beggars can’t be choosers,” they told me. “No,” I replied, ” No one should need to beg.”
I certainly need a sign that not everything is bad, not everything is lost, because sometimes at the food bank it feels like it. And it reminds you that a better world is possible.
