Tales from the food bank (9)

I am writing this just a few minutes after getting home from my little stint in the food bank. I’m full of adrenalin and brain fog after that.  So, here goes.

I missed last week’s food bank, which left me feeling quite guilty, and I soon learned it had been the busiest day for some time. But that was nothing compared to today. We were expected to have just under 100 callers, which for the relatively small area we cover felt enormous. And enormous it was. As soon as the doors opened at 1.00pm, we were flat out and we could barely draw breath until two hours later. Even then, we weren’t finished as a few latecomers arrived.

We’ve run out of a few things now. We’ve no washing powder, for one thing, and we had no bread. This might not sound much if you have got washing powder and bread, but it’s not great if you have neither.

A good number of our callers today were in full time work. One tearful person took a break from their job in order to get some food, after which they then had to return to work. They had eaten nothing all day and this was a ghastly and humiliating experience. It is hard not to get angry and wonder what the hell is going on when someone who is in full time work has nothing to eat. I had no doubt that every single one of our callers today was legitimate.

My colleagues are incredible. I was asked to work in the store cupboard today, choosing and packing food and other items, but I was too slow. I just couldn’t deal with it, so I had to resume front-of-house work. Those in the store room just didn’t stop. It’s fast, physical work and no one complains, except about a rich country that has food banks on an industrial scale.

Our people aren’t overly political, at least in the party political sense, but there is great disillusionment with our leaders, especially with PM Sunak who along with his wife is worth around £750 million. One colleague used the argument I trotted out on here the other week. No one begrudges someone being rich, not even a politician, but if he then forces harrowing austerity on those who have least, it’s open season. Sunak’s wife kept her non-dom status to avoid tax and Sunak himself kept his US green card even when he was chancellor. Therefore, it cannot be right that the same bloke then sits by when millions of less fortunate people can’t afford to eat.

It’s not just going without food. The same people can’t afford to heat their homes either. We were fortunate today to have a box of thermal vests which were gratefully accepted by our callers.

This can’t go on. People’s living standards are falling, notably those at the bottom. And sooner or later we are going to face a reckoning. For those at or near the bottom – and there are millions – they will not be able to afford to eat or heat. And then what happens?  As Rishi Sunak enjoys his brand new heated swimming pool next to his Yorkshire mansion and gets his GP appointments with a private practice, he tells the very poorest in society that they can go whistle if they want anything.  Something, I suspect, will give. Will the levee break and people will rise up? I have no idea but sooner or later we will face breaking point and, as we know, desperate people resort to desperate measures.

Today was the hardest I’ve worked for the best part of nine years. I’m absolutely knackered tonight but at least I’ve gone home to a nice warm house and soon I’ll get a nice hot meal. If you were kind enough to donate to a food bank for Christmas, please think carefully about doing so on a regular basis in future. Because, as we say, poverty is not just for Christmas: under Sunak it will be for life.