Frustrated

We have a saying in Yorkshire, “Theres now’t so queer as folk”,

I answer a lot of Emails from people enquiring about food parcels and when can they call in and collect one. When I ask for contact details and that we need to speak to them, I never hear from some of them again. Then there are those who leave contact details but you can never get an answer from them, We leave messages but very rarely hear back from them, I sometimes think some people are just looking for free food so they can spend their money on other things. Contacting people on a Saturday morning is very “hit and miss”. Then there are those that think that because they are on Universal Credit that they are entitled to a food parcel.  The last figure I heard was that there are over 10,000 on U/C in Kettering alone, enough said. If you are in a crisis we will always try and help, but we would appreciate your help as well. We will try and deliver your parcel if needs be but the priority for the van is to prevent food waste, (a condition of the Grant) and the reason we have the “Help Yourself” table outside so that needs to be the priority. On average we spend around £1.000 each week buying in stock in order to maintain the quality of our parcels. This is only possible because of the fantastic support we have, we have a duty to those who donate to ensure our parcels only go to those who are in genuine food poverty. Working at the food bank can be very frustrating but also very rewarding.