when you run a business, and rely on drumming up customers/sales, it is very easy to become consumed by your own self-interest. so this is a conscious effort against that.
the trussell trust is an anti-poverty charity that runs a network of foodbanks across the uk. as of april 2017, they were running 420 of them - a reflection of the growing demand & increase in food poverty throughout the country. the attendance at foodbanks had increased 7% on last year, with an estimated total of 1,182,954 3-day emergency food supply packs being supplied to people in crisis between april 2016 and march 2017. of these, almost half a million were to children.
this could very easily turn into a rage-fuelled rampage about how disgraceful it is that one of the world’s richest countries cannot afford to feed its citizens (but can, apparently, spend £61 MILLION on repairing a big clock), but that’s not achieving much. the point of this, really, is to show how easy it is to help out - even if you’re as skint and busy as me.
if you google your nearest foodbank, not only will you get a list of the drop-off points closest to you - along with their opening hours and full address - but you’ll also get a breakdown of the items they need most currently. in glasgow southeast (my local area), this is what they are most desperate for:
diluting juice (1 litre)
tea bags (pack of 80)
dried pasta (500g)
UHT milk (1 litre)
breakfast cereals
tinned tomatoes (400g)
tinned fish
a tin of tomatoes from aldi is 29p. regardless of our income, our job, or our lifestyle - almost every one of us can afford to spare 29p. one tin is enough. that is helping.
here are the items that are typically found in an emergency 3-day food supply - usually non-perishable, nutritionally balanced items that will provide 3 days’ worth of healthy, balanced food:
- breakfast cereals
- soup
- pasta
- rice
- pasta sauce
- tinned beans
- tinned meat
- tinned vegetables
- tinned fruit
- tea or coffee
- biscuits
- snacks
i checked each one on the tesco website to see how much, roughly, it would be (i know everyone doesn’t live near enough to a lidl/aldi and i wanted to compare with the ‘big’ supermarkets to see how if it was still feasible):
everyday value cornflakes - 40p
everyday value 4-pack veg soup-in-a-mug - 20p
‘hearty food co’ penne pasta (500g) - 30p
everyday value long grain rice (1kg) - 45p
‘hearty food co’ tomato & herb pasta sauce (440g) - 39p
everyday value baked beans (420g) - 25p
everyday value red kidney beans (400g) - 30p
everyday value tinned sliced carrots (300g) - 20p
everyday value tinned peaches (410g) - 35p
everyday value 40 tea bags - 25p
everyday value coffee granules (100g) - 79p
everyday value chocolate chip cookies (250g) - 40p
everyday value snack assortment 12 pack - 59p
everyday value variety crisps 12 pack - 66p
butterkist cinema sweet popcorn - 74p
total: £6.27
not a single item is more than a pound, and we can easily spend more than that on a coffee & cake in one sitting.
it’s also worth remembering that many people who attend food banks also have food allergies/intolerances, and that this is rarely catered for by people donating so if you can pick up some gluten-free/dairy-free/egg-free bits then it’ll be a couple of extra £s that could make a massive difference to someone.
with black friday approaching, consider sparing £5 of your budget, and put it towards helping people to literally survive.
be kind, be compassionate, and fuck the tories.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
www.trusselltrust.org
Hi Ruth,
Thank you for sharing this. Really informative and well done for not flying into a political rage – I always struggle not to and our dogshite government give plenty of amo BUT, ultimately, taking the time to share positive, easy ways to make big change to real people is worth 1,000 angry rants that do nothing. Although, fuck the fucking Tories, obviously.
Been following you for a little while and just so you know, you are fab.
Sofia x