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Catriana Mitchell (director of Kerith in the community) and Geoff Hallett (project manager for Bracknell Foodbank) are urgently appealling for more donations to cope with a rise in demand
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Foodbank appeal for more donations after rise in demand

By Becky Barnes
March 19, 2013

With growing demand for emergency food parcels, Bracknell Foodbank is urgently appealing for more items.

The charity is particularly short of long-life fruit juice, 500g packs of sugar, tinned sponge puddings and tinned rice puddings.

Donations can be brought to Kerith Community Church, Church Road, between 9.30am and 5pm from Monday to Friday.

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Most recent user comments 11 of 11

Although I am a lifelong traditional Conservative, not a Cameron Blu-Labour Conservative, I had to laugh when I heard the Minister for Work and Pesions yesterday in Parliament, state that the reason for the rise in the use of foodbanks, was because they had put leaflets in jobcentres advertising them.

How out of touch is he then?

Tonk, Wokingham
20/03/2013 at 12:04

Since 2008 when the economic collapse hit there has been approximately a 900% increase in the numbers of food bank parcels distributed to those in need.

And we're not talking about the shirkers and skivers the government love to demonise as the cause of all our woes - ordinary, working families, and the elderly who have to choose between a hot meal and paying their bills for fear of being hauled in front of the courts.

If such community led efforts weren't in place we'd have people dying from hunger or hypothermia.

Yet here we have an MP like Phillip Lee who gets two public sector wages, £19k a year for a flat in London he doesn't need, tax payer funded assistants and interns, and a private income from Medical Solutions Ltd.

Then there's the donations he receives from the likes of John Nike and Boehringer.

He's a very well remunerated and funded individual.

http://searchthemoney.com/profile/361?index=3&mpid=361&page=4&tabname=Remunerations

Meanwhile we have a charitable organisation providing the kind of emergency help to ordinary voters that are needed because of government policies supported by Lee and his donors.

The local Tories nailed their coffin shut when they reselected him to be their candidate for 2015.

Winstanley, Bracknell
20/03/2013 at 09:45

Personally I think it is a shame that people are ignoring the main fact of the story that people in Bracknell and all over the country are relying on food banks to survive.

The council has a surplus of over 3 million and 5 million in the Iceland fiasco

Surely some of this money could be used in subsidies/vouchers for the vulnerable

The voice of reason
20/03/2013 at 07:45

Dids, why do you find it offensive? Because it sounds like one would be trying to give away rotten food or is it because you are of the same sensible opinion of many people who are not stupid enough to believe that the food would harm? I for one use one of the on-line sites to purchase food for my family and the food is perfectly fit for human consumption. It would be against the law to sell it otherwise. I was merely asking that if people were to go through their cupboards and come across items that they will no longer need but are past their “best before” date then would the food bank accept such items. We all do it – buy stuff and then months later it’s still sat in the cupboard and we then forget about it. Please clarify your statement so I can understand what side of this ridiculous fence you sit on.

HK, bracknell
19/03/2013 at 21:43

There is a world of difference between 'use by' and 'best before' dates. I would not use a product after the 'use by' date but with 'best before' I rely on my nose, palate, and common sense. We are sending millions of tonnes of perfectly good food to landfill sites every year and that is offensive on so many levels

I grew up in an era of hand-me-downs and make do and mend. While we didn't go short of food on the table I had several friends who did. It is a sign of our sanitised society that we would let people go without food because of a largely meaningless datestamp.

There are several online companies selling foodstuffs either nearing or past its 'best before' and whilst I don't use them owing to the quantities they offer it may well be an avenue worth investigating for small cooperatives.

timespassing
19/03/2013 at 20:55

HK Bracknell.

Accept food past its best before date?

Somehow I find that a rather cold hearted question...

Dids, Bracknell
19/03/2013 at 17:49

PR, Where I agree in principle, in an ideal world this would be the best way forward. Unfortunately, we don’t live in this idyllic place and although people like you, me and others who have grown up with home cooking skills, it has taken years of indoctrination to get where we are. Giving cooking lessons to the hundreds of people who use food banks would be totally impossible on such a scale. I would happily show people how to cook but where would I do this? It is very sad in today’s world that people don’t have the will, let alone the materials to produce home cooked food and so it is by default that tins and packets are needed.

HK, bracknell
19/03/2013 at 17:03

And the demand will only grow from April 1st when the bedroom tax hits and people can't afford to eat at least 600 homes and over 1000 people affected!

The voice of reason
19/03/2013 at 14:58

Why is a food bank supplying tinned rice puddings rather than rice? We need food banks to educate their clients about how to feed themselves by providing ingredients and if necessary cooking insructions.

PoneRana, Wokingham
19/03/2013 at 13:27

It is a sad reflection on our nation that, we should need food banks in the twenty-first century. It is an even greater indictment that the need for these food banks is increasing.

It has been said that a nation can be judged by how well it looks after its weakest members; the elderly, the sick and the young. I wonder what this increase in the real need for food banks, says about twenty-first century Britain?

Tonk, Wokingham
19/03/2013 at 12:29

One question : Will they accept food that is past it's "Best Before" date? This is food that will not harm, nor will it kill you. It is simply food that after the date printed on the pack, it "may not" taste as wonderful as it did the day before that date. I know how stupid people can be over this and I am sure there must be hundreds of people who would throw it away rather than give it away. I am not talking about "Use by" dates here.