Food

 

I thought I was an average person, working paying bills with the usual worries, what school, can we afford to buy extra presents, shoes, coats etc. I didn’t realise that to some people this is a whole existence away from what they are used to. I feel ignorant, selfish, ashamed and, I want to help. 

 

I know someone in a similar situation, I criticise their choices, think them lazy, with no drive or determination. My view after this evenings documentary has been cast in a slightly different light. Maybe what I should see is someone who is doing the best that they can with what they have and, I should extend the olive branch.  Maybe the issue is mine not theirs, I am the lazy one, with no desire to see what the issues are or how I can help. 

 

All of us are all only steps away from a similar fate. My father lost his business in the 1990’s, he lost the family home, we moved to our mothers and he went into a bed-sit. I always thought, for God’s sake how did you manage to do this to us!!! It does however seem simple now, a wrong choice, a lost job, a missed loan or mortgage payment and before you know it you are hurtling through an abyss with no means of recovery. 

 

I think the people tonight should be commended for their courage, it must be so hard to stand up and say “I can’t provide food for my family, please help me”

 

When we go back to school after half term I will be speaking to the PTA about how we can assist a food bank through donations. I also plan to speak to our Coventry and Runcorn offices to see if the company I work for are helping here too. 

 

If you see a food bank collection at your supermarket give something, an own brand pasta or rice or tin of soup. With the average weekly shop for the majority of us coming in at around £80-£100, 50p will hardly break the bank. You never know when someone you know, or you yourself may end up in the Food Bank queue, praying that enough people have donated so that you are able to eat today….