Children going hungry in the summer holidays

When I was a kid, there was a particular Lenny Henry appeal film on Comic Relief that’s always stuck with me.

He said: “If you knew somebody on your doorstep who’d walked 11 days because they were starving and needed a quid for food, you’d say, ‘Here, have a bl**dy quid, actually, have five’.

The point is, forget geo­­graphy, these are your neighbours, this is your doorstep.”

I know there is not a single poster on this thread who, if they opened their door to find a couple of hungry little kids with a note saying they’d had no breakfast, no lunch, and could you please let them have a tin of soup so they could have some tea, would keep those kids on the doorstep interrogating them about their parents’ lifestyle and work history.

There’s not a poster on this thread who wouldn’t feed the kids anyway. Maybe there would be questions later, but there’s no poster on this thread that would turn those wee ones away hungry.

The kids at the foodbank have got a note - their referral from services. A lot of them have sh*t parents. I worked in the field with families in trouble. I know a lot of these kids aren’t fed properly or regularly because someone is drinking the benefit payments, or frankly because someone can’t be ars*d to look after them, or because someone is actually doing it to be cruel to them.

I know there are a lot more hungry kids than people realise, even from foodbank figures.

I don’t think any child should be hungry. I don’t think how badly their parents behave justifies any kid being the one to be punished by being hungry. No kid deserves to be hungry in a country where food is everywhere.

I don’t care that I live somewhere nice and my kids will never be hungry or see hungry kids every day. This is my doorstep, they are my neighbours. I will do what I can to help those hungry kids, even if it seems like not much or not enough. It is something.

I haven't had to use a food bank yet, but the dwp haven't paid me for the last six weeks, owing to paperwork being sent 'to somewhere that doesn't exist', according to the woman I spoke to today.
None of it my doing, circumstances beyond my control have put me in this position, and I can only say that having been on this side of the fence, that I've every sympathy with those who need help.

I hope it gets sorted out before too much longer MissAdventure. That kind of thing happens far too often.

Thank you, jaycee
I was promised a phone call today, but of course, it never came.
If anyone thinks I'm living some sort of 'life of Riley' they would be welcome to my world to try it out.

MissAdventure Been there. I didn't find that mythical land of plenty either.

I have started responses to this thread many times, but deleted them all. People either 'get it' or they don't in my experience and no amount of explanation or reasoning will effectively change hearts or minds, although I met someone recently who, for the first time has a family member who needs to access benefits. She is finding out that the reality of the system that for years she has thought was a 'cheat's charter', is in fact an impenetrable bureaucracy that, if the applicant is successful, finally offers up a reward of £73.10p per week Employment and Support Allowance for an adult. Out of which £8 goes on bus fare to get to the local Job Centre.
I deal with homeless people almost every day of the week and also with people who are in danger of losing their homes and I have an endless catalogue of real life stories of poverty and pain that occasionally robs me of sleep and of peace. However, I also come across people who lift me from despair to joy with their compassion and care: People who have very little themselves, but ensure they make a donation to the food bank every week, people with cars offering lifts, people with time volunteering, people who bake cakes, wash clothes, make tea, help out with form filling - and a few who offer a cup of tea, a hug and a listening ear. They don't think of themselves as heroes, but my goodness the world would be a sadder place without them. Sometimes a homeless person will tell me of a man or woman who once did just a single small kind deed for them, but to that person on that day it made all the difference in the world.
Feeding people, adult or child, deserving or 'undeserving', comes high on my list of kind deeds.

grannyactivist I think that is right. People are entrenched in their views and are not open to changing them until they have personal experience. Even then, people will sometimes think that their experience is different to others who they just know are getting £25,000 a year. Those of us who do get it but are not affected or no longer affected just have to do as much as we can I suppose.

In 2016 a law was passed making it an offense for supermarkets to throw away unsold food, instead donate to foodbanks. Does this law exist in the UK?
I don't know if it is law Fennel, but a lot of supermarkets do that, or donate food to shelters for the homeless.

What a brilliant post muffinthemoo couldn’t agree with you more . There are some children in my grandchildren’s primary that break my heart . They’ve got nothing . Is it their fault ? It really worries me what happens to them during the long school holidays .

If you have a school aged child who needs feeding in the holidays just text FOOD to877877 and you will be given your nearest source. No questions asked.

muffinthemoo your post has just brought tears to my eyes.
I am just beginning to get mobile again, I shall be finding my nearest food bank, and donating

This is one man working towards a solution in Glasgow.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-44795102

People changing their views - We often had people begging outside Carrefour in France. Some immigrants, some local poor. The benefits system isn't so generous there.
I always gave them something, cash or something to eat. Usually my friend was with me, and at first she said don't give to them, they should get a job. I said who will employ them? Eventually she changed her view, though she never gave cash. They weren't so well off.
We had a house in the village which the council funded, for needy families. She gave them food items from time to time.