Food poverty: Mail 'backlash' donations surge past £100k

Public dismay at a Mail on Sunday 'expose' of food bank 'fraud' has triggered £107,000 in donations for the Trussell Trust food bank charity

Rather brilliantly, the Mail of Sunday has succeeded in inadvertently raising over £100,000 for the Trussell trust food bank charity - the very organisation it set out to expose as so dangerously lax with the public's money that, presumably, the public should think twice about donating to it.

That notorious article, in which one of the paper's undercover reporters pretended to be an unemployed father of two in crisis in order to acquire a food parcel, did not, it's fair to say, strike a positive chord with the public.

Indeed, it triggered a backlash via social media. This morning the amount raised on Trussell's Just Giving page stood at £107k, a massive and unprecedented surge in donations over just one week which the charity said was primarily triggered by donors appalled and bewildered by the paper's "expose".

A look some of the comments left by donors on Trussell's page leaves you in no doubt as what donors felt about the MoS story, or why they felt compelled to donate. Here's one, from Suze, who gave £20:

To demonstrate my support for the kindness and compassion of the Trussell Trust and my rejection of the inhumanity of this government and the Daily Mail [Mail on Sunday]

There are plenty more comments, most a little less diplomatic, some laden with expletives.

The paper nonetheless has stood by its story. It told me that it applauded the work of Trussell trust and its "selfless volunteers and generous supporters" but rejected criticism that its story had been misjudged and said it was a "sad day for journalism" when investigations into the use of money given by the public were condemned.

A spokesman added:

We are delighted to hear that the Trussell Trust has received a lot of extra donations. We just hope these are used to help genuinely needy people and not given to fraudsters.

It could not say how many people had defrauded food banks, or how prevalent such fraud was.

But that kind of insight, I suspect, was not really the point. The point was to try to undermine the Trussell trust figures, published a few days previously, that revealed that over 900,000 people received food parcels from its network of food banks in 2013-14, a 163% year on year increase.

How could people possibly regard Trussell as an accurate and credible index of food poverty, the Mail on Sunday suggests, if just any old cheat, fraudster, or journalist can roll up without ID and take advantage? How many of those 900,000, the article implies, are really just opportunists on the make? The data's got to be a bit flaky, hasn't it?

Well, perhaps the MoS could have talked more to food bank volunteers or referring agencies about their experience of dealing week in week out with people who need food vouchers. It could have talked to food bank clients about why they hate charity food handouts and consider food banks a last resort. It could have talked to researchers about why the Trussell trust figures understate the level of food poverty (as the trust itself points out). It could have asked ministers why the UK has no formal index of food poverty, and has shown zero interest in acquiring any robust data on hunger.

But they didn't. This was a cruder version of welfare minister Lord Freud's claim that demand had risen in food banks because the food was free (a claim subsequently shot down by the government's own research).

The MoS might have inquired what was going on when one of its undercover reporters discovered that a food bank client had turned up "with a form from the Job centre". Could this be one of the DWP's very own non-referral referrals? Might it be evidence of a link between welfare reform, benefits payment delays, sanctions, and food bank use? The MoS missed that story, sadly.

Happily, the Bestwood and Bulwell food bank, part of the Trussell Trust charity network and the food bank at the centre of the MoS story, has now published a rather dignified defence of its processes and ethos, declaring:

We help everyone sent to us, with no discrimination. Of this, we are proud. We are not here to interrogate, we are here to treat people with dignity.

It pointed out that despite the paper's claims, the local Citizen's Advice Bureau had asked the undercover reporter a series of detailed questions in good faith about his "plight" before referring him to the food bank, which gave him enough food to last for three days.

In a blog post, Bestwood food bank's Nigel Webster said:

In other words, the Citizens Advice Bureau did exactly what they should have done.

Webster accepted that the system could in theory be abused, despite the checks. But he said this was unlikely to be common:

The food bank's experience of feeding nearly 3,000 people a year tells us that this [fraud] happens infrequently. Our process needs to be as simple as possible to ensure clients who are distressed and in genuine need receive a compassionate welcome at our food bank centre.

Webster's blog post, hosted by Nottinghamshire Community and Voluntary Services, argues the Mail on Sunday missed the bigger story about food poverty:

The Mail on Sunday could have asked all sorts of questions: why do food banks exist, why are they needed, why don't people have enough money to feed their families? But they chose not to. Instead, they chose to put the boot into those of us who seek to serve some of the poorest members of our communities.

He added:

Yes, the reporter from the Mail on Sunday received a food parcel, and yes, it was given without doubting his identity or circumstances. But does it really matter? Is it not something to be celebrated when communities come together to help the weakest?
Should our first instinct be to help, or should we turn away those who struggle to feed their children because they cannot provide what the likes of the Mail on Sunday would consider to be adequate information?

It continued:

We will always err on the side of compassion. We do not want to see a single person or family in this city go hungry. We look forward to the day when every employer pays at least a living wage and every payday lender and loan shark has gone out of business.

Bestwood and Bulwell foodbank has since changed the legend on its Twitter profile to:

Feeding the poor, the downtrodden, and the Daily Mail

By way of a somewhat sarcastic protest, Nottinghamshire Community and Voluntary Service has sent the MoS a food parcel. In an accompanying letter to the paper it wrote:

We felt you had highlighted an important point by sending your journalist along: that not everyone who visits a food bank is unemployed. Indeed, some people are in work but not sufficiently paid, having to choose between heating and eating, or between feeding themselves or their children.
Clearly, this chap you sent along belongs to this group, and we thought his food parcel from the food bank might be running low by now. So our staff have kindly donated items for us to send you a food parcel with items from the Trussell Trust list in case he or any other member of your staff team are struggling.

With perfect timing, an all party parliamentary inquiry has been launched to examine the causes and extent of hunger and food poverty in Britain. It published its terms of reference last Friday. These include:

• To understand the extent and geographical spread of hunger and food poverty in this country
• To investigate the underlying causes of hunger and food poverty in this country

There are plenty of reasons why food banks are not a particularly efficient, effective or morally just solution to the deeper problems of poverty and hunger. The MoS - which you hope will pay close attention to the Commons inquiry - managed not to identify any of them.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/patrick-butler-cuts-blog/2014/apr/28/food-poverty-fraud-mail-on-sunday-backlash-donations-100k


                
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Whilst I do not deter from the food banks persay, I have in the recent past had times when very good fresh food has been available but not been allowed as a donation due to unknown provenance.

That aside.............

If people are taught how to shop for fresh produce and taught how to cook one chicken can go a very long way

Roast, cold cuts, leftovers in rissotto or similar, stock and then soup.......

Feeds four more than adequately for four / five days plus veg.........

IMO ready meals are the daily requirement rather than the time needed to cook......... Ready meals are very very expensive.

One large potato, two carrots, an onion, one stock cube salt pepper and water will make a soup. Serve with toast.....

feeds 4 and more next day.

brilliant

gerber wrote:Whilst I do not deter from the food banks persay, I have in the recent past had times when very good fresh food has been available but not been allowed as a donation due to unknown provenance.

That aside.............

If people are taught how to shop for fresh produce and taught how to cook one chicken can go a very long way

Roast, cold cuts, leftovers in rissotto or similar, stock and then soup.......

Feeds four more than adequately for four / five days plus veg.........

IMO ready meals are the daily requirement rather than the time needed to cook.........  Ready meals are very very expensive.

One large potato, two carrots, an onion, one stock cube salt pepper and water will make a soup.  Serve with toast.....

feeds 4 and more next day.

Completely agree Gerbs, make a lot of soup and chicken always ends up with the bones making stock. But I think what these people are experiencing is far beyond that.

Sassy wrote:

gerber wrote:Whilst I do not deter from the food banks persay, I have in the recent past had times when very good fresh food has been available but not been allowed as a donation due to unknown provenance.

That aside.............

If people are taught how to shop for fresh produce and taught how to cook one chicken can go a very long way

Roast, cold cuts, leftovers in rissotto or similar, stock and then soup.......

Feeds four more than adequately for four / five days plus veg.........

IMO ready meals are the daily requirement rather than the time needed to cook.........  Ready meals are very very expensive.

One large potato, two carrots, an onion, one stock cube salt pepper and water will make a soup.  Serve with toast.....

feeds 4 and more next day.

Completely agree Gerbs, make a lot of soup and chicken always ends up with the bones making stock.   But I think what these people are experiencing is far beyond that.

I don't sorry.

They have grown up with take aways, freezer foods etc............. No one cooking, school cookery classes changed to food tech, write an essay about a cheese sandwich

When I was little, a slice of cooked ham and a few chips was tea..... with one slice of bread and butter....... Wow the ham always tasted so good.

Daughter went to uni, was the most popular beacuse she was the only one who could cook. Middle son in Edinburgh uni as we speak, same again...... he charges as they have offered to pay to cook for his peers............. £ 5 to 8 per head depending on the meal.

he cooks, eats and never washes up and makes a profit.

£5 for macaroni cheese ( homemade ) they think they have a bargain. Restaurant £10 plus. It is served with salad dressed of course and proper garlic bread for dunking................ not bought heavens above..... More than they can eat and the rest is frozen for a non money day which they have plenty of

Roast most Sundays......, curries Mondays....... he loves to cook and eat and make money and they love to save money.......

He can make a breast of chicken go three ways............................for himself.

You ever read Jack Munroe's blog and recipies.   She was out of work for a while and became utter desperate, started writing a blog on how she managed to feed her son (sometimes she had to send him to her Mums so he could eat}.   She now works as a paid campaigner for Oxfam and writes for the Guardian, but the reason that she got those jobs was that people who were unemployed and broke began following her to try and eat on a pittance.

http://agirlcalledjack.com/tag/budget-recipes/

Got to say, as soon as I hear the words 'charity' alarm bells start ringing, too many these days have highly paid executives and you really don't know where the money goes to.

Having said that, I do regularly contribute to a church based food bank near me, they don't take cash donations just food. And unlike others they will take fresh food, which is useful as I have a neighbour who has an allotment and keeps leaving swedes on my doorstep at the moment  

I am useless myself, I don't buy ready meals, although I used to when I was out of the house for 16 hours a day working. Now I work for myself I can spend more time cooking healthy meals, but if I buy a chicken I will maybe eat one breast and the dog has the rest   

Sassy wrote:You ever read Jack Munroe's blog and recipies.   She was out of work for a while and became utter desperate, started writing a blog on how she managed to feed her son (sometimes she had to send him to her Mums so he could eat}.   She now works as a paid campaigner for Oxfam and writes for the Guardian, but the reason that she got those jobs was that people who were unemployed and broke began following her to try and eat on a pittance.

http://agirlcalledjack.com/tag/budget-recipes/

No I hadn't until now thanks...... My kind of cooking.

Tonight, we had reheat meat. Kids and hubby hated reheats and refused to eat them, I grew up on them in Lancashire and han no choice. Maybe that is where we are going so wrong in society giving choice........... If you are hungary you will jolly well eat it.

Anyway I digress..

Gerbs Reheat meat.

2 ladles yesterdays' gravy

2 large spoons red currant jelly

Good slash wine / cider vinegar

Small onion chopped or dollop of Branston Pickle, if using pork Marmalade works really well

herbs if available

salt and pepper

Left over sliced meat.

Large frying pan

All into pan except meat, dissolve jelly, add meat, heat through and cook spuds, reheat mash or pan fry. When hot serve with crusty bread for dunking.

Works with all meat.

can add stuffing as well if left over and cold caulifloiwer cheese for thickening sauce.

Yummy

No waste.


No charge BTW for recipe.

gerber wrote:

Sassy wrote:You ever read Jack Munroe's blog and recipies.   She was out of work for a while and became utter desperate, started writing a blog on how she managed to feed her son (sometimes she had to send him to her Mums so he could eat}.   She now works as a paid campaigner for Oxfam and writes for the Guardian, but the reason that she got those jobs was that people who were unemployed and broke began following her to try and eat on a pittance.

http://agirlcalledjack.com/tag/budget-recipes/

No I hadn't until now thanks......  My kind of cooking.

Tonight, we had reheat meat.  Kids and hubby hated reheats and refused to eat them, I grew up on them in Lancashire and han no choice.  Maybe that is where we are going so wrong in society giving choice...........  If you are hungary you will jolly well eat it.

Anyway I digress..

Gerbs Reheat meat.

2 ladles yesterdays' gravy

2 large spoons red currant jelly

Good slash wine / cider vinegar

Small onion chopped or dollop of Branston Pickle, if using pork Marmalade works really well

herbs if available

salt and pepper

Left over sliced meat.

Large frying pan

All into pan except meat, dissolve jelly, add meat, heat through and cook spuds, reheat mash or pan fry. When hot serve with crusty bread for dunking.

Works with all meat.

can add stuffing as well if left over and cold caulifloiwer cheese for thickening sauce.  

Yummy

No waste.


No charge BTW for recipe.

Kinda thing I do.   Redcurrant jelly makes a huge difference to so many things.

Used to make the kids lentil burgers, they loved them.   Cook red lentils until soft and all the water has gone.   Fry onion and grated carrot, when cooked so carrot still got a bit of bite, add the lentils, tomato sauce, worcestershire sauce and dark soy sauce, salt and pepper, then add breadcrums to soak up any liquid.   Mix, leave to go cold, form into patties and dip in seasoned wholemeal flour, fry.   Before you fry them they freeze beautifully.

Sassy wrote:

gerber wrote:

No I hadn't until now thanks......  My kind of cooking.

Tonight, we had reheat meat.  Kids and hubby hated reheats and refused to eat them, I grew up on them in Lancashire and han no choice.  Maybe that is where we are going so wrong in society giving choice...........  If you are hungary you will jolly well eat it.

Anyway I digress..

Gerbs Reheat meat.

2 ladles yesterdays' gravy

2 large spoons red currant jelly

Good slash wine / cider vinegar

Small onion chopped or dollop of Branston Pickle, if using pork Marmalade works really well

herbs if available

salt and pepper

Left over sliced meat.

Large frying pan

All into pan except meat, dissolve jelly, add meat, heat through and cook spuds, reheat mash or pan fry. When hot serve with crusty bread for dunking.

Works with all meat.

can add stuffing as well if left over and cold caulifloiwer cheese for thickening sauce.  

Yummy

No waste.


No charge BTW for recipe.

Kinda thing I do.   Redcurrant jelly makes a huge difference to so many things.

Used to make the kids lentil burgers, they loved them.   Cook red lentils until soft and all the water has gone.   Fry onion and grated carrot, when cooked so carrot still got a bit of bite, add the lentils, tomato sauce, worcestershire sauce and dark soy sauce, salt and pepper, then add breadcrums to soak up any liquid.   Mix, leave to go cold, form into patties and dip in seasoned wholemeal flour, fry.   Before you fry them they freeze beautifully.

Are we going to open the forum soup kitchen or get a little gastrojuice going and enrole them all in the forum Masterchef.....

The latter sounds fun.....

We cook alike.....

One scrooge to another xx

or two poor buggers.......lol

gerber wrote:

Sassy wrote:

Kinda thing I do.   Redcurrant jelly makes a huge difference to so many things.

Used to make the kids lentil burgers, they loved them.   Cook red lentils until soft and all the water has gone.   Fry onion and grated carrot, when cooked so carrot still got a bit of bite, add the lentils, tomato sauce, worcestershire sauce and dark soy sauce, salt and pepper, then add breadcrums to soak up any liquid.   Mix, leave to go cold, form into patties and dip in seasoned wholemeal flour, fry.   Before you fry them they freeze beautifully.

Are we going to open the forum soup kitchen or get a little gastrojuice going and enrole them all in the forum Masterchef.....

The latter sounds fun.....

We cook alike.....

One scrooge to another xx

or two poor buggers.......lol

LOL

Taught by my Nan bless her, she was cook for Chelsea Football Club. When it came to cooking at home she had a kitchen that you could barely turn round in, an old gas cooker and not much more, but used to turn out family dinners to die for, all on next to nothing. She used to do swopsies with neighbours who had an allotment. I still have her pastry cutter, straight handle with wires in in D shape to cut through the fat and flour so you don't get it warm, makes fantastic pastry that way.

I'm for bed Gerbs, swop more misers recipes tomorrow lol xxx

Sassy wrote:

gerber wrote:

Are we going to open the forum soup kitchen or get a little gastrojuice going and enrole them all in the forum Masterchef.....

The latter sounds fun.....

We cook alike.....

One scrooge to another xx

or two poor buggers.......lol

LOL

Taught by my Nan bless her, she was cook for Chelsea Football Club.   When it came to cooking at home she had a kitchen that you could barely turn round in, an old gas cooker and not much more, but used to turn out family dinners to die for, all on next to nothing.   She used to do swopsies with neighbours who had an allotment.   I still have her pastry cutter, straight handle with wires in in D shape to cut through the fat and flour so you don't get it warm, makes fantastic pastry that way.

I'm for bed Gerbs, swop more misers recipes tomorrow lol xxx

Night Night Sassy

Yep you betcha