I've never had to use food banks as an adult but as a teenager my mom would often collect a bag or two of essentials from the parish. As a uni student, and thanks to the Italian welfare system, I was given one free meal per day at the canteen. And as a grown up I've volunteered in local kitchen soups often.
Most of this kind of facilities here where I live are run by charitable organizations linked to the Church. They are very active but are also very badly organized at the micro level. Volunteers are mainly elderly Church ladies (nothing wrong with that) who think that by helping others they are automatically morally superior (that's the wrong bit). I've seen horrible displays of racism and rudeness during my shifts!
I'll always support food banks and kitchen soups but I'm also aware that there are huge gaps that need filling on so many fronts. One more reason to get involved :)
Thanks for this thoughtful and insightful comment Sinù! It sounds obvious but any volunteer enterprise is going to be significantly affected by the quality of the volunteers, which means it can often work out great but can also bring unique challenges.
I've never had to use food banks as an adult but as a teenager my mom would often collect a bag or two of essentials from the parish. As a uni student, and thanks to the Italian welfare system, I was given one free meal per day at the canteen. And as a grown up I've volunteered in local kitchen soups often.
Most of this kind of facilities here where I live are run by charitable organizations linked to the Church. They are very active but are also very badly organized at the micro level. Volunteers are mainly elderly Church ladies (nothing wrong with that) who think that by helping others they are automatically morally superior (that's the wrong bit). I've seen horrible displays of racism and rudeness during my shifts!
I'll always support food banks and kitchen soups but I'm also aware that there are huge gaps that need filling on so many fronts. One more reason to get involved :)
Thnaks for this post Liam!
Thanks for this thoughtful and insightful comment Sinù! It sounds obvious but any volunteer enterprise is going to be significantly affected by the quality of the volunteers, which means it can often work out great but can also bring unique challenges.