The Leaking Tap
Here's the scenario: The tap in the bathroom is leaking and water is flowing over the sink and onto the floor. There’s a bucket and mop leaning against the wall. What would your reaction be?
Mop the floor to stop the water seeping into the floorboards or wade in and try and turn the tap off? The preferred action would be turning off the tap as otherwise the mopping won’t make a difference. And yet, though this option is the most obvious, it isn’t always possible. Most of life’s situations are a lot more complex than one tap that can be turned off easily. And yet, it is still what we should aim for.
The rise in food poverty and work insecurity is no longer a hidden issue, lockdown has seen to that. And yet, faced with an unprecedented need we have all had to react as if the only thing we had is a mop. As you will see from the experiences of two of our members, Miki and Tally, when the need is urgent we can’t only work to switch off the tap, we also have to try and alleviate the immediate need. In our community this has meant food solidarity, sharing our food, for over 16 weeks. Without the help and support of Miki and Karen especially, but also all the people who volunteered to drive, to be hubs to collect food and materials, to donate food week after week, cook meals, to help others donate food we could not have done this, and we as a community want to say thank you.
From Miki Lentin
Last week The Guardian reported that 2,500 children were admitted to hospital in England with malnutrition in the first six months of this year. Please read that sentence again. In 2020, in the fifth richest country in the world. Am I surprised? I am more shocked than surprised. Shocked that we still live in a society that finds it hard to distribute food to those who really need it. Shocked that the charity and food distribution organisation FairShare reports that nearly 1 million people rely on charitable food support every week.
But, I am incredibly grateful that I’m part of a compassionate community that self-organised to deliver food packages once a week to schools in Tottenham, less that three miles from Crouch End, to help families throughout Lockdown, many who are in dire need.
It was a pretty humbling experience driving through empty streets with a packed car load of food to the Willow Primary one Monday morning at the beginning of lockdown. The community had responded quickly, the car smelled of pasta bakes, dahl and lasagnes. The need was great, I was told by the Head Teacher. Many families on the Broadwater Farm Estate across the road had been given little support, apart from a £15 food voucher per person that could only be used in a Sainsbury’s a few miles away. Families were calling the school, many in extreme distress. Could the school help?
Organised by Citizens UK, together with donations from Mutual Aid Groups in Crouch End, we returned week after week with food packages, cooked and dry food as well as donations of books and art materials. I was told that the need was greater than ever. I was told that many people who lived locally had lost their jobs, or were key workers and had no option but to keep working. I was told that many parents were finding the stress very difficult.
Luckily the The Felix Project https://thefelixproject.org/ also got involved and began delivering fresh food every Tuesday. Packages were made up for families by the school, who came to collect their package every Tuesday afternoon.
But driving week after week to either the Willow Primary or Holy Trinity Primary in Tottenham, face mask and sanitiser at the ready, I often questioned if we were giving enough? Was there enough food to go around? Why did we have to do this? It is that last question that still niggles me. It is our responsibility to help, but I believe that food is a basic human right and no one should be going hungry, especially children and especially in a country as wealthy as ours.
I’ve done a lot of work with food charities in the UK and abroad over the last 8 months, and I’m always left shocked by the scale of the problem. Sadly it’s not a problem that’s going to go away, and I’m very thankful to everyone who has helped over the past few months.
From Tally Moscona
As the coronavirus infection rate is falling we are coming out of lockdown, but sadly things are not getting better for the financially vulnerable. There has been a sharp increase in the number of people dependent on food banks. Lockdown eased but food banks need their community members’ support more than ever.
My sixteen year old daughter and I have been volunteering at the Ringcross Community Food Bank in Islington for the last few months. Lockdown disrupted our lives – I stopped working and Gabriella’s GCSEs were scrapped. Like many others we found ourselves with a lot of free time on our hands and at the food bank they were only delighted when we offered to help. We help sorting donations – the many bags of dried and tinned food generously donated by members of the public need to be checked to make sure no food that is out of date is put out. We also help delivering weekly food parcels to those who are unable to come to the food bank in person.
It has been a real eye-opener. The queues at the food bank are massive and in addition many food parcels are being delivered to those who are vulnerable and unable to come to the food bank. We have delivered to many families and individuals all with very different circumstances. We deliver to addresses in the most disadvantaged areas but also to some in more affluent neighbourhoods. Some people live alone and have not had much contact with others so are keen for a chat while others are less inclined to talk but they are all very grateful for their food parcels.
The increase in the demand for food bank services since the start of the coronavirus crisis is staggering. While before coronavirus Ringcross food bank served about 10-11 families a day it is now serving 70-90 families daily. This is an astonishing seven to nine-fold increase and has been described as a tsunami! This is not unique to Ringcross but food banks all across the country are struggling to cope with the huge increase in demand.
While during lockdown there has also been a significant increase in donations, as many people rallied in we are now seeing a drop-off. As time went on we all got ‘lockdown fatigue’ and with the easing of lockdown the feeling is that things are getting better. Lockdown may have been eased but foodbanks are busier than ever and need still need our help and donations.
We’re tired, the mop is heavy, and the water just keeps flowing, it can seem pointless to even try to stem the need for food. So now what?
It’s exactly in these situation that I am reminded of a quote that is a favourite at bnei mitzvah blessings:
You are not required to complete the task, but neither are you free to withdraw from it. [Ethics of our Fathers 2:21]
We will not see the end of poverty and food poverty, but that does not mean that we should not do what we can as a community and as individuals. But there comes a time when the mop is not the answer, and as the schools are closing for the summer, so too is the direct food solidarity that we have provided. If you want to help right now the best way is to donate to one of the food charities mentioned below. They are doing incredible work, and our donations have gone alongside theirs.
But perhaps the more important work that we can do is to try and switch off the tap, which is why we re working on the Citizen’s UK Campaign on ‘Real Living Wage for Key Workers’, and especially care workers. By paying people a Living Wage and campaigning for decent working conditions many of the families who have needed and still need help would be able to support themselves. That’s one way of turning off the tap, even just a little bit.
If you want to know more please read here
https://www.livingwage4keyworkers.org.uk/
If you’d like to donate to a food charity, here are a few that you could support:
· FareShare - https://fareshare.org.uk/
· The Felix Project - https://thefelixproject.org/
· The Trussell Trust - https://www.trusselltrust.org/