Europe
The first European food bank was founded in France during 1984. Similar to the UK, they have become much more common within continental Europe since the crisis that began in 2007, and especially since austerity began to take effect from late 2010. In Spain, demand for food has been such that some have resorted to extra-legal methods to acquire it; in August 2012 the "Robin Hood" mayor Sánchez Gordillo led raids where food was forcibly removed from supermarkets, and later given to food banks. The number of food banks has increased rapidly even in Germany, a country that has weathered the crisis relatively well, and has not needed to implement severe austerity. In 2012, professor Sabine Pfeiffer of Munich University of Applied Sciences said there has been an "explosion" of food bank usage.
Read more about this topic: Food Bank
Famous quotes containing the word europe:
“I herewith commission you to carry out all preparations with regard to ... a total solution of the Jewish question in those territories of Europe which are under German influence.... I furthermore charge you to submit to me as soon as possible a draft showing the ... measures already taken for the execution of the intended final solution of the Jewish question.”
—Hermann Goering (1893–1946)
“The Afrocentric exploration of the black past only scratches the surface. A full examination of the ancestry of those who are referred to in the newspapers as blacks and African Americans must include Europe and Native America.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“The heritage of the American Revolution is forgotten, and the American government, for better and for worse, has entered into the heritage of Europe as though it were its patrimony—unaware, alas, of the fact that Europe’s declining power was preceded and accompanied by political bankruptcy, the bankruptcy of the nation-state and its concept of sovereignty.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)