Food Banks - Reactions

Reactions

The rise of food banks has been broadly welcomed. Not only do they provide a solution to the problem of hunger that doesn't require resources from the state, but they can be viewed as evidence of increasing community spirit and of active, caring citizenship. In the UK for example, Patrick Butler, society editor for The Guardian, has written that the rise of foodbanks has been most enthusiastically welcomed by the right, but also by many on the left of the political spectrum, who were often "nervously excited" about them. However there has been considerable concern expressed by some researchers and politicians. Drawing on the United States's experience after the rapid rise of food banks in the 1980s, American sociology professor Janet Poppendieck warned that the rise of food banks can contribute to a long term erosion of human rights and support for entitlements. Once food banks become well established, it can be politically impossible to return responsibility for meeting the needs of hungry people to the state. Poppendieck says that the logistics of running food banks can be so demanding that they prevent kind hearted people from having time to participate in public policy advocacy; yet she also says if they can be encouraged to lobby politicians for long term changes that would help those on low income, they often have considerable credibility with legislators. As of 2012, senior US food banks workers have expressed a preference to remain politically neutral, which political activists have suggested may relate to their sources of funding.

Rachel Loopstra from University of Toronto has said foodbanks are often inefficient, unreliable and unable to supply nutritional food. She said a survey in Toronto found that only 1 in 5 families suffering from food insecurity would turn to food banks, in part as there is a stigma associated with having to do so. Elizabeth Dowler, Professor of Food & Social Policy at Warwick University, said that most British people prefer the state to take responsibility for helping the hungry. Hannah Lambie-Mumford, from Sheffield University, echoed the view that some users of food banks find having to ask for food humiliating, and also that food banks volunteers should be encouraged to advocate for long term solutions to the underlying causes of poverty and hunger.