The Trussell Trust

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CabalofBolorneaise

ATV2021 said:
Interesting. Lol
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I’ve posted this in the JM threads but it fits here too. If you look up the most deprived areas in the country, then go onto the TT website, they’re miles away from them all. I’m in Blackpool and their nearest branch is in a posh village 7 miles away (depends where you are in Blackpool obviously). They’re the perfect fit for grifters like LadBaby and Jack Monroe.

ETA: and they don’t sign post to any other orgs. Even in areas they don’t operate so it’s not “competition”. Most independents will have the area they cover and then suggestions of other local help for people.
 
Reactions: 22

ClaretFairy

I live in a village and we have a food bank, rural poverty is a thing.

I do find it odd though that they wouldn't have branches in Blackpool? I love Blackpool but it is somewhere that would absolutely need the help.

I don't have a TT one locally as they're all independent or church led locally to me. You're right though they absolutely do help people get in touch with other organisations.
 
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CabalofBolorneaise

Mods - the postcode is for Blackpool North station, not anybody's address!

It's unbelievable I know, but they really don't have anything here. The nearest is Lytham St Anne's and it's absolutely not a poor rural village (maybe it's a town tbh but we call it a village), it's pretty affluent. I'm sure there is some need there, as there is everywhere, but not compared to Blackpool. And no signposting to any of the (many) independent food banks that do support here, just their own options 5 or 13 miles away. I'm informed this is the case for a lot of deprived areas, the TT serve the "more acceptable" middle class people who fell on hard times and those are the type of people who donate, hence them making lots of money.

 
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ClaretFairy

I absolutely believed you and totally agree that Blackpool would absolutely need the support. I find it strange that they would only be based somewhere more affluent, especially as everyone knows about the high levels of poverty there.

I'm glad you've got independents though, they seem more helpful.

People class where I live as posh too but there is absolutely a need for the food bank, we're community led though not TT. Probably not posh enough for them haha!
 
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rainbowlemon

I've donated money to my local one in London before. We always drop off food items in Aldi though as it's closer and that gets divided out by them.

Not sure if It's just for the more acceptable middle classes. You need to have a building to use. You need to be able to store food and you need volunteers as well too.

Maybe you could contact them and try to get a branch opened or linked to another already serving the blackpool area?
 

CabalofBolorneaise

I know people serving the Blackpool area who’ve tried to get support from them, including a church (lots of the TT branches seem to be in church halls, so it’s obviously acceptable as a place to them).

I know of more than one attempt over the years as TT have made themselves the big name people know to look for, and while the responses have varied from ignoring to gentle “thanks but no thanks” one thing has been absolutely clear, the TT have no interest whatsoever in offering any help or support.

I also know they’ve been asked whether they could add signposting to alternative sources of support in areas they don’t cover (as the big name, people will go to them first in a search) and again crickets. Whereas if you go for something like Macmillian who are similarly dominant in their field, they have other groups etc included in their search so even if they don’t directly support, you’re not faced with “tough shit”.
 
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bladiesla

ATV2021 said:
Interesting. Lol
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Doesn't that just mean money is spent on overhead and stuff? I am on the board of a small charity (we have 5 employees and work from two locations) and the more we do, the more overhead we have (wages, inurances, IT costs, rent, utilites for our buildings). We are still dependent on volunteers, but to offer consistent help and more help to our clients our costs to run have increased disproportionately. I don't find it weird for TT to spend moeny on things other than food.
 
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Ensay

I always donate food either directly to my local food bank or in supermarkets. Seems more efficient and at least I know 100% of my donation will help people who need it, rather than cash donations where money can be skimmed off.
 
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Onestorytoomany

Personally i feel if your doing charity stuff then no one should be taking a cut. I understand money for bills needs to be paid such as electricity, the building and rates or whatever. However i dont think anyone should take a wage from it whats left after utilities should 100% go striaight to support the chairty. I think its disgusting people use them to make themselves money.
 
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zetta buttons

This is an honest question. No underhandness. I might have read your post incorrectly and if I did I apologise.

I volunteer for two charities, both of which have numerous employees. There are nurses, accountants, psychologists, counsellors, cleaners and chefs etc across both settings. Should they volunteer their services without a wage?
 
Reactions: 19

Yel

Moderator
There's definitely a need for salaried positions in some charities.

Although for foodbanks the local grassroots ones seem so much more efficient vs one run like a corp.
 
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Lazarus

I’m grateful to Jack Monroe for bringing TT fully into my radar. I do not get a single good vibe from them, im afraid.
they charge a one-off £1,500 for local foodbanks to join their network (but then have an annual fee too, which works out at £30 a month). They do not signpost to other foodbanks even when the TT aren’t in a particular area, because it’s bad for business.
im sure another poster will detail their £39m cash reserve in more detail.
I think they have so much money because it’s an easy thing to donate to them without much thought going into it, isn’t it? Not many people are going to put their head above the parapet and say they begrudge the TT.

On the joining fee, their website says:

We ask for a one-off £1,500 contribution towards the cost of helping set up a food bank, because the resources needed to get a food bank running cost us quite a lot centrally. After this, food banks give £360 a year to be part of our network. This type of financial contribution towards the cost of membership and benefits is common within the charity sector – we do not make a profit out of food banks in our network.
 
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VeniVidiVicki

It costs a foodbank £1,500 to join TT and £360 a year every year thereafter. in poorer communities without pockets of affluence, many foodbanks can’t afford that.

TT makes £500k a year from foodbanks plus all the donations. I’m really shocked than none of the donations go on food
 
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Bwidge

What do they actually do? The entire website is tricksy wording.
 
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StatusWoe

I don't like that policy at all. Sorry if this is a bit OT, but does anyone remember the Tory MP (just Googled - it was Miriam Cates) who was criticised for profiteering from her food bank app? She got very defensive, saying that it cost a lot of money to develop an app, but the issue wasn't related to fundraising, it was the fact she charged the food banks money to use it. I don't think there would've been a problem if she'd received financial assistance which went directly towards the app. But surely everyone agrees that the burden of costs shouldn't be placed on the food banks?! Anyway, I think it was found to be unhelpful and lots of charities stopped using it.

Sorry for tangent - back to TT. Someone on the Monroe thread said they make a large profit each year. Where does this surplus money go?

Bwidge said:
What do they actually do? The entire website is tricksy wording.
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It would be good to see a breakdown of costs.
 
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ATV2021

TBF this was on the ladbaby post originally whereby they were plugging TT purely to help feed people at Christmas...via their awful charity song....and I posted this because they don't donate food lol
 
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BigMavis

I don't know the full facts but locally we have a few branches of TT and for some reason they're closed this week, meaning church based and voluntary organisations have been looking after their service users. It's fine but why are they closed?
 
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timemoveson

My nearest TT does cover quite an impoverished area and is run by a Christian community connection thing, but they’re also quite broad in their reach and by looking at their Facebook page it seems they post a lot more about the more well off part of town than the impoverished one.

Another 2 food banks exist within the area, one is run by a local politician who has poured everything into supporting not just “his” food bank, but other food banks in the city too. Not too sure about the other one, but I know it’s closer to the city centre and would deal with that area more.
 
Reactions: 9

Yel

Moderator
From their about

"We bring together the experiences of food banks in our network, and their communities, to challenge the structural issues that lock people in poverty, and campaign for change to end the need for food banks in the UK."

With this kind of language it's really hard to tell what they do. So many of the problems with poverty come back to the spiraling cost of housing. They seem to mention that people don't have much after paying bills, but I can't see in their press stuff where they go for the root. It seems mainly political and bandaid solutions.

ATV2021 said:
TBF this was on the ladbaby post originally whereby they were plugging TT purely to help feed people at Christmas...via their awful charity song....and I posted this because they don't donate food lol
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Sorry my fault, always tricky to find the right point at which to copy over posts to create a new thread
 
Reactions: 18
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