The Trussell Trust

[no-no]

You might note I wrote ‘long term change’. Food poverty isn’t going to be solved in few years - it’s structural and deeply embedded into the way uk society operates. Expecting on small charity to solve that in a very short time frame is naive at best
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They’ve had over a quarter of a century, not just a “few years”. What’s naive is taking these large, corporate charities on face value. TT is not small fry. And for a charity to have a £40m surplus but make their users pick between tea or coffee, well, that says it all

 

[StatusWoe]

I've just realised that the poor saps who bought JM's 'this shirt provided three days emergency food' bollocks merchandise were properly had over. I wonder if that's what the TT objected to.

You mean she kept the money from the merch rather than donating to TT?

 

[nienoe]

I understand the perspectives re: regular donations to the Trussell Trust, and absolutely believe and respect that which charities you give to is a personal choice.

However, what I haven’t seen mentioned here and don’t think there’s much awareness of us that there is actually a need for the sort of work the main Trussell Trust charity does. Ad hoc food parcels aren’t going to fix a long term problem. Food poverty (like almost every kind of poverty) is systemic - the reasons behind it are deep rooted and complex. In order to address these, you need to lobby government, research to evidence claims, campaigns to get public support which can influence policy change. This is what monthly donations go towards - long term change addressing the root causes of the issue.

 

[Merpedy]

there’s zero disadvantage for them in highlighting other options and especially so in areas they don’t cover.

but if people start donating to those places the money available to them (or their employees) will have to be lowered. Though I reckon they’d just start closing food banks/charity shops instead before actually lowering employee salaries


RE the specific amounts: that’s probably where their research goes? I wonder how much research goes into getting the most amount of money - like when they give you a “fake” choice when you’re buying something to encourage you to spend more money

 

[ClaretFairy]

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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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!

 

[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?

 

[nienoe]

I’m just not convinced that the TT does that much, and the research that focuses on their food banks specifically is automatically skewed as they charge to be a member and have no interest in operating in some of the most deprived areas.

The Joseph Rowntree foundation does far more for this side than the TT do.

Their research focusses on their Foodbanks because that’s where they can get consistent data from. You can read about what they do with their funding in their annual report.

And as for Trussell Trust not doing that much … I mean, there’s a thread on here about them - they’re a household name - they’ve started umpteen conversations about food poverty - them and their cause are prescient in public consciousness.
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It’s also important to remember that profit making companies spend millions influencing government and policy, both publicly and behind the scenes. For Trussell trust to be generating conversations in parliament is actually quite impressive if you think about their funding compared to shady corporates.

 

[nienoe]

And they’re rubbish at that, too. Generating conversations anyone can do that for a lot less than the millions they have sitting in their accounts.

You might note I wrote ‘long term change’. Food poverty isn’t going to be solved in few years - it’s structural and deeply embedded into the way uk society operates. Expecting on small charity to solve that in a very short time frame is naive at best
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They have a public presence and are a household name because they will let anyone do things in their name - see Jack Monroe. They were willing to distribute a book that had untested, unworkable recipes and tips that were actually dangerous to their users until the internet backlash against the book meant they had to step in. And while part of the responsibility to update is on Jack and the publisher, the TT haven’t updated about the distribution either. There’s a fair chance some of the sales, maybe even most, were based on the online shops who were directly promoting that link, if they’ve cut the tie and won’t distribute, TT should come forward and say that.

And because they flatly refuse to acknowledge the presence of anyone else in their sector. They don’t signpost to other food banks in areas where the ones tied to them don’t operate. I can accept there might be issues with getting consistent data from small independent food banks, but what about the Salvation Army? Similarly if they said they didn’t want to link to independent banks that aren’t verified, fair enough, but again, they could link to the Salvation Army (who yes also have some problematic aspects but if someone is desperate for food, being signposted there is far better than “sorry our nearest bank is 10 miles away from you.”).

I’ve skimmed some of the jack monroe threads - I get the gist. And I don’t think it was a smart move of them, nor do I particularly like what I read about jack. But she’s not the sole reason they’re a household name.