‘We are not a free supermarket’: Foodbank slams people arriving holding purchased alcohol and discussing nights out
Organisers of a foodbank based in Yorkshire have issued a warning the service is “not a free supermarket” – amid some people allegedly arriving holding purchased alcohol and discussing nights out and beauty treatments costing hundreds of pounds.
In a post on social media, the organisers of the service said the foodbank is for people in “immediate food poverty or food crisis” only and “after all other options to obtain food have been exhausted”.
"We are not a free supermarket”, organisers said.
"We are a charity.
"By this we mean you have exhausted all other options to obtain food for yourself and your family and you are using our service to feed your family when there is no food at home or money left to purchase food.”
The warning comes amid suggestions some users of the service have arrived clutching alcohol they had just purchased, discussed upcoming nights out and beauty treatments in the hundreds of pounds.
The post continued: “It saddens us to have to write this, especially as we are in our sixth year of running and this isn’t the first time we have had to address this issue.
"We are an independent, self funded foodbank.
"We rely solely on donations from the public and grants that we have to personally apply for and hope we are successful.
“We are not owned or funded by a larger organisation or Bradford council.
"This week alone we have witnessed people coming to our foodbank carrying bags of alcohol they’ve just purchased from the shop, we’ve witnessed conversations about people partaking in nights out this coming weekend and last, we have seen people choosing to pay for beauty and aesthetic treatments costing into the hundreds instead of choosing to pay for food for their families first and that is just a few examples!
“We could go on.
"This is not the definition of being in food poverty, this is simply having your priorities wrong and taking advantage of our charity and our volunteers and we will not tolerate it!”
Anyone heard to be taking advantage of the charity would be “issued with an immediate ban”, organisers added.
"As always everyone is welcome to use our hub as a warm space, free breakfast and use of our facilities but our food provision services is for those people who find themselves in food poverty and crisis.
“We will not be taken advantage of when we provide such an essential service for those people who are in genuine need… we will not allow our service to be used to the extent that we can no longer facilitate the genuine needs of genuine people!”