The other side of foodbank demand

The stories I could tell you about food parcels but privacy constraints prevent me. The people who operate foodbanks know about the abuse but are too soft-hearted to deal with it.

But look here. Trawl past the usual stuff about debt, alienation and disparity and there is a food bank official telling it like it is;

Gaylene Bourne, of Mercy Missions, said her group tightened its policy 15 months ago and its food parcel numbers had dropped from 500 a week in the early 1990s to 50 or 60 a week now.

"One of our criteria is that families must be looking to move forward. There are still a lot of families looking for handouts, not a hand-up."