Sunday 16 February 2014

Free food

Isn't it rediculous that at the same time some people are finding it difficult to feed their families, perfectly good food is being thrown away.

An attempt so solve the waste from one outlet by redistributing it is but a gesture. The problem may be much wider. It could be true at all food outlets in this area. However a store like Booths may be cleverly adjusting their prices so that they end up with nothing to throw away. It' seems to be the modern equivalent of bargaining. Let me know if you'd like to help even with ideas.

The problem in this particular case is finding someone in touch with the people who need it who will accept food after 3pm every Saturday. Several people are working on a solution but so far nothing : so yesterday about six carrier bags crammed full of top quality bread were thrown away and probably twenty carrier bags were again thrown away in Lancaster just from one source. Three bags were in fact rescued and went to people who didn't need it but like me don't like to see food wasted.

You'd have thought that this is a project that a politician would want to help solve if only by coordinating those of us willing to do something.  Mark Wilson  is ideally placed. He is Town, District and County councillor for the South Ulverston area and will know where there are pockets of hardship. On the other side of the coin the people of South Ulverston have a long tradition of being self reliant. Sadly they have little respect for politicians. Some of them refuse to have anything to do with them or with local government. They believe that they have learnt that other people are more willing to help. This may be true in the past but now with Cllr Mark Wilson things are perhaps changing for the better.

Is it time to start taking care of ourselves and those around us? We do have a tendency to mutter "Why haven't THEY done this or that? When we could say "Why haven't WE ?" - picked up the litter/the dog shit: told troublesome adolescents off: visited the older neighbour on their own. Do we need to think back to how small towns managed before the welfare state got involved?

1 comment:

Geoff Dellow said...

Yesterday, the entire contents of the bread that wasn't sold at the Ulverston market stall was taken to the Homeless Support Group at Bath St in Barrow. Sadly poor coordination at their end so that despite two preparatory phone calls it wasn't expected. Still seeking a solution.