Bankers or Foodbanks?
The Southend Foodbank was set up in 2013, seeded by the Trussell Trust. And it spends £20,000 a month feeding people from five food banks around the city. Think about that. People in our community actually could be starving if it were not for the generosity of a few. It is run by volunteers too like Simon and Cass. They have about two volunteers in at a time to carry in over a ton of food that is bought (wholesale prices) from the big supermarkets.
Many are working people, they’re not ‘scroungers’. I met one lady on my way there who had just dropped her 5 year old with ASD off to school. She also had a 13 and 16 year old to support. She was a great person to chat to, smart and funny. she deserved huge respect.
There’s a saying that if we paid our teachers what we paid our bankers and if we paid our bankers what we paid our teachers our society would be richer (in the real sense of the word), healthier and happier. All that trickles down from the rich is misery. I was there to pull weeds and donate. I was graciously given a tour and my questions answered. I didn’t take photographs because I was there to help them not to help my election campaign.
Afterwards, I met with my fellow Liberal Democrats who were holding a surgery at Kent Elms Library to discuss the cost of living crisis and other priorities they have to serve the people of their wards and Southend as a whole. We will work together along with other Councillors and MPs to do everything we can to end the worst problems of our community.
The cost of living is due to the greed of landlords, gas/oil companies and a government that taxes workers far more than those who own capital. The solution is switch the burden of running our society to the top .1% They can afford it. We could make food banks vanish in weeks.
