We all have a duty to wipe out food poverty

Over the past few months, there has been a disturbing growth in food poverty, with food banks operating in every part of the country, run mostly by charities and churches. They are operated by volunteers, with donations of cash or food from church members, or from the public through “bin collections” outside supermarkets or in public buildings.

Until a few weeks ago, this seemed comfortably distant, with no direct personal relevance. I’ve read the news stories in the context of economic, social and welfare policy, and not really made any links to local communities. Then my son came home from his church, which, with other local churches, was organising a major food collection in Dudley to help mitigate the worst of children’s food poverty during the summer holidays, when (of course) there are no free school meals.

The churches worked with Black Country Food Distribution to provide food assistance for 2,000 children in the borough by organising a concert to which the audience had to bring food parcels. Nearly two tonnes of food was collected and distributed from just the one concert. This really brought home to me that while food poverty is often hidden, it is everywhere – not just the inner cities and impoverished towns, but also the most affluent counties and the leafiest of suburbs. The statistics show that Dudley is an average borough – the food poverty in Dudley is near you, too.

So, given that there is extensive and growing food poverty, should councils be supporting food banks? This might be seen as part of the “big society”, but many charities are wary of becoming part of mainstream provision. There is a huge moral difference between running a charitable activity on a voluntary basis and taking on responsibility for a key part of the benefits system. Charity and philanthropy are to be praised, but if we rely on voluntary input to feed the hungry, that seems to me a dangerous precedent.

But, whatever we do, we can’t just wash our hands of the problem. We must all do everything we can – personally, professionally and politically – to stop children going hungry.

John Freeman CBE is a former director of children’s services and is now a freelance consultant  

Read his blog at cypnow.co.uk/freemansthinking