After doing a bit of researching I have found out that there are hundreds of Food Banks situated all over the country which help provide food for people who don't have enough money to buy it for themselves and their family. Food Banks have been in the news a lot, because of how many families are becoming dependant on them to survive and these numbers are increasing each year as the government benefit cuts increase.
BBC did a documentary on this subject called The Food Bank: Scotland's Hidden Hunger, which isn't available to watch on BBC but it can be found on youtube still.
The documentary tells the stories of the people who go to one of Scotland's busiest food banks, which is in Dundee. What I really like about the project was how it went into the stories of each individual and the reason why they were forced to rely on the food banks. And then it showed you how much help it was providing the individual/ family, this enforced my first thoughts about the importance of these food banks which are ran predominately through charities and churches. This documentary made me want to document the help that was available for the people who need it, and show the helpers who provide this vital service to their communities.
The Trussell Trust is the organisation which run more than 400 food banks throughout the UK, they collect the data and set up the different networks, but then its down to volunteers to run the day to day tasks. Food banks are ran throughout most major cities in the country and have multiple collection points in those cities, if you are given a voucher you are provided with three days worth of food for you and those who depend on you. Between 2015/16 they gave 1.1 million people three day's worth of emergency food and support to help them in their time of need.
Food is donated into the local food bank network from Schools, churches, businesses (including some large supermarkets) and individuals. It is then sorted through by volunteers at local distribution centres. Before being given out to those who have been identified by care professionals to be in need of food support and handed a food voucher. When collecting these food parcels, the clients are given either a hot meal or drink and the volunteers should be able to help point the client in the right direction for further extended support which they might need.
Because I am starting this part of my project over the Easter Holidays and am at home in Coventry, I'm going to start looking into the food bank system there instead of in Manchester. The problem with housing and homeless is not specific to any part of the country and everyone is feeling the same government restrictions which is why my project is transferable to any part of the country.