Put a Dent in the Universe by Dayo Olomu

Dec. 4, 2013 - PRLog -- I joined other volunteers of Foodbank at Tesco Extra in Streatham, South London on Friday 29th November 2013 from 9am-12noon.

On Arrival

I was met on arrival by Anne Marie Harrison, the Foodbank Coordinator from Norwood who showed me what to do. I approached shoppers with a list of items as they come into the supermarket and encouraged them to support the Foodbank by purchasing an extra item to donate to the Foodbank.

What people donated

·         Milk (UHT or powdered)

·         sugar (500g),

·         fruit juice (carton)

·         soup

·         pasta sauces

·         sponge pudding (tinned)

·         tomatoes (tinned)

·         cereals

·         rice pudding (tinned)

·         tea bags/instant coffee

·         instant mash potato

·         rice/pasta

·         tinned meat/fish

·         tinned fruit, jam

·         biscuits and  snack bars

My Experience
I worked alongside three other volunteers raising awareness and support for the Foodbank. I was particularly touched by the generosity of people who donated as much as they can afford. Though, the support was encouraging, I believe that more needs to be done.

A donor acknowledged that the support given to his sister by the Foodbank when she was in need, he consequently donated 24 items of tinned food.

What happens after the collections?
After collecting the donations of food items from shoppers, we then arrange them in a box (a premium banana box provided by Tesco). As the time I left we have collected two trolleys of food items which we later arranged into six boxes. Tesco promised to top up everything customers donate by 30 percent. The goal is to reach 10million meals.

Why do people need emergency food?

Today many people across the UK struggle to feed themselves and their families. Redundancy, illness, benefit delay, domestic violence, debt, family breakdown and paying for the additional cost of heating during winter are just some of the reasons why people go hungry. 13 million people live below the poverty line in the UK.

It was reported in the newspapers on Thursday 28^th November 2013 that “about 20 per cent of people have gone hungry in Britain this year because they could not afford a meal. More than 40 per cent of households have seen their situation worsen over the past 12 months, and one charity alone expects to feed 20,000 children over the Christmas fortnight.” (http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/28/grim-christmas-ahead-for-fi...)

Food bank provides three days of emergency food to local individuals and families in crisis. Frontline care professionals including doctors, social workers and schools refer people who are facing hunger to the Foodbank.

My lessons

The lessons I took from the experience are three fold:
1. Most people are still willing to give to charity
2. Others see the appeal to donate to charity as harassment.
3.  Finally, “Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”(Desmond Tutu).

I think it will be nice if we can all do our little bit to make a difference and to use the catchphrase of Steve Jobs, “put a dent in the universe”.  It was indeed a humbling experience for me and I look forward to supporting the Foodbank as much as I can.