The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

pollyanna_26

Florenceem said:

Time for a discussion. I know that charity shops often get lots of rubbish in the donations - a way of offloading unwanted items?
Now I am talking about people giving out of date food to The Salvation Army.
Do they think people who need to ask for a food parcel don't look at dates? Yesterday a bag of food was handed in at SA - there was a September 6th nut roast.
 I am not a date person - if something looks and smells okay - I judge it to be edible. I know a lot of people never use items one day over the date - members of my family included.

Both the soup kitchen and community food bank here do get out of date donations from time to time. Quite a few elderly people are strong supporters and often help teach people how to cook. However many have poor eyesight. Pre covid I've seen a couple scanning shelves holding a magnifying glass. Sight as well as everything else has suffered under the pandemic and to be honest many of those elderly people will suffer from the cold this winter and often go hungry themselves.

They care deeply and mean well and charitable people don't behave uncharitably to them. Like Phyllis in the Railway Children they mean well but sometimes can't make out those dates. Charity is cold if it comes with judgement.

I've never seen anyone fit and well donate out of date food.

I know you're new to the Salvation Army but wonder if you're taking on too much with the makes , bakes etc. I don't know if you have done food banks etc but you were tired yesterday which suggests you're running around like the Duracell bunny instead of taking things steady. I don't know much about the SA so no idea if you're a volunteer or paid.

It cost you a fortune for all those big yarn orders does that get repaid? I'm just curious, not sure if you're a soldier or volunteer

Easing into things slowly could be helpful and you don't need to keep posting pictures of your makes. I've known people become obsessed and their families suffer. No decent charity wants to see that.

pollyx

Florenceem

I paid for all the yarn and materials in my craft makes, also the ingredients when I bake for the SA.
The SA has to pay to dispose of any items that are not suitable for the public.
I am not judging which is what you are doing to me.
 I was  trying to contribute to the thread by starting discussion.
I won't post again..

pollyanna_26

Florenceem said:

I paid for all the yarn and materials in my craft makes, also the ingredients when I bake for the SA.
The SA has to pay to dispose of any items that are not suitable for the public.
I am not judging which is what you are doing to me.
 I was  trying to contribute to the thread by starting discussion.
I won't post again.d.

I wasn't judging you Florence just explaining how things can happen with dates and the well meaning who can't read those dates should not be judged. There are few out of date items donated here and it isn't the end of the world.

You mentioned a while ago you were new to the SA. I know little about them. I've done a lot of volunteering over the years and it's important not to take on too much and burn out. There will be times hopefully not often when you will need to deal with people who are challenging for  number of reasons. Mental Health has worsened for many in the pandemic and usual medical or advisory help is thin on the ground. Some people are desperate and there will be more with the £20 cut in UC.Very harsh when bills are rising, many are facing winter in one room emergency housing with children.

You need to stay calm, helpful and in control. If someone says something don't decide they're judging you , it isn't about you or I the focus must be on those needing help advice  just to talk about their worries and fears. If you walk away you've failed.

polly

Nargleblast

Like Florence, I am shocked at the thought people could donate out of date food to food banks, but it hadn't occurred to me that some of those people may mean well but either don't think to check or have problems reading the dates. Maybe if an out of date donation turns up, the volunteers could take it for themselves if it's something they would use, then put a token sum in the kitty which would go towards adding to food stocks?

monnagran

I'm with Nargle.  Unless it is something with a short shelf life I am pretty gung-ho about date stamping.  After all, it is a comparatively new practice.  I wouldn't worry at all about eating something from the fridge that was a few days past its bb date, or anything tinned that was a couple of years too old, but wouldn't dream of passing anything on.  However, Polly is right, some dates are very difficult to read even if you have all your faculties.
Having said that, my friend's sons are clearing the cottage previously inhabited by her ex, and before that by her ex MIL.  They have just come across  a box of sponge fingers dated 1982, I believe it was.  She is waiting for them to discover the bag of rationed sugar in its blue bag that she is almost certain is still there somewhere.  It must belong in a museum.  Not much sugar from the 1940s can be still around.

MingVase

I'm unable to even think about anything else since I found out a Tory minster who just voted to cut UC to the poorest  in the land has claimed £6000 in expenses for heating his stables. So his racehorses stay warm, the poor can freeze. Fabulous country this, Dickens would feel right at home.

silvasava

Blimey Mar, some people in positions of responsibility have no moral compass, it was bad enough over the duck house, you'd think they'd have learned. Shame they don't work on the same lines as commercial  companies - you can't get a penny out of them that's not due to you. Fiddle your expense sheet and you're out the door. Stealing from an employer carries heavy penalties, but not if you happen to work as a minister.
Florence, I applaud the work you do for the SA but as another one who has volunteered with a number of organisations Polly is absolutely right to be aware to pace yourself.  The old sayings are trueisms. One volunteer is worth ten pressed men,  but a willing horse gets flogged.
I'm another one who doesn't necessarily check dates, but I'm old school, we all know the difference between 'use by'  for safety and ' best before' which I always think is to make  you think it needs to be used by then when its just to make us replace it and buy more, contributing to the massive amount of food waste.

Nargleblast

Getting my tyres checked at Sainsbugs garage, I was most annoyed to find they've changed the tyre inflator machine to one that charges you 30 pence for three minutes worth of air, robbing barstewards. Afterwards I called into the shop and a couple of cakes jumped into my basket, a lemon one and a caramel biscuit one. Not all for me, son and I are going away for the weekend and taking cake for our hosts. Also a bottle of Prosecco I happen to have lurking around.

Play nicely on the Fence, people, no meltdowns or dramas, please, life's too short.

LameWolf

Burnout's a beyatch. I was Regional Co-ordinator for the Pagan Federation for 10 years, from 2003 to 2013; at the and, I was administering not only my own patch, but two others as well, as their RCs had resigned and no-one else wanted to volunteer.

I still think the stress of dealing with three times the amount of work contributed to the nosedive my health took in 2013.

I ended up saying I wanted to quit (after all, they'd had 10 years unpaid out of me) but that I'd carry on til a replacement was found.

Finally someone did volunteer, but they lasted less than a year before bailing.

pollyanna_26

LameWolf said:

Burnout's a beyatch. I was Regional Co-ordinator for the Pagan Federation for 10 years, from 2003 to 2013; at the and, I was administering not only my own patch, but two others as well, as their RCs had resigned and no-one else wanted to volunteer.

I still think the stress of dealing with three times the amount of work contributed to the nosedive my health took in 2013.

I ended up saying I wanted to quit (after all, they'd had 10 years unpaid out of me) but that I'd carry on til a replacement was found.

Finally someone did volunteer, but they lasted less than a year before bailing.

Very true Wolfie. I know my health went downhill during over twenty odd years when youngest was so ill and going downhill rapidly. I ended up running on empty. It was what day is it tomorrow, what hospital, clinic etc are we due at, many a long way from home. Will she sleep tonight and get out of bed in the morning. I'd be staring at the page in the diary for the following day and not taking in what I was looking at.

It becomes a norm but not a healthy one. Just get today over and tackle the next. Pain levels were ramping up for both of us but Superdoc was pulling out all the stops and was convinced all the effort would get her the right MH diagnosis, she could never be Aspergers though she'd tried since the age of 13. So he was going through all her meds for her physical disbilities to make sure she would be on the best meds available and that helped a lot.

I'd be shaking my head when he was urging me to take the strong meds for pain relief and others for sleeplessness. I knew I was wrong but dreaded not hearing her in the night or waking up next morning late or with a fuzzy head

Many years later after trauma, exhaustion and worry the day came when she got the correct diagnosis. It was so strange we walked out of the Abandon hope all ye who enter here mental health centre that had been part of her life for so many years just stunnned. There's a park over the road so we went in there and sat in the sun , then both burst out laughing. It wasn't over there were to be many appts ahead still are but Superdoc was on the case and brought in an amazing counseller, phsio better meds . all sorts.

Her physical health is still a struggle,  she has the best meds possible but is still ECV. We choose our battles now when possible and are very mindful remembering to count those spoons, and stop before taking on too much.

So whatever is going on in life challenging times, volunteering , family or financial worries it is important to be mindful of your physical and mental heath when possible.

As my mum used to say "An empty sack wont stand up"I often think I could have made a book of  her many sayings some were hilarious some solid common sense.

Hope all is well with you Wolfie and Mr Wolf. Are you managing any knitting? I fancy making something in different variations of moss stitch. I've been  thinking of that for the last couple of years. May actually do it this year hands and wrists etc permitting.

Take care.

pollyxx