I am aware of some people who abuse food banks = it annoys me no end.
Cut a huge story down to a short one due to the winter storms in 2013/14 by March 2014 we had completely run out of food and money, we had no income (no benefits) as we have our own business, we were about 2 weeks of receiving some money, we had gone into debt by £72,000 over that winter, we couldn't borrow even another £10. Too embarrassed to turn to family we probably didn't eat for 4 days, we had a friend helping us tidy up the mess and we had to feed him, he decided to stay an extra 2 days we had nothing to feed him so we turned to the local food bank, they said no because we weren't on benefits nor had we been referred by social services our doctor or a housing officer. Someone on here suggested the church, I went to see the vicar told him of our predicament, if I recall correctly we received within a couple of hours a bag of potatoes, a bag of veg a chicken and either £10 or £20 that saved our mental state, people on here were an absolute lifeline, advice and sense in their words helped us cope. We now give to the church and to the food bank every week.
May I take this opportunity to thank all those on here that helped us get through the worst time of our lives, were not through it yet but by September we will be, thank you to all who sent us seeds for our veg plot, our plot is the best it's ever been.