Rich people help themselves, poor people help each other – I saw a food bank user take in a homeless friend

theguardian.com:

W hen the Tory party chair Nadhim Zahawi was sacked, back in January, I was at the food bank, where I work five days a week. Seeing him not being clear about his tax affairs made me think more than ever that those who have, help themselves, and those who haven’t, help each other. I listened as one woman, already struggling and with several children, was talking about how she’d taken in a homeless friend for a while.

In the long months of January and February, when it’s cold and there is anxiety about paying energy bills, people have been struggling. We’ve had a couple of incidents of people coming in very distressed, people who thought they’d never need a food bank. They say: “We thought we could cope”, and they’ve been trying to extend what they’ve got in the cupboard, but actually we are there to help. People come in and feel low; the stigma is still there, regardless of what we tell them, but lots of us have experience of using a food bank. We say: “We’re all having weird things on toast.”

I’ve signed up for a counselling course, and although I can’t offer professional support, I hope it just means I’ll know what to say instead of “Are you all right?” I’ve learned that listening helps. It is mentally hard work at the moment, but there are lots of lighter moments. I was playing with a woman’s two kids on the floor while their mum was getting advice, and they left with a Christmas selection box under their arm because we’re still giving them out. They had no idea they were at a food bank.

This month, a few months after I started my job, was the first time I got the universal credit payment that I was expecting. I didn’t have a fine taken out for the first time since August – but I still don’t know how taking a job will