Following on from thoughts about a long day, I soft boiled (I hope!) two eggs for a snack and had tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast. Not as filling, but I have a meeting right before the deliveries so I’m hoping that will not only provide me with a cup of coffee (I’m not missing the caffeine as I usually drink decaf everything but I am missing the flavour and variety of drinks) and also a welcome distraction from hunger.
I’m on my own in the office on a Friday so had a couple of cups of fruit tea and a boiled egg about 11am (soft, hooray!) and that was both delicious and hit the spot. My meeting and preparing for the deliveries took me through to 2.30pm and I had my cuppa soup, toast and carrot sticks for lunch. There were a few back and forth trips to the warehouse to check on tasks and new shifts and then I was in the warehouse to prepare for Saturday deliveries at about 4.45pm. I had a piece of bread with the other soft boiled egg and this again was tasty and filled the hole in between now and dinner.
The route planning was a bit a more complicated than usual and we had 33 deliveries to get ready so I wasn’t home til 7.30pm. I was pleased that my pasta etc wouldn’t take long to cook and also that the evening was already well underway, and didn’t feel any more tired than I do normally at the end of a week.
Pasta, hotdogs, tomatoes and chickpeas were my dinner – I didn’t think I needed something as filling as the sardines or baked beans tonight but I did feel hungry again only an hour later.
It feels good to be just over halfway through the 5 days, and I have a reasonably busy weekend ahead, and so I’m feeling positive. But I know for the 33 households we are serving tomorrow and the 22 we delivered yesterday (some individuals, some couples and some families; some in their own property, some in temporary accommodation) may not have any hope for a better week ahead and may have been living with financial and other burdens for a long time already. I’m grateful that I haven’t been in that position and I’m not now and for the many, many choices and decisions I can make every single day.
END
Norwich foodbank accepts referrals from agencies, but in the past 6 months, were successful for a grant bid to employ a dedicated Citizen’s Advice worker who would work exclusively with those in need of and / or using the foodbank. In January 2021 alone, 45 referrals were made to Stuart our CA worker – that’s 45 households who accepted further help with their circumstances. We don’t yet have details of ‘outcomes’ but are looking forward to knowing how many of these have been able to sort out long or short term issues and therefore wont’ need to us again. That’s our vision – an end to the need of foodbanks.
Norwich foodbank blog 