Fair Point: Foodbanks perform a vital job, but we shouldn’t need them

Being able to help out those in need at Christmas is a worthy cause, one that brings some joy and relief to what must be desperate times.

But the question remains, why do we still need them?

How are we here, in 2019, still seeing people who are so short on money and food that they need to use the foodbank?

Supporting foodbanks with donations and government aid is vital to keep them going, but really we shouldn’t need to use them.

People queuing up for food parcels and donations is like something out of depression-era America, not modern, advanced Britain in the 21st Century.

We need to do much more to help people before they get to the stage where they are having to go to the foodbank.

The reality is that by the time someone is needing to use a foodbank, they should have been helped a long time ago.

It is a similar situation with homelessness, where help provided is like treating the symptoms rather than the cause.

The real issue is that the gap between rich and poor is too great.

These aren’t the words of some frothing Corbynite, just a reflection of the fact there are too many people in Britain today who have barely enough to live on.

For a country like Britain, boasting one of the world’s largest economies, to have such a staggering wealth disparity is something our leaders should be ashamed of.

More should be done at a much earlier stage to ensure that people do not fall into needing to use the foodbank.

This Christmas, we should all do as much as we can to help the foodbank out, because it could be any of us who might one day have to use it.

We are all potentially one lost job, one marriage breakdown, one serious illness away from being in real financial trouble, there is no stereotypical foodbank user.

So if you are in the supermarket and see collections for a foodbank, put something in the box, as your small action could make someone’s Christmas that bit less difficult.