“The Social Crust” helps hundreds each week

Anne Firmin and John Gellatly, two of the dozen weekly volunteers at The Social Crust, load some of the 59 Food Boxes for afternoon pick-up by clients.

Martinborough’s Food Bank, recently renamed “The Social Crust,” currently every week is feeding a surprising 250 people _ women, men, children _ despatching 59 boxes of food and other essential family supplies into the community.

Each Wednesday, a dozen volunteers from Martinborough and Greytown work to fill the boxes of food and essentials “orders” that have come in from the needy. These range from families of six to single pensioners living alone in rural accommodation without even a phone as support.

Under the “supermarket” system the group operates, those in need choose their weekly food and supplies allocation from a detailed product list of more than 150 items, up to a maximum of 75 “food bank dollars” for 5 – 6 people – enough for a family for four days.

As for the the dollar value of the food boxes “it’s a fair bit of dosh. It will cost us $100,000 a year to run it,” said “Social Crust” head May Croft.

 The list of goods in the bank is extensive, with a full range of foods plus, for no “food bank dollar” cost, breads and a bag of fresh fruit and vegetables. “It’s not an option whether you get fruit and veges,” May Croft adds.

The first Martinborough food bank distribution began in November 2019, “just before Covid.”

The change since “has been huge. We started it on the back deck (of the family home)  then from a cupboard at St Andrew’s Church and then we partnered with the Masonic Lodge for three years.”

Last month the group relocated to a warehouse at 45 Elizabeth Street and is looking to further expand its activities.  

“Now Greytown have come alongside us. We manage it (thee food bank) and they supply volunteers,” she said. 

Husband Peter Croft said their food box only covers four days of each week, as “we’re trying to give people a hand up _ not a hand out. A food box is designed to give you enough food for three meals a day for four days of the week.”

The Zero Hunger Collective (the national group) has set the level for what  the standard of food assistance should be. 

“We adhere to that,” he said. “We’re just coming in beside (people) for four days, not to take them over.  For three days they have to look after themselves, so we’re just coming in beside … while they’re going through this tough time.”

Q: So are the elderly your most regular needy group?

“Nothing’s going to change unless someone changes the system _ they are going to need help forever,” he said. 

May Croft notes there are old people whose pension is their sole income and they may have their own home or may be renting. 

“That’s also an area where people really struggle and it’s an area where it’s harder to get people to ask for help,” she said. “It‘s a generation where we have in our minds what we think a food bank is.” 

“It’s often said a food bank is an emergency but we don’t want people to get to the stage where there’s nothing,” May Croft added. “We want them to get food regularly so it’s not a stressful, terrible thing that you’ve got no food.” 

“So we say you can have food from us every week until you don’t need it. And we let people choose … what they will eat. Rather than give them a box of food, they choose from what’s available,” she said. 

“So it’s being a safety net rather than being an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.”

But if there’s no weekly order list, there’s no box.

“The big thing is knowing there’ll be food every week if you need it,” said May Croft.

“Once you’re registered with us you’re registered with us. So if for one week you don’t need food that’s fine,” she notes. “You come back when you need to come back. If you know that every week there’s food available, then you’re more likely to only take what you need. 

“We encourage that, so there’s enough to go round and it takes the stress out of it for the client if you know next week you can get food if you need it,” she said.