Community Education and Foodbanks

A Recipe for Dignity?

Abstract

Introduction

Dignity is a concept that many of us will have had little reason to contemplate. We go about our daily lives taking for granted that we deserve respect whilst showing it to others throughout all our interactions; it is a notion likely unquestioned by most of us, or thought too deeply about. When considering those experiencing food poverty, however, and for those delivering food parcels through foodbanks, it is a difficult notion to uphold. As I will come to argue, a different approach is needed if a lasting impact is to be made; one that can truly value and uphold dignity, a concept that should stand front and centre for community workers developing approaches towards addressing food poverty. Indeed, with the UK experiencing a ‘ballooning of foodbanks’ (O’Hara, 2015, p23) combined with the widespread anxieties connected to the current COVID-19 pandemic, there has perhaps never been a more crucial moment in which to examine their place in society.