‘Grateful faces are our reward’.
(from the 2011 annual report of the Munich food bank)
Last year the umbrella organization of German food banks, Die Tafel, celebrated its 20th anniversary. But not everyone thought this an occasion that called for celebration. The so called Aktionsbündnis20 was founded expressly to dissent from the general applause and approval of the food banks in Germany, and publicly criticize their ever growing number as well as their institutionalization. Since most bigger towns in Germany have a food bank now, the questions is where does this ever increasing demand come from? In what way do food banks provide help, and are they really a good solution?
Impressed by the work of the New York charity City Harvest, Sabine Werth and the Berliner Frauen e. V. founded the first German food bank in 1993. Based on the guidelines of City Harvest, the idea was to collect fresh food that supermarkets, restaurants, etc. were throwing away and distribute them to the homeless in Berlin. The project was an instant success and the idea quickly adopted elsewhere.
Soon every major German city had a food bank and three years later their total number had risen to 70. During the following years the number of food banks rose constantly with a particularly high increase after the introduction of new unemployment benefit laws (called “Hartz IV” in German). Between 2005 to 2006 the number rose from 480 to 657. Now there are more than 900 food banks spread around the country. 50 000 volunteers help to feed 1,5 million people (usually food is distributed on a weekly basis). Apart from the food banks that belong to the umbrella group Die Tafel, there are countless others working along similar lines which are run by church organisations like the Caritas and the Diakonie, or other charities. None of these, however, are included in the official statistics on food banks in Germany.
The first food bank in Berlin was intended to offer help for a limited period of time. During the last 21 years, however, the small project has morphed into a huge organisation that an ever growing number of people have become dependent on. The chairman of the umbrella organization, Jochen Brühl, recently summarized the current situation as follows: „Our experience shows that poverty and the threat of becoming poor is more widespread than the government’s report on wealth and poverty indicates. We’ve also been noticing for some time that there is a tendency for people who are working , apart from those who are unemployed, to come to us. This group consists mainly of single mothers and their children, people in precarious jobs and those working part time. For these people, poverty in old age is therefore a certainty. In the last year we have also seen more and more students coming to food banks.“ (Abendzeitung, 27.5.2014).
Tacit acknowledgement that paid work does not guarantee a living wage comes in the form of the statistics published by the Federal Agency for Work (Bundesagentur für Arbeit). Apart from the „normal“ unemployment rate, the rate for the under-employment is now also given. In May 2014 Berlin had an unemployment rate of 11,1% and an under-employment rate of 14,9%. In Munich the current figures are 3% unemployed and 3,8% under-employed. These figures are reflected in the scale of work of the food banks. Berlin has 45 distribution centres and delivers food to 300 institutions, in Munich there are 25 distribution centres and the food bank supports 85 institutions.
Considering the conspicuous wealth of the Bavarian capital, it seems at first hard to believe that there are as many as 18 000 people living here who are officially recognized as being “in need.” The food bank in Munich has been in existence since 1994 and the number of people availing of the service has grown steadily as has the organization itself. The food bank has 28 permanent employees as well as 450 volunteers. Even more impressive, or shocking, are the following figures. In 2011 the income of the food bank amounted to 1.270.000 Euro and the expenses to 1.350.000 Euro. The magnitude of these figures indicate that Stefan Selke is right when he asserts that the over 900 food banks in Germany have created a parallel economy on an enormous scale.
How fragile this system based on donations actually is, can be seen from the Munich food bank’s decision in 2011 to buy extra food in addition to the donated wares, in order to meet the local demand. Plunged into economically difficult times, the donors often weren’t able to donate as much as they had done previously, while the number of people using the food bank had grown. This isn’t an isolated incident, it seems. On the main food bank website (www.tafel.de) they state, under the heading Current Developments, that ‘The number of donated goods is generally increasing but not adequately to meet the needs of the constantly increasing rate of users’. Furthermore ‘the donations vary considerably from one region to another’. The latter statement reveals the Achilles heel of the food bank system. In general the demand for food banks is quite high in former East Germany but the density of the food banks doesn’t match up. (Presumably not only the quantity but also the quality of donated products can vary considerably.) Furthermore, shortages like the one in Munich can easily recur since the whole system depends on donations.
The German food banks characterize themselves as follows: ‘The food banks create a bridge between abundance and shortage: They collect perfectly fine food products that would otherwise be thrown away, and distribute those to socially and economically disadvantaged people – for free or for a nominal contribution.’ After working as a volunteer for the food bank in Emmerdingen for three years Wolfgang Wimmer had mixed feelings about what he was doing. ‘It’s fine to hand out things of which there are plenty. But that doesn’t change the situation, nor does it make things fairer.’ (Wolfgang Wimmer, Handeln im Widerspruch, 2010) Stefan Selke criticizes the food banks even further: ‚The concrete aid improves the situation of the poverty stricken in the Here and Now, but worsens the problem in the long run. The fundamental reasons for precarious living conditions do not disappear if the most urgent needs (food, furniture, clothes, cinema tickets [most food banks offer only food!]) are met in the short run.’ (Stefan Selke, Schamland, S.201). According to Selke the food banks actually consolidate the divide in society. ‚When poverty economies make the transition from spontaneous help to a stable and nationwide system, which more and more people depend upon, then parallel societies are created. Because a considerable number of people then have their material needs met in places which the majority of people never frequents.‘ (Schamland S.200/1) Selke is also rattled by the uncritical, and often very positive, portrayal of food banks in the German media. This positive portrayal, he thinks, stops Germans from realizing that poverty is spreading and ought to be fought against.
Voluntary work for food banks is often publicly praised and volunteers honoured for the work they do. Selke points out that there’s been a significant change in our attitude to voluntary work. ‘Voluntary work has began to play practically, but also symbolically, an ever greater role in our society [... ] An increase in voluntary work may also be interpreted as a reflex reaction to changes in the welfare system, a system which has fallen prey to increasingly rigid economic cuts.’ (S.208). Later Selke stresses the dangers when charities step in to fulfill tasks previously fulfilled by the state. ‘The question therefore is not whether voluntary work is useful, but where it is appropriate. [... ] Volunteers are increasingly engaged in work which by law used to belong to the welfare state. [... ] Instead of solving the problem of poverty by measures of the state – in other words formalized and anonymized proceedings – this new form of solidarity and volunteer work is a step back to the time of feudal inter dependencies. On the one hand there’s the person who donates or gives, and on the other there’s the one who receives.’ (S.211) Towards the end of his study Selke concludes: ‘Food banks are a modern form of absolution, they soothe the bad conscience of the winners. They assist in creating an image of our society in which the problem of poverty disappears. (S. 227)
The title of Selke’s book (Schamland or Land of Shame) the author explains thus: ‚People affected by poverty, who go to food banks, feel shamed to such a degree that they stop regarding themselves as members of the society at large (S.26). To be eligible as a food bank user, people need to prove their low income (by showing social benefit documents, etc.). This is done to stop people from abusing the system, but is still humiliating for those who have to go through the process. A certain paternalism is also part of the deal: If someone fails to come to the food bank in Munich three times without an excuse, they lose their card of entitlement, and the next person on the waiting list gets it. (other food banks have the same or similar rules). That some volunteer groups clearly hope for more than a “thank you” in return becomes evident when you see that a priest in Berlin offers a free „Alphacourse“ (apparently a basic course in faith) at his church’s distribution centre.
Many food banks operate outdoors which means both volunteers and users have to brave all weather conditions. Far worse for many users, however, is that this means they can easily be spotted by people passing by. To be seen queuing at their local food bank, many people describe as doubly humiliating. First because their dire financial circumstances have forced them into having to use the food bank, and then – by unwittingly being outed as a food bank user – they feel they lose all their remaining status. Considering the countless statements collected by Selke in which food bank users voice these feelings of shame and humiliation, the last sentence of the annual report (2011) of the Munich food bank sounds almost cynical: ‘Grateful faces are our reward’.
Apart from the individual tragedy experienced by poverty stricken people, there are also considerable costs for our society, for our democracy. People, who no longer regard themselves as part of the larger society, usually no longer try to play a constructive part in it. They retreat into their own world, and become passive. Their political participation also diminishes, or they move towards extremist parties. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (unemployment rate in May 2014 10.9%, under-employment rate 14.4%) had a voter turnout of 52% in the last regional election and the (right wing extremist) NPD got 5 seats in the local parliament. In contrast to this, far wealthier Baden-Württemberg, (current unemployment rate 3.9%, under-employment rate 5.2) had a voter turnout of 66.3% and only mainstream political parties won seats in the local parliament.
The unequal distribution of wealth and the constantly greater social divide is hardly new, nor, of course, is it restricted to Germany. It’s also clear that the situation in other countries, in other parts of the world, is far more dramatic and desperate. But the social divide has begun to reach alarming proportions here too. The imbalance is affecting our sense of cohesion as a society, it affects our democratic system. We need to do something to counteract the inequalities in our society. Charity is not the right solution in the long run. We need political solutions.
Some current figures (December 2017): 20,000 people are coming to the food bank in Munich every week. 120,000 kg of food are distributed by 650 volunteers. About 40% of the people are pensioners, the number has been constantly rising. (When the food bank in Munich started 24 years ago, only 400 people were in need of help.)