Through the years food has remained a central and vital aspect of human socialism, culture and physiological human needs. This raised the topic of foodbanks and how their space is dedicated to distributing food (physiological need) but have no social, cultural or educational aspect to them. I investigated this through initial volunteering at Guru Nanaks Free Kitchen followed by The Trussell Trust foodbanks.
“Charity is meant to be a free gift, a voluntary, unrequited surrender of resources.” (Douglas, 1990)
Both of these focus on giving out free food, whether it is hot meals or boxed goods to those in need in their community. This made me think about the meaning of giving and gifts.
“Charity is meant to be a free gift, a voluntary, unrequited surrender of resources.” (Douglas, 1990)
Both of these focus on giving out free food, whether it is hot meals or boxed goods to those in need in their community. This made me think about the meaning of giving and gifts.
Can there be a system of giving whereby it involves more than just a volunteer handing out free food. Instead, one that incorporates charity, community knowledge and skills exchange through hands-on and educational activities taught by volunteer community members.
“A gift that does nothing to enhance solidarity is a contradiction.” (Douglas, 1990)
By re-evaluating foodbanks current system, the high demands that have increased over the years can be decreased. Disadvantaged community members are able to gain vital skills and knowledge which can assist them in gaining potential jobs or simply aiding their livelihoods.
“A gift that does nothing to enhance solidarity is a contradiction.” (Douglas, 1990)
By re-evaluating foodbanks current system, the high demands that have increased over the years can be decreased. Disadvantaged community members are able to gain vital skills and knowledge which can assist them in gaining potential jobs or simply aiding their livelihoods.
Through developing an open-sourced toolkit, any foodbank will be able to re-evaluate their current system and spaces into one that involves charity, community knowledge and skills exchange. It also acts as a guide for foodbanks to host their own events. It covers development to funding, evaluation to production, and more which aids the process towards the activities recommended.
“A total system of giving.” (Douglas, 1990)
The models and collages illustrate how this toolkit can be implemented into a current foodbank and be altered toaccommodate the various seasonal activities throughout the year.
“A total system of giving.” (Douglas, 1990)
The models and collages illustrate how this toolkit can be implemented into a current foodbank and be altered toaccommodate the various seasonal activities throughout the year.
These models diagramatically show how the toolkit is implemented within a current operative foodbank. Each model depicts the seasons and their activities mentioned in the toolkit to show how a singlular space can be manipulated to accommodate a multiude of beneficial events to become a community hub of community knowledge and skills exchange whilst still mantaining its identity as a foodbank. The visual posters below illustrate how the foodbank would appear seasonally if the design and toolkit were to be implemented.
Below is a data collection piece from the final exhibition to capture and map the data of where people live in accordance to their local foodbank and whether they know if there is a local foodbank near them.
