Yesterday I spent a couple of hours in the morning at the Voedselbank, or the Food Bank, in The Hague. They receive deliveries of food everyday from supermarkets -- food that has reached or is approaching its expiry date -- which volunteers then repack into parcels to be handed out to those who need it.
What amazed me was the massive amount of processed, packaged food that was given away. Besides plastic bags of carrots and red onions, there were bottles and cans of fruit, sausages, beans, mayonnaise, mustard; fancy boxes of Christmas chocolates, fudge, and stroopwaffels; bags of chips and popcorn; instant sachets of soup, sauce and spices; coffee and tea!
Each volunteer is put in charge of unpacking the stuff from boxes, packing 2 or 3 items into the big green crates rolling down a conveyor belt, or making sure each packer has enough items to keep packing. Then, other volunteers pack the green crates into lorries, where they are repacked into boxes or given away as is.
It was worth the two bus rides and freezing cold weather!
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Update: Food banks will now receive wild geese flesh, which is 'mainly eaten in expensive restaurants', to redistribute!
What amazed me was the massive amount of processed, packaged food that was given away. Besides plastic bags of carrots and red onions, there were bottles and cans of fruit, sausages, beans, mayonnaise, mustard; fancy boxes of Christmas chocolates, fudge, and stroopwaffels; bags of chips and popcorn; instant sachets of soup, sauce and spices; coffee and tea!
Each volunteer is put in charge of unpacking the stuff from boxes, packing 2 or 3 items into the big green crates rolling down a conveyor belt, or making sure each packer has enough items to keep packing. Then, other volunteers pack the green crates into lorries, where they are repacked into boxes or given away as is.
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| Kids from the American School |
It was worth the two bus rides and freezing cold weather!
--
Update: Food banks will now receive wild geese flesh, which is 'mainly eaten in expensive restaurants', to redistribute!
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