For the second year running I am taking part in the reverse advent calendar campaign organised by the UK Money Bloggers. It’s also known as the #FoodbankAdvent and can be shared on social with the hashtag to raise more awareness. If you want to take part in a reverse advent calendar 2019 then read on to discover exactly what it is and how it aids your local food bank.

The UK Money Bloggers believe that no-one should go hungry at Christmas and rightly so. It’s crazy to think that in 2019 in the UK there are people unable to afford food, even people who are working.

Woman stops man outside Tesco and asks for food for kids lunches

I saw this tweet on Twitter today:

It shows how crazy things are for some people. He goes on to say that she was wearing a work uniform. It’s mad when even working parents can’t afford food for their kids. That’s bonkers!

It’s a shame she felt she had to resort to standing outside a supermarket begging strangers for help.

End poverty and hunger in the UK

We are meant to be a developed country. It’s 2019. We are sending aid overseas to help others, yet there are people in our own country who are in poverty and starving. It seems we need some help here too.

It’s so crazy that there are people in the UK having to starve or make choices between buying food or keeping warm.

How is this right in this day and age?

Of course I don’t know the whole situation about the woman in the tweet above, but if you can’t afford food then it is possible to be referred to your local food bank and they will provide a minimum of 3 days worth of emergency food, nutritionally balanced, to help those in crisis.

“Food banks partner with a wide range of care professionals such as doctors, teachers, health visitors and social workers to identify people in crisis and give them a food bank voucher to access emergency food.”

This is exactly what the Trussell Trust do and they aim to end UK poverty and hunger:

“In the UK, more than 14 million people are living in poverty – including 4.5 million children. Between April 2018 and March 2019, food banks in our network provided a record 1.6 million food supplies to people in crisis, a 19% increase on the previous year.”

The statistics are frightening and these people need our help.

So what can we do to help?

How to take part in a reverse advent calendar

There are lots of people in the UK starving. Millions of people living in poverty. Once people are aware then they can take action to help.

The #FoodbankAdvent reverse advent calendar campaign is a great way to help other people and to raise awareness of the issue at the same time.

You can use the hashtag on your social media to share your food bank donation, let other people know about the issue and to see how others are helping with a reverse advent calendar.

If you have a blog then you can write a blog post about the issue to spread the word even further and share your reverse advent calendar so others know what to do.

It’s best to start your reverse advent calendar in November. This is so the food banks have it by December, or early in December, and they can distribute the food in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

This is their busiest time of year. The Trussell Trust typically sees a 45% increase in referrals for their emergency parcels in the fortnight before Christmas!

Simply get a box or bag for your reverse advent calendar and add an item of food or toiletries to it every day for 25 days in November.

Rather than getting a treat each day for 25 days from an advent calendar, you are giving something to someone in need each day for 25 days instead.

At the end of the 25 days you’ll have a sizeable food bank donation that will make a real difference to those in crisis.

Bella loves helping me with the #FoodbankAdvent each year

Of course, the whole aim is to raise awareness of the food banks and to give donations, so you can do yours however you please and however you can afford. Simply buy it all in one go and donate right away, give donations from your cupboards if you have surplus or things you don’t ever use or buy a few pieces every time you shop and drop it in the food donation box right away.

The most important thing is the food banks really need our help at this time of year and appreciate whatever we can give.

There are some rules as the food is transported, processed and sometimes sat around for a while, so it must be cupboard only food with a longer shelf life.

The best thing is to find your local food bank website and see what they are in need of and what they have abundance of. This way you can really help to give them exactly what they require.

The kids love to get involved! We are just about to drop two bagfuls of food to our nearest drop-off point and Reuben wants to help me carry them!

We’ve bought a few extra items at a time when at the supermarket and now we will donate all the items by dropping them off at our local Tesco in their food bank collection box.

Of course I recommend including as much healthy food as you can. We put a lot of tinned vegetables in ours this year, but also one naughty bottle of 7up Zero which we got as part of a meal deal and won’t use.