Rising food prices, plus supplies for Ukrainian refugees: the food banks are experiencing a rush.
Providing all those in need with donated food is a Herculean task - and a real backbreaking job for the volunteers.
Maisach
- "Bring on the potatoes," calls Dieter Feix and boldly pulls two sacks out of a flat plastic box.
He twists and turns the potato sacks in his hand, examines them briefly and finally puts them in another black plastic box in front of him.
Feix is the deputy head of the Maisacher Tafel.
With Ludwig Bergmeier, he drives to 13 supermarkets twice a week to pick up goods.
(
By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular
FFB newsletter.)
Tafel Maisach: One of four issuing offices of the Fürstenfeldbruck Civic Foundation
There are now four food distribution points organized under the umbrella of the community foundation for the district of Fürstenfeldbruck: Bruck, Puchheim, Olching and Maisach.
Once a week, the needy can stock up on groceries free of charge at the food banks.
Volunteers from the Tafel, such as Dieter Feix and Ludwig Bergmeier, collect these from supermarkets and discounters, but also from smaller shops and manufacturers.
Around 60 customers stop by in Maisach on Tuesdays.
Since the start of the Ukraine war, the number of people in need has doubled – as at the other distribution points.
“In addition, there are 65 to 70 Ukrainians.
That's why we set up an extra edition on Fridays just for refugees," says Feix.
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For more than 15 years, Lorenz Widmann has been preparing field crops and vegetables for the Tafel drivers on his potato farm.
This time, in addition to sacks of potatoes, there are also many onions.
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Other distribution points are now also offering a second appointment or have extended their opening hours.
This poses a personal problem.
Finding new additional helpers in sufficient numbers is difficult.
The pressure to get enough goods for the larger customer base is also increasing.
Tafel Maisach: Volunteers pick up goods and check: bin or take with you?
The things must be edible and meet the quality requirements.
"Our collection area stretches from Mammendorf to Eichenau," says Feix, reaching for a pack of nectarines.
The same procedure as for the potatoes follows.
A scrutinizing look, turning back and forth and then the decision: trash can or take it with you.
The fruit and vegetables that Bergmeier and Feix are examining on the loading ramp at Lidl in Gernlinden were previously taken from the shelves of the discounter by employees.
"Most of them are really supportive and provide everything," Feix says while checking a box of strawberries for signs of mold.
The two men can quickly decide what is still good and what is not.
"Every Tafel helper takes part in training courses on food, storage and hygiene," explains Feix.
In the process, Dieter Feix, who worked in banking for 50 years, learned that so-called aquatic vegetables, such as carrots and strawberries, can become moldy all over the pack.
"If a fruit is infected, we have to throw everything away."
Tafel Maisach: After 50 years in the banking business, he wants to do something good
Feix has been with the board for four years.
He had retired from working life.
"After many years in the money business, I wanted to do something social." It was through his neighbors that he came up with the idea of helping at the table.
He enjoyed his commitment so much that he had his childhood friend Ludwig Bergmeier recruited by force, so to speak.
"I said to him, as soon as you retire, you'll be there too." In the meantime, the two have become a well-established team as Tafel drivers.
Ludwig Bergmeier stands at the top of the ramp and packs a collapsible box full of goods that have been found to be of good quality.
Feix takes them and puts the groceries in the back of the white Sprinter's hold.
The Mercedes bus with the imprint "Fürstenfeldbrucker Tafel" and "Bürgerstiftung Fürstenfeldbruck" has a separate loading area from the driver's compartment.
This is specially cooled.
Yoghurt, cheese and other dairy products need to be kept refrigerated, especially in the summer heat.
Once all the donated and usable food has been packed, the journey continues to the next stop.
Feix directs the van onto the Aldi premises in Maisach, stops briefly, colleague Bergmeier gets out and goes into the branch.
While he announces that the board is there, Feix continues to drive the car around the building and skilfully backwards in front of the loading ramp.
There, where normally the trucks deliver the goods for the discounter.
The roller shutter opens, which the 66-year-old Bergmeier drives up from the inside.
Then it's time to get to the next pallet with crates full of groceries.
The next stations are Rewe and Lorenz Widmann's Kartoffelhof.
Sacks of onions and potatoes are waiting there to be picked up.
The volunteers no longer have to sort things out here.
For more than 15 years, Widmann has been putting vegetables aside for the table every week.
Tafel Maisach: Food donations are processed "like in the supermarket"
"Our day ends around 7 p.m.," says Feix.
At the end of the tour, the van must be unloaded and the goods stored in the food bank's warehouse.
Normann Wenke, head of the Maisach table, is already waiting there.
Before the groceries are placed on the shelves for distribution, a group of four to five women helpers wash and clean everything.
"They prepare it as if it were goods in the supermarket," explains Feix appreciatively.
The food bank supplies around 300 people a week, reports Wenke.
Because behind every pickup you have to reckon with two and a half to three people who are also taken care of.
"That's why we're always happy to have more helpers or drivers."
Contact and information: Anyone who would like to help with the panels or find out more can contact the community foundation: telephone (weekdays 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.) (0 81 41) 34 87 22, e-mail info@buergerstiftung-lkr-ffb. en.
You can find more current news from the district of Fürstenfeldbruck at Merkur.de/Fürstenfeldbruck.
