New poverty poses a challenge to the Schongauer Tafel
Created: 01/04/2023, 16:00
By: Barbara Schlotterer-Fuchs
Every Thursday all hands are needed at the table in Schongau for the distribution of food.
More and more people have to be cared for by the 40 helpers.
The increase in customers is due to a new poverty.
© Herald
In an interview, Schongau's Tafel manager, Stefan Schütz, talks about the enormous increase in customers and the problems that come with it.
Schongau
– Exploding energy prices, sensational inflation: This hits with full force among those who are already up to their necks in water.
This is clearly noticeable at the table in Schongau.
Stefan Schütz heads the regional offers in Weilheim-Schongau in the department of people in special circumstances.
In an interview, he says that the food bank concept had to be turned inside out out of necessity - for the sake of the people who would otherwise have nothing on their plates.
Stefan Schütz is responsible for organizing the Schongauer Tafel at Herzogsägmühle.
© Bas
Mr. Schütz, you are in charge of the Herzogsägmühle division, which also organizes the table in Schongau.
A lot has happened.
How do you see the past year?
It was shaped enormously by inflation, increased heating costs, rising rental costs, a lack of living space and flight.
It has been proven that people who are at risk of poverty or live in poverty suffer significantly more from the increased cost of living than the average population.
And now far beyond that.
What does that mean specifically for the table in Schongau?
Nationwide there has been an enormous increase in customers.
This can also be observed at the Schongauer Tafel.
We're seeing tremendous growth.
This year we have taken care of almost 400 needy people in the region every week.
Roughly speaking, that is at least a third more than before.
How do you know?
We need almost 40 volunteers to make it work.
Some of them have been there from the start.
So for 17 years.
These helpers guarantee the weekly smooth running.
In fact, a Tafel operation would never be possible without this volunteer work.
Was Corona a problem when it came to Tafel employees?
With a lot of creativity, we managed to keep the table running.
And that was extremely important.
Finally, the food banks create a bridge between excess and scarcity: food of impeccable quality that would otherwise be thrown away is distributed to the needy.
Because we had such an enormous increase in customers, groceries had to be bought.
That doesn't actually correspond to the ideology of the Tafel, which actually says that nothing can be bought...
We had to abandon this principle for the first time and had to buy groceries.
We had to feed the people somehow.
Of course something has to be done politically here.
Preventing poverty is actually not the task of the food banks, but of the welfare state.
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Because you are talking about queues of people: Were there any in Schongau with at least 400 needy people being cared for?
We care for a total of 400 people.
But that doesn't mean that we gave out 400 passes.
In order to relax the whole thing during the issue, we have set up time windows.
We really wanted to avoid snakes.
Sounds like you were literally overrun at the Schongauer Tafel...
Like all the panels I know, we had a waiting list.
Of course, we also tried to provide the needy without ID with food as far as possible.
And that is also becoming increasingly difficult.
The weekly groceries we have are fluctuating.
Incidentally, this is particularly noticeable since the rise in inflation.
We get significantly less food donated.
Sounds like a really stressful year 2022 for the table in Schongau...
There is enormous logistics behind the whole thing.
Of course, we not only try to time everything during the distribution, but also when selecting the food.
If less fruit and vegetables are given out in a week, we try to compensate by handing out food that has a longer shelf life.
We want to avoid that someone drives from Peiting, for example, and then there is nothing left.
Every week we have to think anew: What can we spend so that there is still enough for everyone next week.
That's why we're always very grateful when people donate us longer-lasting foods like rice or pasta.
Your outlook for 2023?
It probably won't get any better.
I see tremendous challenges ahead of the board.
If inflation persists and energy bills come in the first quarter of the year, it should come as a shock to many.
Info:
In addition to food donations, the Tafel also accepts monetary donations.
Donation account: keyword “Tafel”, bank for social economy, IBAN: DE 42 7002 0500 0004 8192 00, SWIFT-BIC: BFSWDE33MUE.
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