Maya Forstater I agree that the real issue is poverty in general but it is undeniable that if your choice is feed your kids or buy sanitary protection, women suffer

When I first started donating to my local foodbank I asked them what they needed, the top of the list was sanitary protection

Le_Sorelle_Arduino KPSS Did they not say money?

Maya Forstater Le_Sorelle_Arduino KPSS Yeah, every functional charity I've ever worked with or for *does not want material donations.* They can make the money you spend on donations go a lot further by direct contracts and bulk buying. Donate directly.

Em Kay Maya Forstater Le_Sorelle_Arduino KPSS If the local foodbank in question is a Trussell Trust one, then this is specifically untrue. They do not spend donations on supplies, but on organisational costs and extra services. That's 1200 foodbanks that absolutely *do* want material donations.
trusselltrust.org/2020/10/13/wha…

Defiantly Alice Maya Forstater Le_Sorelle_Arduino KPSS Yes, it's often a model for community food banks that's hard to overcome, because people like the warm fuzzy feelings that come with material donations. Unfortunately, it's a highly inefficient model.

Em Kay Defiantly Alice Le_Sorelle_Arduino KPSS Plenty of local food banks do accept cash donations. It much more efficient, but then it would be much more efficient to give people money than bags of food that may or may not be what they would chose. The whole system is inefficient. stalbansdistrict.foodbank.org.uk/give-help/dona…

Maya Forstater Em Kay Le_Sorelle_Arduino KPSS Your link is to a foodbank that is part of the Trussell Trust network, and they explain on their localgiving page that the donations are used to run the service itself including the warehouse and van, and are only *sometimes* used to buy food wholesale when donations run low.

Maya Forstater Em Kay Le_Sorelle_Arduino KPSS But I mean really this is all a sideshow to the point - which is that you insisted period poverty isn't a thing, and you've now been directly told that foodbanks at least sometimes ask for sanitary products as their *number one need*. How they acquire them is by the by.

Defiantly Alice Em Kay Le_Sorelle_Arduino KPSS Do you think there is a different kind of poverty for each individual item stocked at the food bank, or is the issue poverty: people not be able to afford all their basic household needs?

Maya Forstater Defiantly Alice Em Kay Le_Sorelle_Arduino KPSS So you're shutting up Sex Matters and switching to campaigning for Universal Basic Income?

@HarryMbike Of course not, there’s not so much grift in that.