A Slice of Bread and Butter
The voice of The Bread and Butter Thing - with stories from the frontline of the cost of living crisis from one of the UK's leading food charities.
A Slice of Bread and Butter
Celebrating Erin: A community star this National Volunteer Week
Not only is it National Volunteer Week but it's also our 50TH EPISODE(!) so we had to make it an extra special one. This week, it's all about Erin, sign language interpreter by day, community hero by heart. She’s not only founded a food bank in her town but also set up our Thorney hub, all whilst working with big-name broadcasters and raising two children as a single parent. Join Mark and Vic as they chat about skipping meals, hiding food insecurity from your kids and parsnips!
Welcome back to A Slice of Bread and Butter with Mark and Vic from the Bread and Butter Thing. We're a charity that delivers affordable food to the heart of struggling neighbourhoods, to help nourish communities and act as a catalyst for change.
Speaker 2:We provide access to a nutritious, affordable range of food, which means our members can save money on their shopping, feed their families healthily, as well as access other support to right in the heart of their communities.
Speaker 1:And this is where we share a slice of life with somebody involved in Brenham Otter and hear about how they connect with us. And this week we are going to listen to Erin, who is not used to being listened to.
Speaker 3:She's more used to being seen my name is Erin Tierney, I am 36 and from Peterborough. I work in inclusional languages in the media, sign language and audio descriptions and things. Anything like hidden disability languages. I don't know why it's called languages, because it's not always language. It's pretty niche.
Speaker 1:What got you into that?
Speaker 3:I started learning sign language when I was at infant school and then realised that it was something quite useful. And then when I left school, I got all my courses, continued using it, used it in a few teaching jobs I had and then decided, just before COVID, that I didn't like teaching anymore. It was too stressful. I've got two young children as well, so I just didn't have any time. So I thought, oh, I wonder if I could use that for something. So I did interpreting for a while and then a job came up at BBC and I got it. Actually now switched over to ITV, but I'm employed by them.
Speaker 1:That gives you some security at least.
Speaker 3:Definitely yes, yes, and it's always going to be needed.
Speaker 1:So how did your path interject with bread and butter?
Speaker 3:So from teaching I noticed a large number of students were coming in. They sometimes just had a piece of bread folded over for lunch. You know these are young minds, they're busy all day. They need sustenance.
Speaker 1:Erin, so literally just a slice of bread.
Speaker 3:Sometimes they'd have a bit of margarine or something in it, but just you know, one slice folded over and that that was their lunch and it it really tugged at my heartstrings so I decided to set a food bank up in my village.
Speaker 1:Your village is Thorny. Yep, and that's where our hub is right.
Speaker 3:That's where our hub is. So the food bank's been going four and a half years and I came across Bread and Butter and thought, well, there's a lot of people in the village that are very passionate about saving food from going to landfill. They like a bargain. So bringing Bread and Butter kind of bridged the middle gap, so maybe people that weren't maybe needing emergency food aid but still wanted to save some money you know, try different things so it seemed perfect and it's gone down so so well here.
Speaker 1:What drives you to open a food bank and do bread and butter?
Speaker 3:Because if the shoe was on the other foot and I needed it, I would like that there would be someone else that could do something like that for me, and I have been in that position. I have had to use the food bank. It's nothing to be ashamed of, but with bread and butter you're getting amazing things. You never know what you're going to get, so it's like Christmas every time you get your bags and it just encourages people to try new things. It saves me money. It stops food going to landfill. That, you know, is perfectly, perfectly good.
Speaker 1:It's a win-win situation on both counts I think you're in a beautiful place now to have this conversation. Could you tell people what you think are the differences and the positives and negatives of each of a food club like bread and butter and a food bank?
Speaker 3:A food bank, you're very limited on what you get. We still don't get any funding or grants, so it's all money that we raise, or tins and things that are donated, and because we never know how many people we're going to have a week at the food bank, we can't always buy in fresh products for them.
Speaker 1:Is it a referral system?
Speaker 3:No, no. We rely on people being honest and you know, just saying to us look, we're struggling. Please can you help.
Speaker 1:You're an absolutely classic traditional food bank where you're looking for the local community to donate cash and food.
Speaker 3:That's it.
Speaker 1:I love that kind of hyper local community food bank. They are exactly what a food bank should look like.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's. There's zero judgment. I mean we've, we've got lots of working families. You know people that aren't the usual stereotype. If you see a food bank on tv, people have this perception in their brain and it's, it's completely the opposite we talk a lot about working families as well needing help and support.
Speaker 1:So the working families that you're seeing coming to the food bank, what kind of work are they doing? Do you know?
Speaker 3:We've got some teachers, we've got nurses, we've got people, engineers, you name it. We've probably got one at the food bank, which is always really good, because if we need some help with something, we've always got someone we can say can you come and change a lot for us?
Speaker 1:I love your spirit and I commend your spirit, but it's tragic at the same time.
Speaker 3:Right it's, it's so, so upsetting. I mean, these people are working so hard and they're doing their best, but their money just doesn't stretch and sometimes you've got to choose between having a slice of toast for dinner and feeding your kids. So with the food bank and bread and butter, that can just take the pressure off a tiny bit and really can make someone's week.
Speaker 1:Let's go back. You've beautifully described your food bank, but now tell me, how does bread and butter contrast to that?
Speaker 3:With bread and butter. It's pre-planned, so we know exactly how many people are coming to collect. We know there's going to be that amount of fresh produce. You know fruits and vegetables and chilled things. We we know exactly how much of which we can give to people and that it won't get wasted. You never know what you're going to get. So you might get courgettes one week and think, what do I do with that? So you, just you make something up, or you, you go on a recipe finder and we've had so many people saying you know, their kids were fussy before, but now they're trying these new things and the families aren't losing money. You know if they had bought this fruit or veg at supermarket prices and they didn't like it, you know it's a lot of money to lose, but when you're experimenting for such a small price, it's a lot of money to lose. But when you're experimenting for such a small price, it's a lot less of a problem that financial risk of trying new foods and increasing your dietary diversity.
Speaker 1:It's a scary thing and the trouble is the the more your diet shrinks, the less good bacterias you have within your system that's it.
Speaker 3:I mean it's not just improving people's mental status with the pressure of the money and it's helping their diet, it's. It's not just improving people's mental status with the pressure of the money and it's helping their diet, it's.
Speaker 1:It's really making a really big difference you mentioned that you've used the food bank and stuff in the past. Why was that?
Speaker 3:yeah, I'm a single parent with a seven-year-old and a ten-year-old and they, they eat constantly. And sometimes, you know, especially January, just after Christmas, you've got an extra long month and the money just didn't stretch. So I needed some extra help and luckily it was on the doorstep.
Speaker 1:Another aspect of what we talk about with bread and butter and working families etc. Is the way people can hide food insecurity from your kids, hide it from your colleagues. Have you experienced that?
Speaker 3:yes, on both sides of things, people have said you know, like we're really struggling. Sometimes they'll only eat a meal a day or a snack a day, or they'll do their kids dinner and have what's left over from their kids food. It's a really, really big thing that's not really spoken about, which it really should be spoken about because it's. It's a really, really big thing that's not really spoken about, which it really should be spoken about because it's.
Speaker 1:It's not a taboo subject, you know it shouldn't be, but it is a difficult one, isn't it? Have you hidden it from your kids?
Speaker 3:sometimes, yeah, you know I'll, I'll eat later, or you have yours and I'll sort myself out later, and then you end up having a slice of toast or a baby cucumber for dinner and then thinking ah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was only when I was in the last 10 years of doing this right that I realized mum was doing that all the bloody time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, certainly. As I was growing up, we definitely weren't affluent in any way, shape or form, and looking back now I could see that my mum did it for us and she never brought any process. Everything was cooked from scratch, which I suppose is a cheaper way of doing it really. But she, she was still struggling. You know, if there were leftovers that was made into something the next day. So by the end of the week you were absolutely sick of something.
Speaker 3:But I get it we were fed and I don't remember it being a bad time or it's. It's only now I'm older and understand it more that I can see what was happening is that partly why maybe you do what you do now? It sounds really cliche, but I'm in a position where I can help people. I've got the time and the contacts to do it. So, while I can, and to ease that burden from other people, I want to do it, and the team at Thorney we're great.
Speaker 1:So your volunteers are sound, very bread and butter type volunteers. They're all experiencing it themselves. They're probably all members as well.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, so we've been going just over a year now, and when, when the food comes in, no one needs to say a word. Everyone knows where they go and what they do.
Speaker 1:I love the smile on your face when you're talking about it all.
Speaker 3:It's so nice. We would never all be in that same situation if it wasn't for bread and butter. You know, we do all socialize, we all talk, we've got a WhatsApp group and we send funny things and rant about parsnips.
Speaker 1:We do get quite a lot of parsnips, and quite big parsnips at that as well.
Speaker 3:I would be quite happy if I never saw a parsnip again.
Speaker 1:They are good for you.
Speaker 3:They are, but once you've eaten them about three times a week for six weeks, they very much lose their appeal. Yeah, tell me about thorny then so we are about six miles outside of peterborough and we're ina really small, beautiful village that looks really affluent. When you drive in then you hit the other end and it's not quite as beautiful. We've got two tiny shops in the village but no supermarkets or anything. So it really is a lifesaver to some people if they don't drive, and the transport links are absolutely shocking here.
Speaker 1:How often are the buses?
Speaker 3:I think they're meant to be one every one or two hours. Wow, I use the word meant quite strongly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't think a lot of people actually understand village life and how it can be when you're in a low income home, how difficult it can be to actually access affordable food right.
Speaker 3:It's absolutely crazy. I mean, I don't drive either, so know it was like, oh great, I'm stuck, and being in a village is isolating anyway, especially as a newcomer. I moved here seven years ago from South London and um it's, it's a shock to the system, to say the least.
Speaker 3:I was gonna say, because you must be used to kind of buses every two minutes oh, and everything being open 24 hours a day, and it's very bizarre now to be oh, I've got to plan what I'm doing around the bus or something, rather than Just go.
Speaker 1:So are you accepted in the community yet? Because that can take a while as well.
Speaker 3:No, apparently you have to be here 25 years before you're classed as a villager.
Speaker 1:So you're still a newbie.
Speaker 3:I'm still very much a newbie. I don't know if I'll make it for another 25 years where do you start with somebody so skilled as erin?
Speaker 1:oh, she's really inspiring, isn't she? Yeah, not only inspiring, but arguably underpaid. I mean, the fact that she signs for itv and used to for bbc and yet still struggles to get by tells you that there's something wrong with the system. Yeah, that somebody that has been training in sign language for so long and is now fluent in it and yet cannot make it pay.
Speaker 2:For sure, yeah, and you know, with a background of teaching too. There should be no reason that Erin's in that situation.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the bread and butter community right, this is what we talk about time and time again. Yeah to the bread and butter community. Right, this is what we talk about time and time again. Yeah, the number of working people that are really, really trying their very best to make ends meet and, frankly, can't even when they're skilled like Erin yeah, I think what's really brilliant about Erin is she's then decided to become a community champion.
Speaker 2:Seems a bit boring.
Speaker 1:I was going to say superhero because she's fantastic, right.
Speaker 2:Totally, and so setting up the food bank and then going. Actually, the bus routes have changed and people now can't get to the shops and we need something more. And giving us a ring and then making it happen, wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm going to take it back and go community activist.
Speaker 2:Nice, yeah. Well, they're lucky to have her in thorny, for sure too right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was good to have that contrast with her as well, comparing food banks and food clubs again, because somebody who's set their own food bank up and is now like a key leader in thorny for bread and butter it's always great to go back to that and say compare and contrast, how do they feel? Yeah but I've got to say I really do like a food bank that works like that.
Speaker 2:That is how food banks should work traditional food bank yeah, by the community, for the community absolutely, and decisions made by the community whether or not that person actually does need that help yeah not by a referral system or some simple process yeah, so I think the food bank is on the saturday and our hub is on the friday, so where we've got extras that we don't need for our members, that then goes and helps into the food bank. Too cool, that's nice. Yeah, so how rural is it around there have have you been?
Speaker 1:Do you know? I haven't been. I have promised Erin that I will go, but I do know the area and I'd say semi-rural.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And for Erin, clearly somebody from London coming up to live in Thorny Very rural.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so it's one of my favourite hubs. I go to that hub quite a bit, so we did the mock general election there in the summer.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, which way did they vote?
Speaker 2:Oh, they were just not voting, so disillusioned. Nothing's going to make a difference. We're not going to vote, yeah.
Speaker 1:I would imagine that that's got worse, not better, since the summer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a lovely day and there's a wall outside and everybody queues up on the wall, all in the same order. They were all sunning themselves and I was just chatting to them. Didn't feel like work, if I'm honest, and they were just really disillusioned. Nothing's going to make a difference, they're all the same.
Speaker 2:We don't understand it yeah but no, I love it there and the members are a really chatty bunch. The volunteers are just full of enthusiasm. There's some quite big houses around there. I think our members are quite hidden anyway from policy and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:It feels like they're more hidden there you did kind of say that in the intro, how lovely it looks when you first drive into thorny, but then if you just keep going, yeah, yeah, and the bus every couple of hours, like once you're there, you're stuck, and certainly not to do a shop.
Speaker 2:That would be like a full day if you got your timings wrong.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that was one of the main reasons why she asked us to go, because the public transport routes had changed I mean, it brings it another level to being isolated, right yeah, when you, when your public transport lets you down like that and you don't drive, what do you do?
Speaker 2:Yeah, do like Erin and start up a food club.
Speaker 1:Yeah, become more active in your community it's great, fix it.
Speaker 2:So the other thing from Erin was about her saying that she would eat after the kids so that she could eat less or skip meals occasionally, and I think a lot of our members do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I do too. This is the bit that isn't really talked about within food insecurity, isn't it how people hide it? Yeah, this is something that we've talked about time and again, vic, but not necessarily on the podcast, but it is a big deal that people will say, oh, I'll eat later, or just have a taste or a small plate in comparison to you, and they're trying to lose weight or whatever it is. Whatever excuses come out, but we've heard and seen a lot of them and people tell us, but rarely tell us on the record, should we say?
Speaker 2:I mean when erin said I might have a slice of toast later or a small cucumber. Yeah, I mean, that's full of watermark. How do you feel about cucumbers?
Speaker 1:well, you know how I feel about cucumbers and the nutritional value of it, but you know exactly what she was doing, because my guess would be that there were small cucumbers in the Brenna batter bag this week yeah and she's just making do. Yeah, it's exactly that people are not seeing.
Speaker 2:That is where the emotional stress comes from, of just putting a brave face on it and hiding it yeah, if you think about you're worrying where your next food's coming from, you don't know how you're going to feed your kids, you've got all these bills coming through, all of this stuff, you're juggling work, you can't get anywhere because the buses take so long, etc. Etc. And then think, oh, and now I'm going to have to try and hide the fact that I'm starving, that I've not had proper food for however long, or I'm going to be skipping my tea. That hiding it feels like it's almost the straw that's going to break the camel's back really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and yet so many people like her and just deal with it every day and just take it in the stride.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which is pretty amazing.
Speaker 1:And a bit shit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a bit rubbish.
Speaker 1:Oh no, I'll just swear Okay.
Speaker 2:I don't know Rubbish.
Speaker 1:So if you'd like to know more about the bread and butter thing and what we get up to, you can find us at team tbbt, on instagram, tiktok and twitter, on linkedin or online at breadandbutterthingorg and if you have any feedback or thoughts on the podcast or would like to come and be our guest, drop us an email at podcast at breadandbutterthingorg.
Speaker 1:Lastly, Lastly, we're always open to new members at all of our hubs, so if you or someone you know would benefit from our affordable food scheme, you can find your nearest hub on our become a member page on the website.
Speaker 2:And please do all the things that podcast asks us to like us subscribe, leave us a review, share us with friends, chat about us on social and we'll see you next time.
