DURING an average day, I’ll have cereal for breakfast with a cup of tea, various snacks throughout the day and then dinner in the evening, and my day is rarely complete without chocolate.

And I definitely take all of this for granted. Most of us do. We get up in the morning knowing that if we feel like it we can just raid the fridge to set us up for the day and that there will be something to eat when we get home, or if not, we can pop to a shop and buy something.

But spending a morning with the amazing volunteers of Hereford Food Bank really made me realise how lucky I am and also how absolutely disgusting it is that in 2013, while so many of us are concerned with having the latest phone or tablet, that people can’t actually afford to eat

As Alison Russell, the volunteer administrator with the food bank, pointed out – in this society where so much emphasis is placed on not just having nice expensive things, but also having a lot of them, those in poverty get left behind and become some sort of sad scapegoat for all that’s bad in society.

I won’t pretend I don’t buy nice things or things I don’t really need to get by – I’m sure the hundreds of pounds I’ve spent on tattoos, piercings and hair dye over the years could have gone to better use – but more of an effort has to be made by so many of us to help those in need.

It really is as easy as putting an extra item in your shopping trolley and donating it to a food bank.

I've got huge respect for the volunteers who have to be so organised and on top of things to help, and all who do it not for money, but because they care.

It doesn’t take much to help out in a small but significant way, so start now.
Next time you go shopping, put one (or more) of these items in to your trolley:

• Tinned meat, vegetables, fruit and fish.
• Sanitary items such as toilet rolls, toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, handwash, shampoo.
• Tins of rice pudding and custard.
• Coffee and tea.
• Rice.
• Sugar.
• Packets of dried milk.

There are many places these items can be donated, including the Hereford Times office, Hereford Cathedral, All Saints’ Church or the diocesan office at the Bishop’s Palace.

For more on food banks, see this Thursday's Hereford Times.