This week, as part of our work on World Challenge Badge, Woodland Beavers received a visit from Maria, who serves our community by helping at the Witney Food Bank. The Witney Food Bank provides emergency food to people in crisis.
Thank you to all the beaver parents who provided such lovely donations for the Food Bank, Maria was really impressed by how generous everybody was – well done beaver parents and beavers!
Maria started by giving each lodge some money and a picture with a number of food items on it, along with their prices. The beavers had to buy all the items they could afford and any money left over could be used to buy bars of chocolate. The beavers found that they were able to afford 3 bars of chocolate – hoorah!
Next, Maria changed the prices on the list of items to show how inflation can make a difference to what people can afford. This time the beavers found that they didn’t have enough enough money for chocolate, unless they went without another food item. There was not necessarily a right or wrong choice but the beavers had to think about what was best for their wellbeing – not so hoorah!
Next Maria explained how families could suddenly find themselves with less money to spend on food for all sorts of reasons beyond their control and took away some of the beavers money. This time, the beavers had to choose just the essential items that would give them the best, balanced, diet. This really got the lodges thinking about what was required for a balanced and nutritious diet – no hoorah at all!
Every day people in the UK go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income. A simple box of food makes a big difference, with foodbanks helping prevent crime, housing loss, family breakdown and mental health problems. Maria showed the beavers two typical family food parcels and tasked the 19 beavers with taking the items required to make a nutritious meal. We were very impressed by the really sensible decisions that the beavers made in order to choose a balanced diet. Several chose to share a meal that would be too much for one person – well done beavers!
Thank you Maria, you were fantastic and we learnt so much about the terrible difficulties that people in crisis struggle with. We are so grateful to people like you who do so much to help our community!
Here are a few pictures from Maria’s visit and a video of the beavers choosing their meal:
