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4 Survey

4.1 Introduction

The Food Bank mainly accepts donations of food from companies whose products are then

offered free of charge to soup kitchens and institutions throughout Attica. Part of its activity
is to review the bodies it supports and to be knowledgeable about their needs.

Soup kitchens are facilities which offer food to people who turn to them for assistance. They

operate at “neighbourhood” level; they may know the people who need help personally and,
aside from providing food, usually support them in other ways as well (material assistance,
psycho-social support). In most cases, particularly after the economic crisis, they maintain
records on beneficiaries, their family and economic status, any health problems they may
have, and so on. This does not apply to soup kitchens which support a large number of
homeless or substance-dependent individuals, usually in the city centre.

The number of people each soup kitchen supports depends on its capacity and a review of
people's needs. It is important that there are no across-the-board criteria, but the needs of
each person are assessed individually. As a result, a three-member family with a child with
disabilities may have a greater need for assistance than a couple, even if that family's income
is proportionately higher. Similarly, someone with real property (e.g. a house in a village) but
zero income is excluded from official state welfare programmes, though they have a real
need for food.

Soup kitchens are not part of a unified and organised network, nor is it possible to obtain an
overall record of how many soup kitchens there are. Most are run by church parishes, various
organisations or unofficial social groups. They endeavour to find food donations from donors
in the area in which they work, while also buying food with their own funds (membership fees,
fund-raising bazaars and events, etc.).

The Food Bank maintains a strict principle of supplying only soup kitchens with official legal
status and a Tax Registration Number. Goods are distributed with packing slips with
appropriate codes for the soup kitchens and products provided by special software. This
makes it easier to handle products and ensure food traceability, while making it possible to
keep complete statistical records.

This paper is a continuation of the corresponding paper published by the Food Bank in
January 2021. Many questions concern possible changes in circumstances in the last year and
a half, while some issues are not analysed in detail.

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