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Resilience vs. Reliance
Context is everything
The phrase “resilience vs. reliance” was discussed in between our Plymouth Soup Run food service last night. We’d just given out around 80 meals to the people that rely on our food service and who come to Shekinah on a Sunday night to collect their hot meal and the various other items we provide. At 20:30 we would then drive out to a series of set nightly locations to feed another 50 or so that for various reasons wait for the food run to come to them. And because the time is the same time every time, 365 days of the year, those people rely on that service, and the regulars are as regular as we are.
The question that had been raised around “resilience vs. reliance” elsewhere in the sector, did raise a valid point though and makes us wonder are we teaching people to be food reliant or food resilient?
Life is rarely that simple though and falling into the homelessness bracket is complex. I’ve fed people, I’ve dealt with 999 calls, streaming blood, screaming emotions, made hot chocolate with 3 sugars, sat, listened and so much more and whilst we have to consider the question, it’s complex. Far more complex than I would have ever imagined.
And of course, there is no simple answer but we can’t ignore the question as whilst the service is about providing free food and hot drinks to homeless…
