‘The distressing moment I found out how my lunch had been catered’

The last 12 months have been great for raising the voice of the over-60s community at Starts at 60, something we feel strongly about doing. During the next few weeks we are celebrating the blogs that resonated with readers the most throughout the year. This blog is one of our Top 30 blogs for 2018.

I recently joined a book club and I was invited to attend lunch at one of the ladies house’s. It was such a magnificent waterfront house backing onto a canal with a boat and jet ski tied to their jetty.

Six of us sat at her beautifully decorated table, we had a delicious three course meal, everything from prawns to pork. When the conversation turned to fashion I immediately felt completely out of my depth. They were discussing the designer labels and, well, Target is my go to store. Then the conversation went down a path I did not like at all; I started to wonder about the moral fibre of the women that surrounded me.

They all thought it was fantastic that a Food Relief Centre had opened up near the island home of the hostess. She saw it as her right to go there every week and buy all the meat she could for a few dollars. They other women agreed. My host said it saved her a fortune on entertaining and dinner parties. I could not believe what I was hearing. The pork belly I had been enjoying was bought for a minimal amount and meant for homeless or people in dire straits. I felt disgusted. The woman had no shame in her all her gold jewellery and designer clothes. It’s not a service for the wealthy to abuse.

I started doing my own research and discovered this type of abuse happens every week at many food relief places. One volunteer told me she has three well-heeled women turn up every week in a Mercedes-Benz, they buy everything from $1 packets of cereal to $5 legs of lamb. I do not have a house or a car or a bank balance worthy of a mention, but I always spend a couple of dollars every fortnight on donations for my local food relief.

The reality is that no matter how little you have, there is always somebody with less. After meeting those women I wonder what is the point of donating to these places when so many abuse it. I have since declined any futher invitations to meet with the book club.

Have you ever been aware of people taking advantage of charities when they’ve not needed to? Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you’ve needed the services of a charity?

Go in the draw to win some great prizes with Starts at 60. Simply sign up as a contributor and submit your stories to Starts at 60 here. You can also join the Starts at 60 Bloggers Club on Facebook to talk to other writers in the Starts at 60 community and learn more about how to write for Starts at 60.