I'm quite skeptical of requests for assitance quite often as well... Having been a Cub Master (Cub Scouts / Boy Scouts) for several years, we would work to gather food for needy folks. I had several great members give a TON of foods, including a fully processed deer (which included nearly a hundred pounds of all sorts of different cuts of meat). I'll never forget MAKING DELIVERY of these items to the family that we were going to help. I was embarassed for the young boy, who's father just sat in his chair smoking a cigarette, drinking a beer and watching television while we hauled all of this food inside the house. He didn't even get up to hold the door for us as we hauled in nearly a thousand dollars worth of groceries (mostly canned goods and frozen meats).
The mother was obviously quite used to accepting charity as she merely started sorting through the goods, cherry-picking the best and brand-name items, informing us that she 'couldn't-use' the other items. She also informed us that she couldn't use the venison either and that we'd have to take that back. I was livid as we hauled more than half of the offered foods back out to my truck, but held my tongue.
Most folks that I see taking advantage of food banks don't really NEED it, they're taking advantage of it to subsidize some other nasty habit. No wonder we're so suspicious.