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We will pull through if we pull together

My sons have a lovely book at home called Kind, which we often read together. I’ve been known to pull it from the shelf pointedly when they’re at each others throats, but I prefer to read it with them in calm moments, and to talk about it together.
 
It begins, “Imagine a world where everyone is kind. How can we make that come true?, and then goes on to suggest lots of practical ways to be kind and caring in our lives, with pictures by 38 different illustrators. It then ends with the words: 

“It feels nice to be kind. And it’s a good idea, too.

Because if everyone is kind… we’ll make a better world.”

 
You can probably see where I’m going with this. In the past few weeks, these soft little life lessons have become increasingly applicable and relevant. In the midst of these uncertain times, kindness is all the more important, and all the more abundant.
 
It’s a month today since Boris Johnson’s national TV address, in which he announced the lockdown. You don’t need me to tell you how strange, difficult and bewildering the past month has been for so many people. But amid the difficulties, we can see also a groundswell of kindness.
 
In mid-March, as the severity of the situation was becoming clearer, I popped notes through some of the doors on my street, asking if anyone would like to join a street WhatsApp group. I guess I thought it would be good to have each other’s numbers just in case anyone found themselves in sudden crisis, a handy emergency contact sheet.
 
Already though, it has become a heartening hubbub of kindness, community and support. People have been collecting shopping for each other, sharing supplies, passing on spare toys and craft equipment for the kids on the street and generally being kind.
Several people have remarked that they have chatted more to their neighbours now, over the fences or via their phones, than they ever did before. One neighbour has set up a makeshift food stall on their driveway, buying and collating supplies to ensure nobody in the street goes without. There’s a team spirit worth protecting. I know many other sets of neighbours in other streets have done the same.
 
Where I live, in York, I was heartened too by the get-up-and-go of local volunteers who picked, saved and then distributed 2,400kg of potatoes to local projects, after the outbreak led to a couple of buyers cancelling their contracts with local farmers. There’s an urgent drive suddenly to look out for one another, and to be kind.
 
We should say, we are not all in the same boat here. It is becoming recognised that those already suffering from society’s injustices are suffering all the more now, less able to access food, perhaps cut off from essential online school materials, struggling to find fresh air without a garden, or unable to access community resources they cherish and need. The virus undoubtedly exacerbates, rather than removes, society’s inequalities.
 
But if we are not all in the same boat, we are all nonetheless charting the same course in the same difficult channel, and we will pull through by pulling together. And when we do reach a safe harbour at the end of this, perhaps the kindness and solidarity we are seeing in our streets will help us make a better world.
 
Because if everyone is kind…
 
  • by Gavin Aitchison, Church Action on Poverty’s media unit coordinator

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8 April 2020

Thousands of people could be protected from food shortages during the coronavirus crisis, after the launch of a friendship project was fast-tracked

The Friends of Your Local Pantry scheme will raise cash from individuals and businesses, to ensure food provision for neighbours at risk of severe poverty.

The Your Local Pantry network has 14 member run food clubs around the UK, providing members with regular access to supermarket food at greatly reduced prices. The pantries pre-empt hunger and loosening the grip of poverty, freeing up more income for other costs and essential bills.

In March, the number of visits to the pantries passed 1,000 in a month for the first time, but the coronavirus crisis has threatened supply chains and organisers anticipate increased need over the coming months.

Today, the project is launching its Friends of Your Local Pantry scheme so that through one-off or monthly donations, supporters can prevent pantries from running low on staple foods, ensuring members can stay afloat in tough times.

The Your Local Pantry Team at Lighthouse in Middleton, in March 2019

Pantries offer fresh and chilled food, as well as frozen, long-life and tinned goods. Members can routinely choose what they put in their basket, typically being able to access around £20 of food for just £3 or £4 a week. Nationally, pantries have 1,400 members and provide for 3,600 adults and children, with pantries in Greater Manchester, London, the West Midlands, Cardiff, Preston, Stoke-on-Trent and Liverpool.

Church Action on Poverty runs the national network, following the success of a local scheme developed by Stockport Homes in 2014. Pantries source food from Fareshare and local suppliers, and members pay a weekly subscription, which allows them to access a set number of heavily-discounted items each week.

Gillian Oliver, pantry project worker at Church Action on Poverty, said: “The coronavirus crisis has caused sudden hardship and natural fear for people across the country. We know it will mean many more parents losing work, children potentially going hungry, and people worrying about food security. For that reason, we have brought forward the launch of our friendship scheme, so our supporters and the wider public can act now to prevent hunger.”

The Your Local Pantry team in Preston, in 2019

Pantries are a proven solution across the country, preventing thousands of people from being swept deeper into poverty. People have already been phoning us asking how they can donate, and the friends scheme allows us to respond to that compassion in the best way. Signing up could not be easier – all the details are at www.yourlocalpantry.co.uk/friend

Some pantries have already adapted since the coronavirus lockdown began. The pantry in Peckham has had to move to another room to enable safe distancing, but has also reduced its fee and the food it can provide, due to supply interruptions. The pantry in Smethwick had to relocate when the library where it was based closed.

Individuals and businesses are being asked to sign up to the friends scheme. They will be able to select a single pantry to receive 75% of their donation, with the rest used equally across the whole network, or they can donate to the central fund.

All donors will be acknowledged in Your Local Pantry communications or events, and the largest business supporters will be supported to include the work in their corporate social responsibility portfolio. Businesses pledging £50 a month of more can attend and contribute to the Your Local Pantry AGM and can request a talk to their business from the leader of their local project.

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Bernadette Askins, from our North East group, reports on what the Coronavirus outbreak has meant for the Key 2 Life Foodbank in South Tyneside

Things are changing very quickly from day to day and we have been struggling to keep up and adapt to this fast-moving scene.

Thankfully, our co-ordinator and 25 volunteers have risen to the occasion and everyone is working hard to make sure no-one is without food. We are expecting an increase in demand as people start to run out of money while waiting for the various benefits and grants to land.

An earlier photo of some volunteers at the Key 2 Life Foodbank

Need has more than doubled

Demand for food bags increased by 110% last week and we were anxious that we wouldn’t be able to meet demand. Food supplies from supermarkets are well down and of course we cannot appeal to the churches now. However, we do have an active Facebook page and an appeal was very successful – lots of food and money donations from the wider community.

We have had new funding to buy food from South Tyneside Council and several foundations have been in touch to invite applications for grants. Plus all the donations from the public which continue to be very generous (£1000 in past 2 weeks). So, no problems with money – just finding food to purchase!

At present, it is quite difficult to obtain food as supermarkets are rationing items but things seem to be easing a little. The cash and carrys were sold out of most stuff last weekend.  Hopefully when things calm down we will be able to buy food again. In the meantime, we have received food donations from local people, businesses which have had to close and small local shops.

Community has rallied round

Our older volunteers are now self-isolating but we have been able to recruit new volunteers (including our MP and a local councillor). Also volunteers from projects that have closed have joined us. Many of our volunteers live alone and working at Key 2 Life Foodbank is very important to them. They were quite distressed at the thought we might close.

Our foodbank manager, Jo, has health issues so is working from home and most of our trustees are self-isolating. However, we were delighted to be ‘loaned’ Pauline, who would normally be running the Methodist shop in the town centre, which has temporarily closed. Pauline is working three days a week at the Foodbank to make sure protocols are followed and managing the finances. A great example of cooperation and sharing of resources! It is a big relief because otherwise we had no senior person able to actually go to the foodbank to support the volunteers. 

6 practical ways we have adapted

These are some of the ways we have responded at Key 2 Life Foodbank to the Coronavirus:

  1. We introduced strict protocols to keep the volunteers safe.
  2. We are doing deliveries for people / families who have to isolate and who have no car, so they don’t have to use public transport. Key (one of our Churches Together charities) has loaned us their van and we have several volunteer drivers.
  3. From next week we will be distributing Family Food Packs with 5 days food. These are intended for children entitled to free school meals, but we will also distribute them to families who are in financial difficulties. Families can self-refer.
  4. We have upped our game on social media with lots of good stories and suggestions of ways the community can get involved.
  5. We have put a donate button on our Facebook page.
  6. We have provided foodbank vols with a letter explaining their role, just in case they are questioned on the way to work

South Tyneside Council has set up a Hub which began operating this week. People who have no money can phone and they will be referred to the Foodbank

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Gavin Aitchison, Martin Green, Sydnie Corley and Mary Passeri at an NUJ meeting in London

Our media work is driven by the knowledge that people in poverty understand it better than anyone else.

That maxim may sound obvious, but while poverty attracts much attention in the UK media, the coverage is often flimsy and fleeting because people who truly understand it are left out.

We launched our poverty media unit in 2015 because of growing concern about the way the issues were being reported, and the fact that people in poverty were being routinely misrepresented or ignored altogether.

A big part of our work in the past five years has been in partnership with the National Union of Journalists, and that work has taken another promising step forward.

Supporters may recall that in 2016, we worked with the NUJ and people in poverty to produce a reporting guide, and in 2017 we worked with the union and the Reporters’ Academy to produce this short film:

 

2020: Further progress

In March, the NUJ hosted a round-table discussion event at its headquarters in London, for journalists, people in poverty and charities including Church Action on Poverty and Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Martin Green, one of our trustees, was among six people with experience of poverty in Halifax, York and London. They were joined by around 15 journalists, consisting of reporters, photographers and members of the union’s ethics committee. Further work will also now follow, and we hope to update the guide. (The event was held in the first few days of March, prior to the advice against group gatherings)

Topics of conversation at the event included the way that over-dramatic stock images skew public perceptions, painting a narrow and extreme understanding of poverty in the public eye.

We talked also about the lack of diversity in newsrooms, with few journalists having grown up in poverty.

Sydnie Corley, from York Food Justice Alliance, challenged media preconceptions about what audiences want. “Journalists say they print what people want to read – but why not challenge them more to read something that challenges what they think?”

Mary Passeri, also from York, recounted her positive and negative experiences with journalists, and said: “You shouldn’t be making people in poverty feel like they’re on trial, to prove what they’re saying. Of course, fact-check things, but interview more sensitively and sincerely than sometimes happens.”

 

Gavin Aitchison, Martin Green, Sydnie Corley and Mary Passeri at an NUJ meeting in London
From left: Gavin Aitchison, Church Action on Poverty's media unit coordinator; Martin Green, one of our trustees; and Sydnie Corley and Mary Passeri of York Food Justice Alliance at the NUJ event in London.

Fundamentally, the speakers with experience of poverty called for deeper relationships with journalists and a more collaborative approach.

As Diana, from ATD Fourth World, said at the event: “If you are interviewing someone who might never have been asked their opinion before in their life, then it’s really important to ensure they have the opportunity to influence your narrative. We want to be part of designing stories together.”

Too often, journalists seek personal input only when a story is already written or nearing completion. ‘Case studies’ are sought for preconceived narratives, with little regard for the broader insights an interviewee may bring.

We know severe editorial cuts mean deeper coverage is not always easy, but several organisations (including Church Action on Poverty, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and On Road Media) are all now working with journalists and people in poverty on an ongoing basis, to support and enable coverage that is responsible, well-planned, considered and collaborative.  There is great potential for further enlightened and effective work.

A positive example

A few weeks earlier, that very approach showed how complicated issues can be conveyed powerfully and clearly to a large audience. Mary and Sydnie from York both campaign around food poverty but also have personal experience of the complexities and inadequacies of carer support in the UK. We worked with Joseph Rowntree Foundation and BBC News over a series of discussions, and Mary and Sydnie then told their stories on the BBC News at Six, to an audience of millions, showing how the lack of support keeps people trapped in poverty, and outlining what could help to make a difference.

You can read and watch that story here, on the BBC website. 

 

NUJ guide to reporting poverty

The original version of the NUJ guide to reporting poverty was produced in 2016 by Church Action on Poverty and the union’s Manchester and Salford branch. 

It was led by people with personal experience of poverty, sharing their views on what would constitute good journalism that might make a difference to society. It contains contributors’ own ideas and experiences, and also includes useful information that could enhance journalist’ understanding of the underlying causes of UK poverty.

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I am a volunteer and I manage our independent foodbank in Parson Cross, in North East Sheffield. We have been operating for over nine years and in the past twelve months we have been providing food parcels for around 90 households a week.

by Charlotte Killeya, from the Parson Cross Initiative

Almost two weeks have passed since I tried to order our regular Foodbank ‘top-up’ delivery from a supermarket online (see my previous blog article.) It feels much longer ago than that. Since then, life has changed more dramatically than any of us could have imagined. Unless we are a key worker, we have been told to stay at home. We can only venture beyond our front door to shop for essentials, to exercise locally once a day and to support someone who is vulnerable. For the vast majority of parents, our children are no longer at school. We can no longer visit friends and family. Contact with the outside world is now reliant on screens and phones, if we have them.  

Two weeks ago, we did manage to get a delivery slot with the supermarket. Items were substituted and we received less of some products. At the time, the focus was on panic buying, hoarding and fights over toilet rolls. We tweeted things like “Stop Hoarding, Start Sharing” and asked people if they could help foodbanks by donating any extra products that they could find. People spent days driving round different supermarkets trying to get us extra items. However, as we stood back from it all, we knew that we were facing a crisis that we, and the country, were not prepared for.

Anyone who has ever run a foodbank, or volunteered at one, will have experienced the feeling at the end of a session when you look at the shelves and realise that the food cupboard is bare. It’s something that we have got used to seeing: those gaping holes on the shelves.

Fortunately, in the past we have always managed to fill them again using donations of money and food. At times we have been astounded how quickly and generously the local community and other local food projects have supported us. However, each week there has always been that nagging question of doubt: “Will this be the week that we will run out of food and have to close our foodbank doors?”  We have continually said that this model of food access and distribution for the most vulnerable in our society is not sustainable and is not a solution to the underlying issues about why people use foodbanks.

Speaking truth to power

We have shared our fears far and wide. We have always believed that campaigning against the injustice we see is just as important as giving food. Like many charities, we have campaigned about the introduction of Universal Credit because we have seen the impact that it has having on people in our community. We have shared stories about how parents are going without food to feed their children and how people are having to make the choice between buying food and paying the bills. We have introduced new ways of offering support:  a social cafe, a pop-up food stall where people could choose food items, a self-referral system – lots of different ways of putting dignity, choice and community at the heart of what we are trying to achieve. Sometimes it has felt like we were shouting in the wind because the message just didn’t seem to get across. There are debates, articles in newspapers but it doesn’t seem long before the focus shifts.
How many more conversations can we have? How many more times can we share these experiences only to feel like those in power are not listening?

At crisis point

And now, we have this crisis that we could not have predicted. It became quickly apparent for us that we would not cope this time.

Many of our volunteers and helpers are elderly, have underlying health conditions, have family members who are vulnerable, are at home caring for their children or are already self-isolating with symptoms.

We knew that donations would likely become problematic as people were no longer able to buy the amount of food we would need. All of this would be coupled with the fact that more and more people would be in need of support. With much soul-searching, we made the decision to work with a larger Trussell Trust food bank in Sheffield who have access to more donors, space and volunteers. This is a pattern that we are likely to see repeated across the UK as some local foodbanks close their doors.

The problem that we urgently face in this Coronavirus crisis is the need for organised access and distribution of food nationally.

Panic-buying has been blamed for empty supermarket shelves, and for a time I thought this was true myself, because it was hard to step back from the footage we saw; but with time for reflection, I’m afraid that this is not the whole story.

Our food distribution has been largely based upon a system of just-in-time stock control. Supermarkets do not have vast warehouses on site, but instead rely on deliveries that are timed to meet with drops in stock levels. The way supermarkets manage stock control is linked to consumer behaviour. Before this pandemic, many consumers shopped frequently for smaller amounts. Now, many people are opting to go less often and therefore are buying more items each visit.

This change in behaviour is having a big impact on the availability of food and therefore we are seeing supermarkets ‘ration’ the amount of food we can buy per visit.

Then, there is the issue of access to food. For years, foodbanks have supported people accessing food when they have not been able to do so through the market. This is the very definition of “food insecurity” in the UK: there never has been a shortage of food in the last decade, just the problem of people being able to access it fairly. For the many reasons that we know, people within our communities have not been able to buy the essentials they need and foodbanks have been there to fill in the gaps. Our own foodbank never claimed that we were able to feed a family for a week, our parcels were more of a ‘helping hand’ a way of helping to subsidise low incomes.
So, the idea that foodbanks and the rest of the charity sector will be able to somehow “Feed The Nation” at this time is an impossibility and a burden that we cannot and should not bear.
This week alone, almost half a million people have signed up to Universal Credit and will be waiting five weeks until their first payment. Foodbanks up and down the country will not be able to deal with this sudden and dramatic increase in numbers. We have spoken to people who only a few weeks ago had a job, ran their own business or were self-employed are now saying they will soon have to start making the choice between paying bills and buying food. These are, as we keep hearing, unprecedented times.

The answer...?

So, what’s the solution? Increasingly there are calls from organisations such as the Independent Food Aid Network, Sustain and Nourish for the government to implement a Universal Basic Income. If people have the security of more money in their pockets they will be able to better support themselves. There are also calls for a National Food Service with a more centralised approach pushing forward the argument that every adult and child has a right to food. Questions have also been raised about why we aren’t seeing central government coordination. Why isn’t there a Ministry of Food, after all there was during the World Wars? These ideas share the principle that a centralised, co-ordinated response needs to be achieved – and quickly. It should not have taken a pandemic for us to arrive at these conclusions; there have been warning signs.
Foodbanks have been saying for years that we were under enormous pressure. Whatever remedies are put in place by Government, both at a local and national level, they need to be clear, they need to be fair, they need to be universal and they need to be implemented quickly.

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How can charities and community projects best ensure we remain closely connected, while keeping our distance?

That has been a crucial question all over the country, during this coronavirus outbreak.

We all must play our part in slowing the spread of the virus, but community can be maintained and even strengthened, by finding new ways to deliver vital services and support.

What has been working well for your project, and what ideas can you share? Many of our partners have been active, and this is a summary of what some of them have been doing in the past fortnight.  

The Cedarwood Trust on the Meadow Well estate in North Shields closed even before it as forced to, conscious of the underlying health concerns of many of the regulars.

Some community work moved online, with the charity hosting conversations, quizzes and audio messages on its facebook page, but much was also done out and about in the community, until the distancing rules changed. By the time the Prime Minister ordered a major lockdown on March 23, the charity had already distributed 2,400 leaflets locally offering support, cooked 181 meals for local families including 55 people in isolation, was working with the food bank to identify and support families in need, and was making more than 20 phone calls a day to local people.

Wayne Dobson, chief executive, says:

“It has been really important still keeping community going, even though the centre is closed.”

Meeting the needs of people who do not have internet access has been a widespread challenge. At Thrive Teesside in Stockton, manger Tracey Herrington says: “Many of our beneficiaries are not connected to the internet, and we have been doing more calls to check on people and to stay connected, and to respond to queries. There are situations where people were maybe not aware of schemes that were available for support. So much that happens in a community is only advertised online and we need to ensure everyone is contacted. There are a lot of people who have only just been keeping afloat. It’s not about what’s right or wrong in what’s happening, but the reality is they will not stay afloat any more. Incomes were already inadequate and contracts did not cover priority bills. The repercussions going down the line will be massive and this highlights that, if you do not have people with experience of an issue, you cannot fully understand the implications when something happens.”

For those who are online, Thrive has been tweeting extracts from the inspiration Thriving Teesside book that community members produced last year. Do take a look.

It’s a similar picture in Sheffield, at Parson Cross Initiative (PXI). Nick Waterfield, from the project, says: “We want people to know we have not disappeared; we are just not there at the moment. We too have a lot of people without internet access, including some of our volunteers, but we have other volunteers ringing round to check on people.”

PXI has long run a range of community projects through the week, and it has tried to stick to the schedule online. It has set up a new facebook page, Keep Close with PXI, and is using it to very consciously hold the community together, such as by posting craft club photos when the club would ordinarily meet, and inviting members to share their own photos online too. In a community where marginalisation and isolation were already big issues, it has been vital not to lose the moments that were, for many, a weekly highlight. “The idea is to keep the rhythm of the community going,” says Nick.

The charity teamed up with other food banks in Sheffield for its food distribution work, but Nick says:

“Among the clamour to keep food banks open, let’s remember they were never the answer to poverty in the first place and they’re not the answer now. They’re prioritising food bank workers as key workers, but that’s insanity and insulting. They’re expecting our volunteers to put themselves on the front line because they’re not putting enough money into people’s pockets.”

All projects that provide food aid faced enormous pressure but have been adapting as much as possible. Food aid. Many were already facing unsustainable levels of need, and knew that society could not allow more people to be swept into debt and destitution. Brighton and Hove Food Partnership drew up plans with all its partners in the city, sourcing and distributing food, checking in by phone with vulnerable and isolated people, and setting up an online fundraising campaign to pay for bulk purchases to meet need.

Most of our Your Local Pantry projects remained open for business, as they are essential sources of food for their communities and members. At St Luke’s in Peckham, the pantry had to move from the usual small room into the main hall, to allow more space between people, and unexpectedly creating a quicker and more effective system in the process.

How has your project changed the way it works, and how is it maintaining community? Take part in our online  survey and let us know!

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People around the country came together in support of the End Hunger UK campaign, calling for immediate action from the country’s leaders.

In dozens of towns and cities, groups of supporters and campaigners unveiled signs reading ‘Act Now To End UK Hunger’ as part of a national week of action, and we held a fantastic event in Sheffield Cathedral.

Photographs were shared from landmarks including The Angel of the North, Caerphilly Castle, Everton Park in Liverpool and King’s Cross station, as well as at schools, colleges, market squares and offices.

The End Hunger UK campaign is a growing movement of people and organisations, including Church Action on Poverty, that have come together to challenge the underlying causes of food poverty and hunger in the UK.

We know countless compassionate community groups all over the UK are doing amazing work to relieve hunger day to day, but it is vital that we protect people from being swept into crisis in the first place, so that one day we no longer need food banks and other such projects. Nobody should have to go to bed hungry. Everyone should have access to good food.

The week of action was an intensification of our shared efforts.

At local level, hundreds of people took part, displaying the signs, raising the issue with their local media, or holding special events such as an invisible banquet in Oxford.
At the national level, we and other members of the campaign wrote to all party leaders in the House of Commons, asking them to set out their plans for ending food insecurity by 2030, and asking them to meet with us to identify solutions

The focal point of the week came on World Food Day, October 16, when the Food Glorious Food choir performed at Sheffield Cathedral.

The choir is made up of members and volunteers from the Gleadless Valley Food Bank in Sheffield, who had been brought together by local choir leader Yo Tozer-Loft.

Their repertoire included Something Inside So Strong, A Million Dreams, their own song based on Yorkshire foods, and a rewrite of A Little Help From My Friends with lyrics based on the singers’ own stories of using the food bank.

Choir members also spoke to The Daily Mirror and BBC Sheffield, leading to powerful coverage. Jamie, one of the choir members, spoke to both media outlets and took part in a panel discussion in the Cathedral. “Although the food bank helps with the immediate problem, it’s not a long term solution.”

The event also include poetry readings by Matt Sowerby live, and via video by Aaron R from the United States.

Speaking before the event, Niall Cooper, chair of End Hunger UK, said:

“We all want to live in a country where everyone has access to good food and no one needs to go to bed hungry, but we need action to make that a reality. The UK Government and all parties need to commit to drawing up a clear roadmap to end food poverty, and must act now to end hunger.

“The UK has no shortage of food. The problem is one of incomes – too many working and non-working households are being hamstrung by insufficient wages and a benefits system that does not cover people’s essential costs.

“Charitable emergency food provision has proliferated in the UK in the past decade and large numbers of people have been forced to turn to food aid providers. In the sixth wealthiest nation on the planet, this is simply not right.

“Politicians must listen to the experiences and insights of people who have been caught in a rising tide of poverty and debt, and the national target must be to halve household food insecurity by 2025, as a step to ending it by 2030.”

Why not read more from the choir members and watch their performance in the cathedral? You can find links to the videos at the End Hunger UK website or on the Church Action on Poverty YouTube channel.

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With love and determination now, the UK can end food poverty

Our director Niall Cooper sets out how the Government can make sure the UK ends hunger - and why it must. ​

ON a recent visit to a community food project, a colleague and I got into conversation with one of the volunteers.

In her most difficult moments, this place had been her lifeline. Now, she was recycling that kindness and warmth, welcoming people in and providing a listening ear, a cup of tea and vital relief.

Such stories are not rare. We should be consistently appalled and agitated by the scale of food poverty in the UK, but the compassion that prompts many recipients of food to return as volunteers reflects the prevailing goodness in our society.

It is no surprise that those who have experienced great difficulty want to help others, but the desire for justice runs deeper than that. We see that in the generous donations made to so many food banks, and in the stop-gap projects that provide meals for families in the holidays. It’s clear: nobody is comfortable with people going hungry in this country.

Sticking plaster solutions, however, are unsustainable and inadequate. We must channel the public’s compassion and look to the greater challenge, of tackling the underlying causes of food poverty.

What does this mean in real terms? It means coming together and making a shared and unrelenting commitment to ending hunger in the UK. And it means calling for boldness and determination from our new Prime Minister.

National leaders have seen and embraced the vision of a country free from hunger. In 2015, the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, pledged to end hunger in the UK by 2030, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

To reach this goal requires action now, because the crisis is immediate and severe. In 2018/19, food banks run by the Trussell Trust, the country’s largest operator, distributed 1.6 million three-day food parcels, including 89,841 in Yorkshire. During last year’s summer holidays, the need in this region increased by 14.49 per cent – and these figures are only the tip of the iceberg. 

Researchers from The Food Foundation estimate that the number of people in food poverty in the UK is 17 times higher than the number accessing Trussell food banks. Unaffiliated community projects and independent food banks are also meeting need every day, and recent research in York reaffirmed that many people are simply put off visiting a food bank by personal pride and a fear of stigma. 

All of this can change. Poverty, and the hunger it brings, are not inevitable. There is absolutely no reason why there should be hunger in this country, nor any reason whatsoever why we cannot end it. Our economic and political systems have been designed by human hands and they can be redesigned but we need Government leadership and vision.

Specifically, we need a commitment to halving food insecurity by 2025, as a stepping stone to ending hunger by 2030. It will be for successive Governments to lead on the detail but we know some of the principal issues that must be addressed early: we need to safeguard childhood nutrition all year round; we need the return of effective financial assistance that people can access in times of crisis; we need a Government that will truly listen to those at the sharp end of poverty in the UK; and we need a benefits system that does not push anyone into food poverty or destitution.

What that last point means, in practice, is that benefits must provide an income that allows people to live and that the system must be fit for purpose. Therefore, we must end the five week wait for initial Universal Credit payments, a design flaw in the policy that is causing hardship. 

Compassion, coupled with ambition and resolve, is what the country needs in abundance right now.

A food bank we work closely with in Parson Cross, Sheffield, says it has come close to breaking point since Universal Credit was rolled out in the city last year. They now spend £652 a month to keep the shelves stocked, up from £379 previously. In York, meanwhile, one parent told researchers: “Universal Credit has wrecked us. We have just gone on it and I have been told me and my five-year-old will have to go at least seven weeks with no income at all.”

It simply isn’t right that this is the reality for some of our most vulnerable citizens. We cannot be happy with an economy that leaves millions at the mercy of insecure and low-paid work, rising living and housing costs, and a benefits system that leaves many people unable to keep their heads above water. Hard pressed families trying to keep children adequately fed this summer deserve better.

Visit any food bank, community café or breakfast club and you will be struck by the love and neighbourliness that underpins the work. Such compassion, coupled with ambition and resolve, is what the country needs in abundance right now. Let this be an invitation to Mr Johnson and his Government, as he seeks to unite the country. Come and listen to those who are going without food, and resolve to end hunger in the UK

 

This article was first written for The Yorkshire Post, and was published in print and online on July 31, 2019.

12 stories of hope for 2022 – and immediate actions you can take

How Thrive took control of the agenda in 2021

Annual review 2020–21

2021 conference: watch the recordings

Long read: How do we build dignity, agency & power together?

What happened when Manchester sat down to talk about poverty…

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How grassroots films change views of poverty

13th Sheffield Pilgrimage, 2021

Listen up to level up: why we must rebuild together

Growing crops & community amid the pandemic

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1,000+ church leaders say: Don’t cut Universal Credit

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A collage, showing a megaphone graphic, a City of York logo, and a screenshot of a story headed: "What I learnt from four months in York's homeless system"

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Our use of social media: an update