Identifying food poverty isn’t as obvious as it seems. Sometimes those, who suddenly find themselves in financial difficulty, don’t know where to turn or how to access the right support. The impact of Covid19 on household income has had a catastrophic effect for some and has been (and continues to be) very troublesome for many. It has become a stark reality that we are now seeing families, who never dreamt they would be seeking help, turning to foodbanks much more regularly.

In December 2020, Derby City Council and the local schools identified 850 children living in food poverty, due to low family incomes. However, the family incomes were not deemed low enough to get the support they needed. That is often when local organisations and charities step in. Vicky Longbone, the Church Related Community Worker (CRCW) for the Derby A2C (Ashbourne Rd to Central) project says:

Here, at Ashbourne Road Church, we have been running one of ten local distribution hubs, providing emergency food parcels to those who are experiencing food poverty. This has been part of a city-wide project, which was set up during the the first lockdown. The Derby Food 4 Thought Alliance has brought lots of organisations together to create a city-wide approach to the issue of food poverty:

The Food 4 Thought Alliance aims to help people break out of the cycle of food poverty. Free food is not intended to be a long-term solution. To help end the cycle of poverty, the model will help those engaging with partners by providing support & advice.

During the Christmas period, children received a top up food parcel, containing the basic supplies and a few goodies and Vicky was asked to coordinate this initiative. An amazing team of volunteers packed 1,500 bags, which filled the entire church. BBC East Midlands picked up on the story and spent a morning with us, producing a lovely piece, highlighting the need of these families.

Jesus says ‘feed the hungry’ but hunger isn’t always in the obvious places. There are people that have been forgotten, have fallen through the net, and are not entitled to the same help as those already in receipt of benefits.

What Impact has the Food 4 Thought Alliance had on families in Derby?

Vicky decided to share some snippets from a sobering letter she received from a very grateful family:

We just wanted to put down in writing our thanks for the support you have given us over Christmas for our 5 and 2 year olds, as a family we were almost at breaking point, never in my wildest dreams thought we would ever be in this situation. I wrongly thought this is what happens to families when they are frivolous with their money families that expected the state to pay for everything, what a sobering reality check. To find that our previously comfortable life could be turned upside down in a matter of months, to have the realization that we could not meet the essential bills and feed ourselves and the children has been a devastating eye opener into what families up and down the country are facing.

Until November 2019 we had a combined income of £45,000. In January 2020, we had to go onto Universal Credit, all our savings had gone on household bills and food, we needed to manage on the Universal credit and my wages amounting to £1100 per month for all outgoings.

We were proactive and renegotiated our mortgage, we let our essential services know that we were struggling to find the money to pay the bills. We applied for support with Mortgage costs and Council Tax but because I work 2 days per week I would earn just over the threshold for any help.

We kept our financial situation private and pretended that everything was ok. When inside I was falling apart and sick with worry. I was so ashamed to have to ask for this help and even more so when I went to pick up our food parcels.

When the food parcel came our boys were so excited to see chocolate and popcorn (something we had stopped buying as now it is a luxury). These are tough times for everyone, we never thought we would ever be in this situation, but the kindness of strangers has pulled us though. Our boys still talk about "pop com night' and we will always remember the feelings of relief and how happy we were to receive something so simple, yet it meant we could have a small celebration at Christmas.

If you would like to know more about Church Related Community Work, we have lots of useful information on our CRCW webpages or you can contact us via email or telephone the URC switchboard: 020 7916 2020.