‘Janner spirit is as important as ever to help people in need this Christmas’

17/12/2023

Luke Pollard writes why the Janner spirit is as important as ever to help people in need this Christmas I love Christmas. Like so many people, I value the festive break as a time for relaxation, celebration, and spending time with my loved ones.

I’d like to thank all those who are working over the holidays from our armed forces, police, NHS and social care teams to name but a few. Thank you. What you do matters, and not just at Christmas.

But with food prices and energy bills still at eye-watering levels, I know this is also a challenging time for many families in Plymouth and across the south west. If you listened to Conservative Ministers in recent weeks, you could be fooled into believing the cost of living crisis was already over. In reality, the government’s failure on the economy means that many families across Plymouth will be facing the same difficult choices about whether they can afford a hot meal or heating their homes each night.

No one should be left with the prospect of going hungry or cold this winter. But this year, many more are. The cost of living crisis is a personal tragedy for so many people in our city.

Demand for emergency food support is increasing.

As a city, we haven’t waited for the government to get their act together, we have stepped up. I’m so proud of the extraordinary Janner spirit that runs throughout our city in the work of volunteers and charities who help people in need.

One day these amazing people won’t be needed, but this Christmas each volunteer is worth their weight in gold. I recently visited FareShare in Estover who provide the backbone of food deliveries for foodbanks, Provide Devon and the Soup Run – to name a few brilliant groups working in our city. Demand is going up with each week.

Every food parcel is a family in need and represents a family not able to fulfil their potential because of poverty and deprivation. There are some awful stories about individuals who are struggling to afford to feed their families in our city. I’ve spoken to numerous families who are worrying desperately about where the next meal will come from.

I hate it that hunger is increasingly normalised. Food inflation is twice the headline rate and hits the poorest hardest.

13 years ago, foodbanks didn’t really exist. Today, they’re a part of every community.nThe thought of kids going to bed hungry sickens me.

Poverty and hunger is never, ever acceptable. If you are struggling to put food on the table, there is help available to you. Plymouth Food Aid Network [3] have a fantastic interactive on access to food in the community, which help across the city. In the lead up to Christmas, I visited Plymouth Foodbank to hear first-hand about the rise in demand for food.

They are a fantastic organisation full of brilliant volunteers who can help you access three days’ nutritionally balanced emergency food if you are in need. Staggeringly, there are now more food banks in this country than branches of McDonalds – and each is receiving more and more demand. Plymouth Foodbank served nearly 130,000 meals this year to 14,000 people – including helping over 4,500 children.

Despite their physical food donations dropping by 73%, demand is up 67% compared to this time last year. Each of those food banks exists because of the hard work and generosity of the communities around them. They shouldn’t need to exist, but the harsh reality is they are a vital pillar in our communities.

That’s why last year I launched a fundraiser [4] with Plymouth Foodbank to tackle another key worry for many families brought on by the rising cost of living: fuel poverty. By the end of the fundraiser, we raised well over GBP6,000, enough to buy up 80 electric blankets. There are still electric blankets at Plymouth Foodbank to help people this winter.

Heating the human not heating the home with these blankets and throws will help keep people in Plymouth warm over the winter. For more information about how to get help from Plymouth Foodbank or if you are able to donate food, clothes or money, please visit https://plymouth.foodbank.org.uk/[5] to find out more. My Mum taught me to ask “are the children hungry?” as the first question to determine whether a government is working.

Foodbank use in Plymouth shows that more children are going hungry this year, than last year. That shames our nation. I fear things will continue to get worse for those in the greatest need despite the efforts of charities, the council and brilliant volunteers.

Hunger should be something we read about in history books, not witness in our communities. Let’s make poverty history in 2024. Whether kids have full bellies so they can learn, grow and succeed is on the ballot paper at the approaching general election.

As always, you can get in touch with me at [email protected][6] and 01752 717 255, and you can sign up for my newsletter here [7] to keep an eye on my work to get Plymouth our fair share.

References

^ I tried what I think should be the ‘it’ family game this Christmas (www.plymouthherald.co.uk)
^ Try PlymouthLive Premium for FREE with no pop-up ads and new features (www.plymouthherald.co.uk)
^ Plymouth Food Aid Network (www.pfan.org.uk)
^ fundraiser (www.crowdfunder.co.uk)
^ https://plymouth.foodbank.org.uk/ (plymouth.foodbank.org.uk)
^ [email protected] (www.plymouthherald.co.uk)
^ here (www.lukepollard.org)