To want to help people less well off than me - practical advice and progress

[Pheebe]

As promised and requested, following on from the thread sparked by the story of child poverty and 'Louise's life' in the Guardian article, here's a thread where we can all get practical!

I've made a start by contacting my local SureStart team today offering my help and support. I've also asked them about any local 'food bank' schemes or furniture/clothes recycling schemes round here and will be contacting the local council to do the same.

I will also copy SGMs really useful post with a load of other ideas.

Come on ladies, lets stop the self-righteous bitching and actually do something useful

FROM SGM

Pheebe - Joining Surestart will make a huge difference as will donating any old clothes/ furniture/ pans to a free furniture recycling initiative especially ones run by councils.

Emailing your MP/MSP to demand an immediate increase in Healthy Start Vouchers with the maximum age raised to 10 for the full amount [as opposed to to 1]. Extending the products you can purchase with them [such as yogurt].

Emailing your local grocery store to enquire if they accept Healthy Start Vouchers [Tescos and the other big ones do but Aldi and Lidl don't and their fruit and vegetables are a lot cheaper than Tescos/ Morrisons]

Campaigning your local authority to provide the following:

1. group allotments for people on low incomes or organisations working with homeless and other categories of poverty [there's an apple orchard near me on a reclaimed piece of land where you get to pick your own fruit].

1. getting more libraries to offer computer training programs

1. subsidised creche places for people retraining [very few in this area]

1. cooperative kitchens which teach both healthy food cooking skills and provide free meals

1. Check to see if your LEA offers school clothing vouchers and how much the vouchers are. If they don't, campaign to get them to start

1. breakfast clubs - get a local football team/ business to sponsor them. Educational attainment is directly linked to adequate nutrition . Far too many children go to school without breakfast or having a drink in the morning.

1. Lunch programs for the elderly but also carers on low incomes [whether they are caring for small children or disabled partners/children/ relatives]

Another idea: this one from notamummyetbutoneday:

Please all add your message here- ok its not practical help but it is a message to the Government that child poverty has to stop.

Thank you Pheebe- Ive emailled our local Surestart too.

Does anyone know what the correct department to contact at the local council is for this kind of thing?

One thing that I think came out of the other thread is that lack of knowedlge about food and cooking skills will play a key part in budgeting for many people and their diet.

Now Im no Gordon Ramsey but I lived as a student for a year with only a hob and no freezer (no oven or grill) to feed myself and made everyhting from scratch- Im sure I've got skills I could pass on to people who need it- how on earth would I go about that do you think?

Another good idea is a food co-operative. The co-op buys in bulk at wholesale prices, and members pay cost. these can be held once a week or more at a variety of venues, community centres etc. Only a nominal joining fee is required.

It does take some commitment to set up, but many areas and estates have Tenant Associations who would be perfect for launching the idea in their community. You might also get some funding from the Primary Care Trust for a healthy eating initiative.

I applied to be a volunteer person for helping new mums at home, but sadly our council who ran the scheme had run out of funding for it.

My area is quite well set up in terms of helping people on a low income

We have Sure Start who loan baby safety equipment and hold free mother and toddler groups, baby massage classes etc. A food co-op who you can buy cheap fruit and veg from £2.50 per carrier bag.

Tennants assosciations, who organise low cost day trips and childcare during summer holidays.

A place called The Orb, who offer free cooking/budegting/parenting courses, interview coaching, advice on careers and courses.

The local college provides free childcare vouchers for any one studying a levels or vocational courses and free bus passes if you live a certain distance away.

There is a learn direct center here who offer free IT and computing courses, along with admin courses.

If any of the areas you live in don't have these things contact your council about setting them up.

I found all this out for myself though. No one tells you about them. What the government need to do is to make sure that single parents and low income families have access to things like this and know about them. I don't know how we could change that? A petetition maybe?

It's a coincidence, but I actually interviewed the Chief Exec of a children's charity this morning. One of their main aims is to make sure people are receiving the benefits they are entitled to, but also that they know about the services for families, such as Sure Start etc, reaching out to people known as 'hard to reach'.

He told me that 30% of children in my city live below the government's official poverty line. Thirty Percent! My chin nearly hit the floor.

Seashells- not sure where you are in the North (Im NE)but ive just found this scheme- they even take tins of paint etc so will definitely be emailling them about what they would like.

www.communigate.co.uk/ne/furniturehelp/index.phtml

Oh yes I am near there. I will be sure to take any unwanted furniture to them when we move.

We have rolls of carpet and all kinds at Dh's house.

I don;t have practical ideas - but I am a great believer in campaigning for permanent, meaningful change. As that Guardian article points out poverty in the UK is somehow not something that seems to bother people - it's not a vote winner - even child poverty. Raising a voice, making it clear that it's unnacceptable and intolerable in one of the most developed countries in the world is, imo, really important. so, in that vein here are some links to campaigns that we can add our voice to:

child poverty action group - too skint for school campaign and make child benefit count (I have a feeling this link might take you to CPAG's home page - but if you click on campaigns the relevant links are there).

End Child Poverty - click on What You Can Do

the need not greed campaign - a coalition working on poverty in the UK, focused on teh cash in hand economy and its underlying causes. includes Oxfam, has suggestions for actions.

if you feel up to a bit of research for letters then this site by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has lots of useful information

barnado's campaign to end child poverty

Thank you so much everyone for contributing today

Today I have emailed SureStart to see how I can get involved (no reply yet though) and have signed up to the EndChildPoverty campaign and sent the link to all my RL friends.

Tomorow I'll be getting in touch with the council to see if there are any recyling initiatives round here and browsing through the links hatwoman has so kindly taken the time to post.

Thanks everyone, I'm beginning to feel a bit less despairing again

I ahve friends who Volunteer for homestart and get a lot out of it. i am going to do it when I'm not so ill.

Also donating furniture to salvation army or if in Manchester Wesley furniture stores.

If you own a business; contact jobcenter or council.they often have schemes for getting people back to work who need a bump start, and can be very beneficial for both of you.

Make genuine friends with people like 'Louise', and help them as you would your other friends, not as part of a volunteering scheme where they are a 'client.'

Campaign for people like her to be rehoused where you live, rather than on sink estates.

MillyR -My friends have made friends through homestart!

I used to be 'Louise'. I had two kids (same dad though), on my own, in a council flat, skint, no qualifications, no family support.

The thing that helped me the most was Family Credit. It doesnt exist anymore but it was bloody Before that you worked and tried to live on your wages or you were on income support. No inbetween, no chance.

Family credit allowed me to work part time and get help with rent etc and CHILDCARE. I didnt have anymore money than when I was on IS but I had a job and was able to keep moving forward. My job gave me confidence, the confidence helped me study, work out what was going on with kids' dad, access stuff for the kids etc etc.

I also went to a brilliant church that provided loads of things within the community. Holiday clubs, toddler groups etc and I got involved in them and they gave me experince. They allowed me to mix with families from different backgrounds. It was nice to see how other people lived.

Without that help I dont know where we would be now.

On paper we are still in the low income group but that is because of life events (bereavement, disability etc) but my life feels a million miles away from those days.

I dont want to forget what it was like though. I want to always keep in mind what it was like to be that poor (relatively) and that worried about the future.

Volunteer for Homestart as I do - fabulous for both volunteer and 'client'

I find it is much easier to be helpful to someone in need through an organisation like homestart than it would be to just make friends with someone who might need help as MillyR says - I think it is less patronising to!

People who I think need help and support dont necessarily feel that they do and it is very embarrassing to ask for it of an acquantance in the playground iyswim!

With an organisation like homestart or surestart the 'client' can ask for help and support from someone who is ready and willing to help

I meant to add:

Having been mega poor and desperate myself once I appreciated friendship from friends but help was more useful from a designated organisation iyswim

Thanks for the bump SGM and the new posts all . I haven't heard back from SureStart yet but will chase them up tomorow.

DH and I had been sorting stuff to freecycle but, as he pointed out, the people who really need it may not even know about freecycle. We now have a heap of stuff that we'll now be diverting to whichever local recycling initiatives I can find.