Since 2003, the annual appeal has raised nearly £400,000 for local charities, with Brighton and Hove Buses collecting donations on behalf of 20 amazing local good causes this year, including the Trust for Developing Communities, Team Domenica and Grace Eyre.
I have no doubt once again – even as we all navigate our way through a cost-of-living crisis – people will dig deep and give what they can afford.
Sadly, the funds raised are needed now more than ever. Many charities and organisations helping the most vulnerable in our community face an uncertain financial future. The council will almost certainly make huge cuts to its budget in 2024. Grants will be reduced. People squeezed by the cost-of-living crisis, inflation and worries about their own job security may not be able to give as regularly. And many businesses which would ordinarily support good causes local to them and important to their staff are struggling to stay afloat. It’s not an easy time to be a charity.
And while generating funds may be more challenging, the need for their services is increasing.
Fareshare Sussex and Surrey is one of the charities the Santa Bus is supporting. It thoroughly deserves it. Fareshare collects surplus food from dozens of businesses and organisations and then, with the help of more than 150 volunteers, redistributes it to other local charities, who pass it on to the people in our community who are most in need of support. It’s a simple approach, but one which is providing vital support – and on a huge scale. Last year the charity saved more than 1,000 tonnes of perfectly safe and edible food from landfill. That added up to around 2.4million meals.
Food insecurity is an appalling problem for people to face in a country as wealthy as the UK. Austerity has a lot to do with it. When the Conservatives came to power, there were a handful of food banks operating across the UK. Now after 13 years of Tory rule the UK has more food banks than branches of McDonald’s. Here in Brighton and Hove, there are now more than 50 emergency food providers and the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership recently warned in The Argus that local food banks are facing closure as demand surges. More than 6,400 people now rely on food banks locally – an increase of 25 per cent from 2022. One in three of those people are children.
And it isn’t just food people need help with. Baby banks are becoming increasingly common, with more and more parents needing help to provide even the basics for their family. In Brighton and Hove, the fantastic Pelican Parcels continues to provide important support to children and families by taking pre-loved and new donations and redistributing them to families facing financial hardship, including books, toys, clothes, nappies, shoes, and even beds. The work they – and others like them – are doing is making a real difference. It’s just heartbreaking it is needed.
Just this week I also read in The Argus that more than 3,000 people are currently living in temporary accommodation locally – including 1,219 children. Another 88 people are also known to be sleeping rough on our city’s streets. The actual number is almost certainly higher.
I was delighted, therefore, to see the council has revived its cost of living support fund to help residents. This fund was set up by the Greens in response to the devastating impact of rising costs on people’s ability to make ends meet. It works by supporting local charities who provide direct help to people they know are in dire need. It is truly awful that in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, such a fund is even necessary. The insecure and challenging situations so many find themselves in through no fault of their own should be a national scandal. It is certainly a shameful indictment on the Conservative Party’s decade-long policy of austerity and the mismanagement of our economy. But the sad fact is, funds like this are needed.
As we head into the cold winter months and with Christmas just days away, it is awful to think that for many of our neighbours and members of our community, times are becoming more challenging than ever. Spiralling foodbank usage, increased housing insecurity, and more and more families just struggling to make ends meet should never be normalised. It doesn’t have to be this way.
But until we have a government which acts to tackle these widespread and growing inequalities, the hard work of local charities and the generosity of those who give to them will remain vital.
Cllr Steve Davis is the leader of the Greens on Brighton and Hove City Council
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