Food bank founder: Meet the people in my community
During the pandemic, Donna lost her cleaning business and ended up needing support from a food bank.
After managing to get back on her feet financially, she felt inspired to set up her own food bank for people living on the New Parks council estate, the area she calls home in Leicester.
She now helps between 30 and 50 people each week and wants to make sure nobody in her area is struggling financially.
She says the government are “doing as much as they can” and that a lot of help is being offered, but accessing that help is a struggle for some people.
BBC Radio 5 Live gave Donna a reporter’s microphone and asked her to speak to people she knows, works with and helps in New Parks to find out if they are being affected by rising costs.
‘I should be able to manage’
Stacey is a single mum of two children and works 27 hours a week to fit around childcare.
She told Donna rising costs could leave her in “working poverty”.
“The council tax is going to go up again in April because it goes up every year,” she said. “My gas and electricity bills jumped by £120 a month which is going to cripple me.”
Stacey has been using food banks and free sites to feed and clothe her children, which she says is “embarrassing, because I should be able to manage”.
After seeing her energy bills increase, Stacey contacted her energy supplier to explain her financial difficulties in paying the increased rate.
“They’ve emailed me back to say they’ll keep me at my old tariff until April,” she said. “So when the wholesale price comes in the end of February they’ll be able to give me a better idea how much I need to pay a month."
"I’m hoping it’ll rise about £20, £30 a month - any more than that I won’t be able to put the heating on.”
She is also planning to speak to her boss about her entitlement to a pay rise.
“If I don’t get the pay rise that I need, I’ll have to look for alternate work because I can’t live off what I’m earning now.”
‘Some of the stories are heart-breaking’
Bev, known locally as Benidorm Bev for her pre-pandemic holidays, gave up work two years ago to become her husband’s full-time carer.
She said using less petrol now she’s not travelling to work and her love of bargain hunting has helped her manage their finances.
“I’m quite an independent person, so I didn’t ask for help,” she said. “ I didn’t sign on, I just got on with things.”
“With my husband having cancer, he gets cold and I have to have the heating on, so I shut the door if somebody’s coming to collect something – you just cope, you just do it.”
Bev has also taken up voluntary work in the community.
“I’m enjoying what I’m doing for the New Parks Mission and Gracious Givers,” she said. “All the people I meet, you listen to their stories.”
“They like to talk to you and some of the stories are heart-breaking, but I think it does them good to know somebody’s going to listen to them.”
‘There’s nothing being passed down the line’
Ash is a vehicle recovery driver and car repairer, he told Donna his work has become very unpredictable since the start of the pandemic, and costs have gone up.
“The price of diesel’s risen a stupid amount – my truck, you could fill it from empty for £120, now it’s costing £155 to fill the tank,” he said. “Three years ago, I’d have been [filling the tank] twice a week because of the amount of cars I’d be picking up and selling.”
“Now there’s nothing being passed down the line, some weeks you’re really busy and some weeks you’re sitting around waiting. It’s potluck, nothing’s consistent at the moment.”
“When you’ve got no money coming in, there’s still people knocking on your door asking for gas money, electric money, insurance, MOT, tax, the tyres on my truck are £170 a pop and I’ve got six of them, they need replacing every now and then, the cost of living rising the cost of heating your house rising, food rising, milk.”
Donna asked Ash what solutions he had for people who are struggling with rising costs, he said it’s a “disgrace” that people are having to use food banks in order to eat.
“However, the big problem at the moment is people are too used to going to these food banks and too used to these handouts,” he said. “Some people just go there because there’s food there being handed out for free and they think; ‘Ok, if Peter’s having it, why can’t Paul?’
“The sad thing is what they’re doing is taking food out of the mouths of needy people, and kids are going to school hungry because they want that pack of cereal as well or that pint of milk or that pack of eggs.”
'We have to budget everything'
Debbie is a mum of two, grandmother of one and a foster carer, she also helps care for her elderly father.
She told Donna she’s “definitely feeling a pinch” in her finances.
“We have to budget everything,” she said. “Not only am I keeping my own household, but my daughter’s left home so I’m helping her budget and keep her home as well.”
“We’re having to pull in the belt strings and do what we can when we can.”
She says the family haven’t been able to afford a holiday for three years and have given up the hot tub they used to have in the garden because it was too expensive to run.
“My husband works for the NHS,” she said. “He’s had to go on longer hours to help us make ends meet. They should put wages up, the cost of living is going up but wages aren’t.”
“When you’re gaining extra wages, you’re losing child benefit, so you get it in one hand and it goes out the other.”
Debbie would like to see more people volunteering to help their community cope with rising costs.
“I think the community is pulling well together,” she said. “But there’s more that can be done, more people can pull in and help a little bit more, there’s still a lot of people who don’t help the community and a lot of people still struggling.
“We were able to get extra food parcels, so we were able to help the elderly couple next door. Everybody needs help, it’s just that little extra help for everybody else.”
