If you’re like us, your heart breaks this time of year. Being around loved ones and family is a joyous occasion but it’s hard not to think of those less fortunate. Christmas has had a long-standing history of not just being about ourselves. Whether you volunteer or give donations, it’s the most collectively altruistic time of year.
Looking at where to donate your time and money can be a struggle. With so much going on in the world, you want to help anyone and everyone. A perplexity of the modern era in the UK is Food Banks. How can a country so rich as the UK have Food Banks? It’s not in our arena to say but it’s something that needs everyone’s attention.
Giving something back
We as an agency are lucky enough to send and receive many corporate gifts over the year. This is never more so than at Christmas. Our own Christmas tradition had been to send all our clients a Fifteen designed Christmas card. We spend hours, creating, signing and posting these cards. It did get us all in the festive spirit and allows to showcase our creativity. For the time effort and money we put in, we could do something far more worthwhile and less disposable.
Hence this year, we’ll be donating our usual company Christmas card spend to our local food bank. We are fortunate enough to be able to support a variety of charities throughout the year..
The Food Bank. The reality of poverty in the UK
The Trussell trust is one of the UK’s leading charities. Tackling the nation’s poverty with a network of over 400 food banks across the country. It’s been reported that since 2010 the uses of their food banks have increased from 41,000 to 1.2 million.
Between 2016 to 2017 it was estimated that 746,016 adults and 436,938 children had to receive emergency food supplies. People have to visit food banks for a multitude of reasons. None of which is their fault. No one should ever go hungry especially in the UK.
A report carried out by the University of Oxford, showed that almost 50% of people had gone without heating for more than four days. This was in the past 12 months through fear of the cost. Over 78% of households were food insecure. This information can be hard to stomach. Conflicting information through national papers for ideological or political reasons can often distort facts. But, if we can help one person, it’s worth it.
It’s possible to lose sight of the ongoing issues in our local community. We often associate poverty as being less close to home and unrelated to our own lives and societies. Unfortunately, poverty is a nationwide issue. It can affect someone you wouldn’t even have suspected, far closer to home than you would have expected.
Thank You for making us act differently
So, if you’re one of our incredible clients, we’re sorry but our infamous Christmas card won’t be dropping through your post box this year. But, it’s all the amazing partnerships we have forged with you that allows us to do such great work for those in need. It is a joint effort, so thank you.
If you want to donate to your local food bank here’s how to get started: