Addressing Child Poverty in Totnes

Thirty percent of children in Britain are in poverty as defined by the Child Poverty Action Group. An appalling metric considering it is the 6th largest economy in the World. Our little corner of the country is also one of the most wealthy so it’s abundantly clear that something is out of whack here. With the new government failing to take action on one of the most significant child poverty issues and the recent budget’s national insurance changes having an almost certain negative on effect on lower paid wages, there seems to be little hope coming from the state.

One person, less interested in the politics and taking direct action is Jo Yeo, who received a well deserved community award for grabbing this disgraceful bull by the horns.

Jo lives in Totnes and has 2 children. In February 2023 support for poorer families had run out. Vouchers are provided by Devon County Council and are distributed by schools. Most schools bunch these together at certain times of the year including Christmas to cover that period and by February there is nothing left available. The requirement to be eligible is to be earning £7500 – or less – per year. So if you’re earning the princely sum of £630 a month, you’re not going to get this support at all.

Jo had a lot of friends who were struggling. With the help of Liz Maddocks, Morrisons Community Champion, “who was amazing“, she was delivering food packages to 55 families within just 2 weeks of starting.  “We started at St John’s [Primary School], people were really grateful and happy and they asked if I could do it again, and it just hasn’t stopped.” Jo continues; “More people have asked for support at other schools”.  After clearing her own garage for storing food and making requests for donations via Facebook plus Liz from Morrisons got involved in donating too. With 4 or 5 friends, using their cars, transported the packed bags to the school.

The food parcels are now distributed via three local schools, (with two more coming soon) which helps bypass some of the stigma issues that can arise from accepting donations. It is the schools who identify the families in need of support. The Food for Children team do not know who recieves the benefit of their work. The arrangement involves using nicknames for each family. They can then identify the number of children in the family as well as managing dietry issues such as food intolerances. The name can be Marvel superheroes or, in one school, names of herbs. Each bag will contain a meal suggestion and contain all the items need to make it, such as pasta, carbonara sauce, tinned mushrooms etc.

The group have been criticised for not providing fresh food however this is forced by the situation. Schools cannot store fresh produce and the time periods involved prevent this luxury being possible. Totnes Indoor Storage has now replaced Jo’s garage as the central location where the team store food and put together the packages. The group have recently doubled the space needed and the storage company are helping with 50% of the cost with Roundham Garage in Paignton providing the remaining half. They are also delighted to have had very generous help from several businesses who are credited on their supporters page.

There is clearly a need for this service – Susie Watt, company secretary and a director, is part of the team; “We’re in contact with 34 schools at the moment who have been invited to the Annual General Meeting and that will probably trigger more referalls.”

Follow the money

The most recent awareness/fundraising campaign that included a table outside Morrisons raised £688 – “a lot of which came from Morrisons”  – during the school summer holidays they raised just under £2500. Since starting in February the whole process has cost £10,106.31 (Jo pays almost obsessive attention to her spreadsheet!) which averages about £505 per month. Currently the most beneficial things the CIC need is money to purchase food or actual food donations. These are part of the green packets you see in Morrisons as you go in or leave. Jo puts together a wish-list for the items needed to make a rounded meal. These are then put into those green packages and all the ones bought are handed over to Food in the Community, Stepping Stones Food Bank and Food for Children dependant on the contents bought.  There is also an online version with this Amazon Wish List and there is a monthly donation arrangement here.

Can things be done better?

Jo explains; “Yes, I would like to find a more sustainable way to deliver the food. We have boxes and bags kindly donated but these are not very strong and break-up.” The team are currently looking into re-usable bags that can be returned from the families. It’s early days and they are working on ways to improve the efficiency of the process. Also delivering of the parcels is proving to be laborious with volunteers using their cars to make multiple journeys after a local ‘man with a van‘ driver could no longer help due to other commitments.

What Next?

The first AGM of the Community Interest Company is taking place on Saturday 30th November and they have no intention of this being a dry, dull affair. There will be music from Funk and Disorderly the Exeter disco and funk band,  a three course dinner and a raffle featuring some really great prizes. All this is set as a fundraiser to help the service and the Christmas provision coming up. Individual tables of ten can be sponsored by local companies too.

Ideally, there should be no requirement for Food For Children Totnes, but Jo Yeo has clearly identified an immediate need and a way to address it. Sadly, for the time being at least, it seems there’s plenty more work to be done.

For more information email: ffctotnesmarketing@gmail.com, visit their facebook page or their website.