Kelly Brennan does not know if she will be able to afford Christmas dinner. The single mother-of-four from Halifax has had sleepless nights worrying about how she will cope with rising bills.
The crippling cost of living is heightened owing to the pressure of her having to buy premium food products for her seven-year-old son who has multiple food allergies and suffers from topic eczema. “He has a strict diet,” said Ms Brennan. “He can only eat organic foods and organic is expensive.”
The 45-year-old, who lives on disability benefits and universal credit, has seen her weekly grocery bill double from £60 to £120. “I haven’t got that money so I have to cut back on other things. If I need toiletries or creams for myself, I do without.”
Her difficulties do not stop there. Due to his eczema, her son’s skin sheds at night and so his bedding is covered with skin flakes in the morning, which Ms Brennan would wash daily. “But this is no longer feasible with the electric bill running up. It’s a continuous battle, I’ll do anything for my kids.”
To keep bills down, Ms Brennan allows herself to put the heating on for 15 minutes at a time. “I’m frightened. I’m going through nearly £8 a day in gas. It’s a constant worry and I don’t know how I will get through it.”
Her struggle is one that is well known to Focus4Hope, a West Yorkshire-based charity that provides warm winter kits to people in need over the cold months as well as a community food bank and food parcel delivery service.
CEO Louise Reed said: “We have seen a 100 per cent increase in demand for our services from working families. Previously we mainly supported more elderly and disabled people, and those who are vulnerable and on benefits, but we have seen a huge rise in working families who need support as well as people on zero-hour contracts and minimum wage.”
The charity is one of the organisations we will be seeking to fund in our On the Breadline Christmas appeal in partnership with Comic Relief. Ms Reed added: “A man whose wife has dementia called a few weeks ago. He said, ‘I’ve just paid all our bills and I have no money left for food’. He lives in a lovely house in a nice area and that was the first time he ever had to make a call like that. If he is struggling, imagine how many more people are suffering that haven’t reached out.”
The level of food poverty the team is now seeing is “harrowing”, with mums phoning in saying they haven’t eaten in three days. “We had a referral from a cancer support group after they visited a patient in her home. She had lost two stone because she became so frightened that she wouldn’t afford her heating that she stopped eating.”
Such searing accounts make the charity feel they are a “bucket with a million holes”, Ms Reed said. “We need more funds so we can restock our food supplies and provide more top gas and electric vouchers to people. I’m worried people could freeze to death without them.”
Though times are tough, the support Focus4Hope gives goes a long way. Christian Drinnan, 26, had a bad break-up in April and left with his two young children. He moved into his current home a month later. “I didn’t have a lot of money to my name, I didn’t have any furniture and I couldn’t afford to buy anything.”
So Mr Drinnan contacted Focus4Hope. The single father said: “It was the first time I ever accepted help or benefits. They asked me what I needed and gave me a microwave, toaster, plates, Hoover, blankets, food crates – everything we needed to help me back on my feet. Without them, I would be in debt. They provided me with the essentials to start my new life.”
Ms Reed said her goal was to “keep people alive this winter”. She said: “People look at us and ask, ‘Is everything going to be all right?’ The hardest thing is, we just don’t know.”
Christmas appeal in a nutshell
What is happening?
We have partnered with Comic Relief to launch On the Breadline, our cost of living Christmas appeal.
Where will the money go?
To organisations across the UK working to help people on the breadline cope with the cost of living.
How you can help?
To help children and communities most impacted by the cost of living crisis, donate here.
