Christmas is stressful for many people. But for the families James Anderson has helped this week, the festive period has pushed them to breaking point.
He’s fielded calls from young men on the brink of suicide, mums working out whether they should have the lights on or cook a meal, and perhaps most alarmingly — the panicked call from a GP wondering how one of her patients will survive on £20 for the week.
It’s part of what he calls the ‘poverty war’. Anderson, who came to notoriety as a plumber who goes above and beyond to help people in need , has been running a huge Christmas campaign to help those struggling in the cost-of-living crisis.
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“We have done 1, 2, 3…” James began counting to the Manchester Evening News “...4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15… 16 food shops for people around the country this Christmas Day.
“There’s 14 families with gas and electric we’ve helped. I was doing it all remotely from home, but a couple of times I went out there myself.”
James, 52, was speaking to the MEN at lunchtime on Boxing Day. The anger, desperation, and consternation was evident in his voice.
“It was devastating,” he reflected. “People were sitting there lost. It was like looking back at the First World War. If you look at the poverty films, it looked the same.
“It was like people were fighting a war against the establishment to take their money off them. I do believe that we are fighting a poverty war.”
Among them was a doctor on the south coast who made a desperate plea to James. “A doctor in Sussex called me and said the family on universal credit got the money stopped on Christmas Eve,” he explained.
“They only had £20 left. I put money straight into the bank account. If a doctor contacts me it’s got to be real. I put money straight into the bank account.”
James has also seen the blight of poverty himself this Christmas. He continued: “I have seen hungry people. Empty fridges. I spoke to one lad who has psychological issues, and he was on the verge of killing himself. He did not want to live. He did not want to be made to beg. It’s stupid it’s sad.
“We have sent food to Birmingham, Doncaster, Scotland, Wales, Surrey, London. I’ve got one lady in Edinburgh, who on Christmas Eve had three kids but no food or gas. She could have the lights on but without any food to eat.”
Anderson’s organisation, Depher (Disability and Elderly Plumbing and Heating Emergency Repair), is based in Burnley and has so far raised more than £250,000 this year to help people through the cost of living crisis . The money goes on online shopping orders and energy bills.
Anderson went on: “We spend between £128 and £198 per food delivery. There’s tins, fresh, food, fruit, and vegetables, in our food deliveries. It’s all to sustain a family for at least a month, then they are not back in the same position they were.
“We put at least £40, and up to £120, on each meter so people can apply every three months for it. If they are terminally ill they can get it every two weeks.”
The work didn’t stopped as the 25th became the 26th, either. On Boxing Day morning alone, Depher sent out 47 food deliveries.
The work won’t stop until James passes away, he says. It’s ‘the reason I am here’.
“I am here for a reason,” he said. “I am here for a reason and that is before my son was born I just cared about me and my family. since my son was born and passed away, then my life changed.
“I will continue this until the day I die. I will not stop. I won’t stop pressurising everybody who needs to be. I will not back off. The powers that be need to wake up. If they do not, this country will just go back to the ice age.”
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