With Kids article in The Guardian

Here at With Kids it is extremely important for us to highlight that austerity and poverty can hit anyone at any given time, no matter what their background or circumstance is.

Over the past few months we have tried to stress how vitally important your donations are to our Christmas Appeal - but Kevin McKenna's column in The Guardian on December 9 articulated it better than we could have ever hoped for.

The reality of real poverty can be witnessed all over Glasgow this Christmas which is why we work with vulnerable and isolated families in the East End of Glasgow. At any one time, we are in contact with 120 families caring for 336 children.

But to reach all of the children and their families who will need emergency help this Christmas there would need to be another 10 charities such as With Kids. We have witnessed massive reductions in the disposable incomes of the families we help due to a combination of increasing food prices, huge increases in fuel costs and the UK Government's cuts in welfare benefits, as outlined recently by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne.

If you have yet to read the article then I highly recommend you do. This is a very interesting and sobering article that hits home with families across Glasgow and beyond - which you can read here. Via The Guardian.

Thank you Kevin for highlighting these issues that are closer to home that many may know.

If you have found this post of interest then please feel free to share it with your online community via the share buttons below. Thank you.

Kids freeze in their own homes...in Glasgow

A Glasgow-based charity which helps some of the city’s most vulnerable children is calling on gas and electricity suppliers to help ease fuel poverty.

With Kids is working to ensure that families at this time of year can help meet their fuel bills.

The charity seeks to help very vulnerable children from some of Glasgow’s most deprived communities and their families overcome the effects of alcohol, drug abuse and domestic violence to ensure they get a decent start in life.

Research has shown that thousands of families struggle at this time of the year simply to ensure that their homes are heated. Many will go without food and Christmas gifts for their children in a desperate fight to keep their homes lit and heated.

If a family gets into arrears with their fuel payments their supplier can grab up to 70% of these payments to pay off the arrears. That means only 30p in every one pound spent goes into heating the home.

With Kids, Business Development Manager, Angela Beattie said: “At this time of year a distressingly high number of families and their children are at risk of freezing in their own homes because they simply cannot afford to heat them. And the winter we are currently experiencing is causing real material hardship for the most vulnerable in our city.

“We have also found that hundreds of families will be unable to provide their children with Christmas gifts because they scraped together what little they have to prevent their gas and electricity supplies being turned off. And although families with children under the age of five will rarely have their supplies stopped they find it impossible to struggle free of their fuel debt and will go without food to keep paying.

“One of the ways in which we try to help combat this is to organise a Christmas party on Christmas Eve with the help of Strathclyde Fire and Rescue. This year’s event at Calton Fire Station will see 200 families being given presents that they otherwise wouldn’t have. This means they have one thing less to worry about as they fight to pay the winter fuel bills.
“But the bigger issue remains: what are government and fuel suppliers, whose prices are set to jump again this winter, doing to ensure the most needy in our society can be helped.”

With Kids is one of the Evening Times Community Champions. This year’s Christmas Party will see poor kids experience for the first time what others take for granted. This will include a Christmas meal, games and a visit from Santa Claus. The Calton firefighters will be on hand to give the children rides on the fire engines and they’ll host the party.

For those who want to donate cash or gifts to help pay for the With Kids Christmas Party please contact Angela Beattie on:

Telephone 0141 550 5770 or e mail a.beattie@withkids.org.uk

You can also donate on line by visiting www.justgiving.com/withkids

Written by Kevin McKenna, The Word Agency. Email kevin@wordagency.net

You can also help in a very simple way by sharing this post with your online community by using either the Tweet or Facebook buttons below.

Tweet