By Shreya Agrawal - MIN Admin Volunteer, 20th January 2023.
The cost of living crisis has seen the highest inflation rise since the early 1980s, causing sky-rocketing energy bills, increased taxes and simple day to day living costs. As people’s financial pressures and stresses grow, the UK public is learning to save more, cutting down on activities such as leisure, holidays and shopping.
However, for those struggling, it may be the simple idea of putting meals on the table for their families that causes the most stress. UK food price inflation spiralled to a record annual rate of 11.6% back in October, resulting in staple items, such as bread, pasta and milk becoming unaffordable for those who need it most.
Research from the Guardian shows families are already skipping meals or struggling to provide healthy food for their children, especially some of those who are working lone parents with a single income for the whole household.
Furthermore, with this winter bringing freezing temperatures, simply keeping the heating on has been a battle for many.
Many of our mothers would also be experiencing job cuts, and salary losses, contributing further to struggle of making ends meet. For many, take home pay
hasn’t increased for over a decade, despite the average house price almost doubling and petrol now costing £1.60 per litre, compared to 79p per litre in 2005.
For myself, as a medical student, this is particularly evident in the healthcare scenario, as salaries have stayed the same since the last 18 years, despite these
rising costs!
This is why, here at Mums In Need, we carried out an emergency fundraising event with Aviva so that we can support our mums with continuous rising bills, to avoid any of them falling into debt, or worse, returning to abusive relationships because they could otherwise not afford it.
This was such a great opportunity to raise funds, because Aviva doubled all donations that we received under £250, so on this occasion we could make a bigger impact with your donations.
Amazingly, on the 10th of January we successfully raised £9,320! This was absolutely fantastic, and we were all grateful to our 42 supporters, especially as
we had hoped to raise between £3000-£5000. Simply put:
- £25 could provide a months top up voucher for gas and electricity bills
- £50 could help a mother and child to buy 5 meals when they are struggling
- £100 would ensure we can provide a weekly shop for a vulnerable family
- £200 could help a Mum in Need repay energy related debts and avoid eviction
Therefore, we are so happy that with this funding, we can help so many of our mums and avoid any risk of financial abuse. We really wish to support out Mins to the best of our ability, and this funding will really help us do that and provide support to those are at their most vulnerable.