Norfolk charities more dependent on donations- as cost of living crisis deepens
They include the Benjamin Foundation, who held their annual 'Sleep-Out' fundraiser, at the end of this week
Charities across Norfolk have told us they're more dependent on people's donations than ever before- as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite.
They include the Benjamin Foundation who held their annual 'Sleep-Out' fundraiser, at the end of this week.
"I don't think the problem is going away"
Matt Garrod is their head of operations.
He says rising costs are making a difficult situation, even worse:
"Almost a half of 16–25-year-olds have gone to bed hungry in the past 12 months, which is a horrible statistic to share. More than 1 in 3 young people have gone a whole day without food and about 50% say their income is not enough to get by.
"It would be a fantastic thing if I were one day out of a job. But the reality is that in terms of the cost-of-living crisis and lack of affordable housing for young people, I don't think the problem is going away. We are going to need to continue to do events like this in the coming years".
"It's also had such a significant impact on young people"
He says nobody can escape rising costs:
"I think the whole charitable sector is seeing that squeeze, it's been a really challenging period of charities. We went through the pandemic, which was challenging, and the cost-of-living has presented addition challenges as well, not just in terms of fundraising capacity, but it's also had such a significant impact on young people, in general".
"We need people's support with events like 'Sleep Out'. We are really grateful for people coming along and joining us. We will continue to liaise with the local community in terms of future fundraising, so any support people can give the foundation, we'd be hugely grateful of and it goes directly to help local young people".