Closing Down – We’ve Done Our Job

Twenty to thirty people attended the walk to the pauper’s graves on a warm and sunny day, including the mayor and a local poet. About 10 people lit candles, rather fewer than in previous years. The workshop event also went well with a DVD from ASCT followed by and art activity.  There were About 20 people attended.  Jason writes: ‘We had some amazing food cooked by a supporter.  A banner ‘Demand Dignity’ was prepared.’

 

Future of the coalition

It was agreed that the coalition had made some significant achievements over the last 7 years.

Our aims are as follows:

·         Increase     awareness of the need to eradicate poverty
·         Promote     the dignity of and show solidarity with those who experience poverty
·         Involve     people who have witnessed poverty
·         Support     local organisations fighting poverty

We have run 7 awareness raising events of which those with the most impact were:

·         The Make Poverty history fund day in 2005
·         The Walk from St Peters Frimley to Frimhurst in 2006
·         The Community Lunch in 2007
·         Making a Song and Dance about Poverty in 2008

We have involved school children (the Tapori silhouettes project in  ),young people (2008 ), community leaders and the general public.  Members of the group have been instrumental in initiating the following organisations –St Vincent de Paul, Frontline Debt Counselling Service, and the Besom and in raising awareness of ASCT, Ghurkha Welfare Trust,  Frimhurst Family Centre, and Churches Together in Camberley. 

We have built valuable links with the Friends of Brookwood Cemetery, and Camberley Youth for Christ addition we have raised awareness of the campaigns of Make Poverty History, Amnesty International, United Nations, ATD Fourth World, the campaign to make Surrey a Fair Trade county.  We have involved families and individuals with direct experience of poverty and given them the opportunity to make their voice heard, we have also valued the lives of those who lived and died in extreme poverty by lighting candles at Brookwood Chapel. 

In his blog interview on the walk to the pauper’s graves this year the Mayor commented that Surrey heath residents are good at volunteering to help those in need.  The committee felt that this represents a significant shift in public opinion and activism compared with the situation when we started out  when reactions to issues of poverty were disinterested or on occasion hostile.

The committee felt that as far as it is possible to assess we have achieved the aims we set ourselves.  For this reason it was agreed that the coalition would close to allow individuals to focus more time on the individual organisations they now support.

The committee agreed that the website should be closed down in the New Year. 

Congratulations were expressed all round for the work achieved by the coalition and for the camaraderie that had been generated through working as a team with like minded people.  We were all a little sad to draw things to a close as well as proud of what has been achieved.

Many thanks to one and all

Tish

St Paul’s Action Day For Camberley Besom

Members of St Paul’s Volunteer for Besom

A group of volunteers from St Paul’s spent a day helping out the Besom charity processing the harvest gifts kindly donated by local schools and churches in Camberley.

The Besom are a local charity who specialise in providing food packs and other items to those in need, in Camberley and the surrounding area. On 22nd October the group of eight helped sort out the harvest gifts, separating out tins into categories, and sifting out those passed their sell-by dates, ready to make food parcels for those in need in the local area. The quantity of gifts ensured this was a worthy challenge for the team.

One of the volunteers, Ted Crew says: “On this occasion 'the fields were all white and the reapers were many' and the work of Besom can proceed reaching out to those in need. We also enjoyed the work”.

For more information on Camberley Besom see the previous post Camberley Besom - Sweeping Away Suffering.

Camberley Besom - Sweeping Away Suffering

As we head towards winter, some people are going to have to make a choice between eating, or heating.

There are a number of charities in Camberley, that are helping to eradicate poverty. We are going to highlight these organisations, and what they do, over the next few weeks, starting with the Besom. Surrey Heath is often thought of as an affluent area, but there are pockets of poverty too. A survey, in March 2010 by Confused.com, into credit card debt showed that Camberley, at £2001 per resident, had the highest in the UK.

The Besom are a local charity specialising in providing food packs and other items to those in need, in Camberley and the surrounding area. They work with local churches, who provide a support network of collection points, where various items may be dropped off. Demand has increased over recent months, and the concern is that as we head towards winter, some people are going to have to make a choice between eating, or heating.

I spoke with Diane Marlow, one of the volunteers from Camberley Besom. They are a national organisation, but each branch is unique, run by local Christians, on behalf of local churches, to meet the needs of local people. They help people of all ages and situations. They have created a series of packs, which can quickly be dispatched to those in need. For example food packs, new mum packs and kitchen starter packs. The Besom have a specific ethos when it comes to donated items used to make up the packs. A food item with “value” on the label makes people feel that’s all they are worth. Diane says: “the clients we work with have very low self esteem, very little self confidence and very little money. When they go shopping they have little choice, they have to buy the basic items in order to survive. We want them to see that their value is greater than that. So in a small way, when we take a gift to someone, we want them to feel it’s a small reflection of the way in which God values them”. This ethos means anything donated should be of the very best quality, not from a value or basic range, but of a standard that shows that people are valued.  People on the poverty line have very little choice, so we need to make them feel special.

One example of the help the Besom has provided in Camberley was a young family from Staines with a 6-month-old baby. They were required by Social Services to move into local B&B accommodation, as they had a relative in the Camberley area. The father lost his job because he didn’t have transport to get from Camberley to Staines. With the resulting delay in benefits, they found themselves unable to feed themselves or their baby. Besom were able to support them over a number of weeks with food and other essential items until their financial difficulty was resolved.

Another example was a young mum in difficult circumstances, who had given birth earlier than expected and was unprepared. The Besom were contacted with a request for a baby bath. They went out with the bath, a new mum pack and a food pack. Often people need a selection of items, and the Besom try and meet those needs.

I asked Diane what motivates her as an unpaid volunteer to work for the Besom. Diane says “this is God’s direction for me, it’s what I sensed him wanting me to be doing. Also in my normal work [with young people] I had one girl who was made homeless, and it was a real eye opener, just how difficult it was to find sources of help for her, and how much need there was for people in this area”.

Demand for the service that Besom provide is growing, with an unexpected increase in August. Diane forecasts with the current economic pressures, she believes it will get tougher as people have to choose if they spend their money on fuel or food. In a future blog post, we’ll be looking at Frontline, another local organisation that provides free debt advice. The Besom and Frontline work together, along with several other organisations, as often people on the poverty line require help from several specialist organisations.

The packs are their primary focus, but the Besom can also help in other ways. For example, from time to time they can organise a group of volunteers to help with gardening, painting and decorating or cleaning. The Besom take referrals from recognised organisations such as a Doctor or other health professional, local school, social services, or housing associations.

For more information on Camberley Besom, or to get in contact with them, you can email camberleybesom@gmail.com or phone 07543 319921

You can hear the full interview with Diane by clicking on the play button below.