Well what a year this has been and not in a good way. We seriously thought that at the end of 2022 things could only get better. How very wrong we were. When we had come through the worst of the pandemic and people started to go back to work, our lives became a little easier and the pressure was reduced. However, this lasted only a very short time.
The cost of living crisis and the increase in the prices of gas and electricity put massive pressures on growing numbers of families. This in turn resulted in more and more organisations approaching us for help and asking for more regular deliveries. To date, we still have not refused any requests of help and support and are currently supporting over 150 organisations and charities throughout the region.
We have done this with the support of a great team of volunteers who have gone above and beyond in their help and we cannot thank them enough.
We have also been very fortunate in our funding applications this year. We have received further funding from the Newby Trust so that we can pay for our storage facility for another 18 months. We have also received another year’s funding from The Mercer Foundation which will go a long way to support our work in encouraging the use of reusable period products. Once again, a big thank you to the Community National Lottery for their continued funding and to Stoke-on-Trent City Council for their continued support. We have developed a new partnership with the Coalfields Regeneration Trust and their funding will allow us to continue our work within the coalfields regions.
However, our biggest thanks is to our “Monthly Gifters” who have supported us over the years and without this support we could not continue our work at the level it is needed.
I would love to end this message with a hint of optimisim but that is becoming increasingly difficult. Until the “powers that be” value and support the poorest in our communities and the “working poor” we will be struggling again into the New Year. However, hopefully, with the continued support of people and organisations who have been so helpful in the past we will be able to keep on saying “Yes”.
Linda Allbutt