Exactly one month ago, armed with a £1m pledge from our partner Comic Relief, we embarked on our most important Christmas Appeal yet.
We partnered with our sister title the Evening Standard and set out to tell the harrowing stories – publishing them every day – of vulnerable people who face the soaring cost of living.
When I visited a primary school in east London at the beginning of our campaign, I spoke to parents of children queuing up for produce from a food bank and I heard how they were facing enormous hardship.
Some were having to skip meals in order to have enough food to feed their children, others were forced to choose between heating and eating.
Over the following weeks, our team of writers fanned out across the country to tell stories of people struggling like never before. I never thought that in the UK in 2022, ordinary people, many holding down jobs, would be faced with this harrowing choice.
We called on corporations, philanthropists and you, the reader, to donate – and have been humbled by the generosity of response. We received six-figure donations from Sainsbury’s, Amazon, Julia and Hans Rausing, British Airways, eBay and the TK Maxx & Homesense Foundation.
We added a second charity partner to our appeal, The Childhood Trust, whose focus was exclusively children in London, and whose founder Grant Gordon pledged a six-figure donation, as did Neptune Energy and the Duke of Westminster.
Members of the public, our readers, contributed over £100,000.
We have reached a grand total of £3.7m. In the history of both The Independent and Evening Standard, this is the most we have ever raised for a campaign in a month – and we did it without a single penny of government support.
More importantly, through the outstanding charities we have featured and many more besides, we can begin to make a difference to people most affected by the crisis - people like two-year-old Noah, supported by Little Village, a charity that helps disadvantaged parents with children under five and that is earmarked for funding from our appeal.
Which brings me to my main point: a Huge Thank You to all of you who stopped your busy lives to care and to give as magnificently and generously as you did.
I am convinced that in the wake of lack of sufficient government action to protect the most vulnerable, we must take matters into our own hands and create a people’s emergency service.
We will be back in the New Year with thoughts on how we might make this a reality. But in the meantime, I wish you a very happy Christmas.
Yours, Evgeny
Lord Lebedev, a shareholder of The Independent and Evening Standard
Our Christmas appeal in a nutshell
What is happening?
We have partnered with Comic Relief to launch On the Breadline, our cost of living Christmas appeal.
Where will the money go?
To organisations in London and across the UK working to help people on the breadline cope with the cost of living crisis.
How can you help?
To help children and communities most affected by the cost of living crisis, donate here.
