One of the projects to be funded from the £2.25 million raised by our Winter Survival Appeal in partnership with Comic Relief is a new charity initiative to help families fight poverty called The Multibank, co-founded by former prime minister Gordon Brown and Amazon.
First established 14 months ago in Scotland and since March in Manchester, four new multibanks are set to launch in 2024 including in London, the Midlands and Wales, with the idea that there will be multibanks in different parts of the country by the end of next year.
The concept is simple — a multibank is not just a food bank, but a baby bank, a bedding bank, a clothing bank, a toiletries bank and a furnishings bank. They secure products from about 30 companies, with about half supplied by Amazon out of defunct items and product returns and then work through hundreds of partner charities to supply these essential goods to families in need — who in turn have been referred by social workers, health visitors, schools and food banks.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Mr Brown spoke passionately about the extreme levels of poverty he sees. He said: “The level of poverty is something I never expected to see again in my lifetime. The last time I saw this sort of poverty was growing up in a mining, industrial town where there was a great deal of social housing and a great deal of distress. I thought we would never go back to those days again.”
He added: “We are dealing with need where the incomes of people in the poorest parts of our communities does not allow them to afford even basic goods. We’ve got the makings of a public health problem, because even if people can afford to pay their food, shelter and heating, they are forced to go without things like toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap and shampoo.”
Mr Brown said his idea to start a multibank network came from the realisation that companies had surplus goods that were being destroyed and that these were the very goods poor people needed. “I thought, if we could link the two together, we could have a very simple and effective solution to help families. So I went to Amazon and asked John Boumphrey, managing director of Amazon UK, to give us their surplus goods — goods that had been returned or unsold stock that had gone out of fashion, or where the company for whom Amazon was the middle man had gone bust.”
Amazon jumped at the idea and the two multibanks in Fife and Wigan have donated more than 1.5 million surplus items, supporting over 150,000 families across Scotland and Greater Manchester. Their goal is to expand the initiative to support 500,000 families by the end of 2024, and our Winter Survival Appeal has approved a £50,000 grant to help fund the multibank in Wigan.
Keely Dalfen, chief executive of Wigan multibank Brick-by-Brick, said: “We have never seen anything like what we are seeing. Sixth form colleges have a lot of pupils working part time to keep their families going financially, helping to pay parent’s bills.”
She added: “We also see a lot of families in temporary hotel accommodation who have been there a long time and wash the children’s school uniform in the bath as they have nowhere else and their children are going into school with damp clothes that smell musty.”
Asked how multibanks will help, Ms Dalfen said: “The goods we supply can prevent crisis because families in need don’t get into loans from loan sharks or into debt over their head.”
The former PM called on the public to back our appeal, saying: “Some families struggle so badly with extreme poverty, they cannot afford to keep their children. The good news is, we have the model to help and that this Standard campaign is going to back us to get there.”
How you can help
£10 could provide a nourishing meal for a Londoner every day for a month
£20 could provide a duvet and pillow to a young person helping them sleep at night
£50 could contribute to a new school uniform for a child fleeing with a parent from an abusive relationship
£100 could provide 400 meals for families at a local community centre
£300 could pay for all that’s needed by a family expecting a baby, including new cot, mattress and pram
£1,750 could get a truck packed with enough food for 7,000 meals
In a nutshell
We have partnered with Comic Relief to launch our Winter Survival Appeal Christmas Campaign, with Comic Relief pledging £500,000 to kick off our fund. The money we raise will help fund charities in London and across the country helping people who are struggling with the cost of living crisis
To make a donation, visit comicrelief.com/wintersurvival
