Christmas campaign to combat hunger in the Lewes District

With more and more people living in poverty across the UK, Ruby Makepeace-Somerville is hoping to make a difference for people in her area struggling with the choice between heating and eating.

Ruby, 30, is the co-ordinator of the Lewes District Food Partnership. She works closely with emergency and affordable food projects across the district.

She works with the Sussex Community Development Association including the community supermarket in Newhaven, which has 336 members, the food bank at Newhaven Baptist Church which provides free laundry services and hot showers, and Havens Food Cooperative in Denton which rescues surplus food and offers it to anyone in the community.

Ruby said: “With a Community Supermarket people can turn up on the day without a referral and come for as long as they need to. They also have freshly made meals cooked by volunteers in the community kitchen which are both delicious and healthy.”

The community supermarkets operate on a pay-as-you-feel scheme, meaning that those who need to use the service only need to donate if they are able to.

She added: “I started volunteering during the height of the pandemic when people’s situations were constantly changing, people lacked the security of knowing if they would be working next week and many people missed out on the furlough scheme. I think it forced a lot of people, who had never needed additional support before, to reach out and ask for help.

“Now we’re in a Cost-of-Living Crisis which is again forcing people to make tough decisions such as ‘eating or heating’, and we know lots of people are skipping meals and cutting back on essentials. If helping people with food means they can turn their heating on during these bitterly cold evenings then that’s at least one less worry for someone. Demand has massively increased and people are needing support for longer periods.”

When asked why people need to come to food banks, Ruby said: “Things like zero-hour contracts resulting in insecure and unpredictable work and a reduction in workers’ rights, wages not increasing at the same rate as inflation and benefits not covering basic costs like food and housing. We have a mental health crisis in this country and services that are there to help people are inundated with long waiting lists. People with disabilities are often left without sufficient support unable to work or provide for themselves. There is no primary reason or ‘type’ of person that uses food banks, the truth is it is more wide-spread than many realise. Rather than thinking about this as an issue that effects individuals we need to consider this as something that is deeply wrong in our society.

“I’d like to encourage people to be kind to each other, to reach out and have a human interaction with someone if you think they might be struggling this winter and to remember to be non- judgemental as it is a good thing to ask for help when you need it.”

To donate to the fundraiser, click here

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