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How YOUR church can build community & save people £21 a week

Your Local Pantry began in one neighbourhood but now brings communities together across the UK. How did it grow so far and fast?

A toddler in a pushchair holds a box of rice, at a Your Local Pantry

For Kirsty in the Midlands, it’s a fantastic place to meet people and save a little money.

For Sarah, who volunteers in Cardiff, it has become a second home, a place of friendship, fun and food.

For Tam in Edinburgh, it has brought friendship and freedom – membership has freed up money for him to buy his family presents on special occasions. 

Across the UK, more than 90,000 people have now enjoyed the wide-ranging benefits of Your Local Pantry membership. The first Pantry has just turned ten years old, and this week, in Kent, the 100th Pantry opened.

But how did the network grow so far and so fast? This blog looks at the story so far, and shares some learnings and lessons that could help your own work. 

Particularly, if you are active in your church, it aims to show how a Your Local Pantry could help your church to bring people together around food in a dignified and hope-filled way. 

A volunteer in a Your Local Pantry hoody chats to a member. They are sitting beside a coffee table, the volunteer with her back to the camera, the member facing it.
Pantries offer so much more than food - including community, friendship and support

As a starting point, here’s a quick overview of what Pantries are, with contributions from around the UK:

So Much More: The Pantry story

We have just launched So Much More, our new report looking at the impact Pantries are having across the UK. It made for positive reading. 

Pantry members now save £21 on groceries, each time they use the Pantry, meaning regular members can save more than £1,000 a year.

But as the title says, Pantries are doing so much more than helping members save money.

  • They are bringing people together around food.
  • They are strengthening community cohesion.
  • They are reducing isolation and improving physical and mental health.
  • They are creating opportunities and hope, and loosening the grip of poverty in people’s lives.

Here are just three of the many uplifting comments from Pantry members quoted in the report:

I was able to save up to buy a bike for my son so he can get to college. I am saving towards us having a short family holiday this year, which we've never had before.

————    ————

Thanks to the Pantry I have an advocate to help me manage my debts

————    ————

It has been great to see my autistic son’s mental health improve in coming here. He doesn’t usually want contact with anyone, but he has taken to some of the volunteers really well – even walking round holding their hands

————    ————

Pantries are a remarkable nationwide success story, but the idea began very modestly, in just one neighbourhood, in one town, in the north west of England. It began as a small seedling that has grown and blossomed and spread, carried all over the UK on the winds of kindness and community.

A posed line-up of 8 people in front of a gazebo and Your Local Pantry signs
Communities do so much more when they work together. This event in Stockport in May 2023 marked the 10th anniversary of the first Pantry.

Anna Jones remembers the early days well.

She was working for Stockport Homes, and many residents were in the midst of crisis. The controversial ‘bedroom tax’ was forcing people to move or be penalised, and there were not enough smaller homes available.

At the same time, the food redistribution charity FareShare was doing some deliveries to temporary housing nearby, leading to the spark of an idea.

“We noticed a real increase in food bank use at that time, and Stockport Homes was really worried how residents would make ends meet. We started looking into different food schemes.

“There were lots of different ideas – free food distribution, or a food hall serving meals for instance – but we decided the most impactful thing would be to do a volunteer-led community food store, where people contributed towards it.”

So Much More: a seed that has grown

That store opened in May 2013 as Penny Lane Pantry, the first Your Local Pantry in the country

Anna says: “The first challenge was to try to get the community behind it, in Lancashire Hill [a group of blocks of flats in north Stockport]. The community food store was a great idea. There was some initial wariness, but we asked residents to choose the name in a competition, and someone came up with the name Penny Lane Pantry.

“We really wanted to do something that had a big impact with residents and gave people ownership of the project, and the benefit of volunteering experience and opportunities.

“It had a real focus on bringing the community together. It’s quite a self-contained area of 900 flats, and we wanted it to be an inclusive environment.”

One of the first Pantries, in Stockport. The network has grown so much more than anyone expected.

After Penny Lane, Stockport Homes opened further Your Local Pantries around the town: in Brinnington, Bridgehall, Mottram Street, and Woodley. And then, in 2017, Pantries went national.

Dave Nicholson is now on the board of Skylight, the charity that sits under Stockport Homes, but back then was working for Church Action on Poverty, tasked with finding community initiatives that mitigated against the ‘poverty premium’ – the unjust pricing structures that makes life more expensive for people on low incomes.

He was looking at the “five Fs” (food, finance, fuel, furniture and white goods, and funerals), and was looking for initiatives that could be scaled up and developed more widely.

One evening, he was chatting to a friend in a pub, The Beer House in Chorlton in Manchester, when he hit a stroke of luck: that friend also happened to know Anna, and introduced them on the spot.

Dave went to visit the first Pantries, and was immediately impressed, and the national journey had begun.

A Pantry member in a pink top takes her groceries to the counter.

So Much More than a handout

“What I really liked was the potential and how things were developing and could further develop,” Dave recalls. “I started spending a lot of time with them and with similar initiatives. 

“I was impressed that it was a member-based approach, so there was a much greater degree of agency for the people involved. It’s not just charity and handouts, which is what food banks tend to be. Also, it had potential to be more sustainable in terms of food and easing the poverty premium.

“I thought, right from the beginning, it was like people reinventing the Coop, emulating what the mill workers in Rochdale had done in 1844 – coming together and setting up their own systems.

“Church Action on Poverty started looking at the model and got some people to help, and then in 2017 we launched the Your Local Pantry network as a franchise model.

“I always thought it might take off in Greater Manchester, but I did not give much thought to anything beyond that. It’s incredible how it has grown.”

A woman takes a bag of salad from a shelf, while chatting to a volunteer.
Pantries offer so much more variety than many people realise

So Much More to be proud of

Today, Anna too says she feels a real sense of achievement in the way the first Pantries fostered a community togetherness, and at the way it has grown further than anyone could have imagined. 

“Each of them has a very different personality and audience,” she says.

“The number of people who have joined, is quite astonishing – how it has grown! Initially, we thought it would help people save money, but it has done a lot more than that. 

“Pantries have always charged, because we knew we had to be self-sustaining, and we wanted it to be somewhere without stigma associated. People knew they were paying their way, and we made it clear that money was going back into the Pantry.

“It’s incredible how it has grown from that first Pantry. I still keep in touch with Fiona, who also worked on the Pantries, and we say when we’ve seen where the latest Pantry is.

“We are still very invested in it and feel overjoyed by it. It’s a nice legacy to look back on. From small, humble beginnings and a small impact with 100 members, it is still supporting people.”

That figure, the number of people who have enjoyed the fruits of Pantry membership has risen rapidly from that initial 100. 

Today, more than 33,000 people are benefiting, and over the past ten years the total is more than 90,000. More and more communities have seen what Pantries can do for their neighbourhoods – and what neighbourhoods can do for each other. 

A volunteer lifts a crate of bread out of a car boot.

So Much More: a call to the country

Communities have shown us that there is so much more they can do when they come together, and when they are entrusted with resources and support.

Yet, at the same time, we know they cannot do everything on their own. Pantries operate within a difficult wider context, and they are sometimes hindered rather than helped by systems beyond their control.

In our So Much More report, many members, volunteers and Pantry tell of the acute damage being wrought by soaring living costs. 

Many Pantries are also now having to spend significant sums on food, topping up their stocks, as the FareShare distribution network struggles to meet soaring need. 

This should be a wake-up call to the whole country, and one that rings loudly at Westminster above all. 

Community organisations have long warned that charity is not the long-term answer to food insecurity. It will take so much more than that. Government must now step up. Everyone should have access to good food, and that means all incomes need to keep pace with rising living costs, so people are not swept deeper into poverty.

A volunteer lifts potatoes from a sack. Only his hands are shown, his face is off-camera.
Pantry members say they cherish being able to access so much more fresh food

Today, there are Pantries in all four nations of the UK, from Edinburgh to Ebbw Vale, Portadown to Portsmouth. There are particular clusters in Merseyside, the West Midlands, Edinburgh and Greater London, and smaller clusters in South Wales and Portsmouth.

About half of Pantries are church-based, across several denominations. Others are hosted by community centres, charities, local councils or independent local organsiations.

And there is so much more growth still to come… We expect today’s 100 Pantries to be joined by another 125 by the end of 2025, thanks to a partnership with Coop across the UK.

The network has spread, the membership has grown rapidly, but the day to day good that Pantries do has remained a steady constant. 

And what do Pantries do?…

Pantries bring people together around food.

Pantries create the physical space for local people to meet, and forge new relationships, swapping recipes, ideas, stories and kindness.

Pantries soften the impact of high living costs, reducing shopping bills and giving people some much-needed financial wriggle room.

Pantries help communities and groups of friends to create breathing space together, to pause and chat and think, to lighten the load together and to share ideas that can start making change happen.

Pantries do all this and more. Because, while people can do wonderful things alone, when we come together, blend, complement and bring out each other’s strengths, the possibilities are even greater.

 

So Much More: over to you...

Could you start a Pantry in your church or community? Here we provide some information about how to get started.

Your Local Pantry is a network built on the values of dignity, choice and hope. Pantries bring people together around food, leading to people avoiding food poverty, making large savings on their grocery bills, and strengthening community. 

Setting up a Pantry is relatively low-cost if you have a venue, volunteers and a good supply of food. Pantries can cover most of their operating costs from weekly membership fees.

Our team have experience in helping to set up and support 100 Pantries around the UK. We have a tried and tested plan and a positive approach centred on dignity, choice and hope.

You can find out so much more about the benefits of Pantry membership, and enquire about setting one up, by clicking the logo below.

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Gemma: What I want to change, speaking truth to power

A chance conversation at just the right time set Gemma Athanasius-Coleman on the road to social justice activism.

Gemma Athanasius-Coleman

She was volunteering at Newquay Orchard, when one of the team mentioned a new project looking at food experiences during the pandemic.

Gemma joined, gained a broader and deeper understanding of the systemic causes of poverty, and is now vocal and active in campaigning for a better, more just society.

Gemma: Every kind of poverty is linked

“I lived near Newquay Orchard and was volunteering there at the time,” says Gemma. “I had come out of full-time work to care for my daughter, and was telling Andrew at the Orchard about having become a single parent and struggling financially. So sent me an email about the Food Experiences project and it sounded right up my street.

“I had been a little involved before in some environmental stuff, and had been toying with studying around the environment.

“The Orchard got me into sustainability and social justice, and then the Food Experiences project really opened my eyes to how a lot of issues are interlinked.

“Every kind of poverty is linked and every kind of injustice is linked. That work got me interested in all those links, and what can be done to change things.

“Learning is a form of activism for me. It’s not the type that involves marching to Parliament with a placard. For me, studying and learning and trying to apply that knowledge is my activism.”

Gemma: A nationwide view of poverty

Gemma grew up in Bradford, and went to university in Leeds, then moved to Cornwall in 2010 – so she has direct insight into the varying challenges facing communities in the north and south of England, and in urban and rural areas. 

She also recently completed a Masters in Sustainable Development, gaining a profound understanding of the way social injustices past and present connect.

Gemma Athanasius-Coleman
Gemma, centre, during a Food For Change event

“Everything is so different here. Up north, rent was a lot cheaper, and food availability is a lot easier in cities than it is here. I didn’t have a car, so experiencing rural isolation was a shock to the system at first.

“Before, I had a 24-hour Asda five minutes from where I lived, but here everything is further away and shuts earlier. A lot of areas here are very rural, and that has its own costs and challenges (although online shopping has made that easier).

“Bus and train journeys are expensive and slow. My nearest city is Truro, which would be a 40 minutes away by car, but which takes 90 minutes by bus.

“There is a lot of tourism here, and a lot of talk about second home owners taking properties and pushing the market up. Rents are very high. I’m in social housing, but private rents are very high and housing insecurity is a big issue.

Cornwall is famed for its coastal beauty, but has a lot of hidden poverty

Gemma: I don't think everybody speaks up enough

“To an outsider, Newquay just looks amazing. You come on holiday and it is just stunning. It is like the California of England. A lot of people move here because it is like this is the dream.

“The reality when you get here is there is a lot of deprivation. There is not enough work, it is mostly seasonal, and minimum wage, and the cost of living is really high. 

“Here has more community than where I grew up, because it is a smaller population. You can feel very isolated, but the community pulls together and it really did pull together in lockdown.

“I campaign because I think I quite enjoy being a voice for people, if that makes sense. I don’t think everybody speaks up enough about what goes on. I just feel like if I can highlight that and something can change, then that would be my ultimate goal, really. Just make a difference in my local area. 

“I would say I am like 80% activist and campaigner. I find it hard, knowing there are injustices and doing nothing about it. 

“It is all about fairness and equality. Everyone has a right to live a certain standard of living. There shouldn’t be such a gap between rich and poor.

“At the moment, I’m working alongside Cornwall Independent Poverty Forum on a project looking at food and schools, and what difference it makes to children to have breakfast every day and I’m hoping to start my own Social Enterprise tackling these systemic issues.

“I’m also part of the Speaking Truth To Power project, which should build confidence in speaking up about issues. At times I feel so nervous saying I have been in poverty, but I want to break that stigma and encourage people to tell stories because that’s how things change.

Gemma Athanasius-Coleman
Gemma (pictured right with her children), has taken part in numerous events to raise understanding and press for change

Gemma: What I want to change...

Gemma speaking during Challenge Poverty Week 2022 in Cornwall

“There are a couple of issues I really want to address…

“I had a real bee in my bonnet when I did my masters and took out a loan to cover the fees. I rang the benefits people to tell them, and they stopped my income support of £45 a week. It was penalising me for doing something. The system penalises single parents for studying and I would love that to change.

“I wrote a report on it: ‘Reducing UK poverty by addressing the barriers preventing female single parent carers from entering higher education.’

“The other issue is around carers’ allowance. I can earn up to £132 a week, and receive a carers’ allowance of £70 a week. But if I go to, say, £160 a week in earnings then I lose the whole carers’ allowance. 

“So if I’m earning more than £132, but less than £200, I lose out. If I was Prime Minister, the first thing I would do is knock that on the head. I am a single person who’s given the choice of staying on a low income, or being penalised when trying to get to a higher income. I do not understand how they do not encourage people to learn. It’s not good enough at all.”

Gemma: How to be a force for change

“There was a time when I felt I needed to get into politics because they seem to be the people pulling the strings.

“But in the end, I looked into studying again, and got my masters degree. That work focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals and it was really interesting to see how all those goals are linked and to understand the history of how everything works, and of colonialism, and how it all links together – and also of ways to change it.

“It is easy to get bogged down by everything, but remember you can do your bit – you can only do what you yourself can do as an individual. You can’t fix every issue – but you can make a difference. I remember to focus and do what I can do.”

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Kenny Fields revisited: new hope, amid the tough times

We catch up with Sue Robinson, a community champion in Liverpool - and hear of new grounds for optimism...

Last spring, tens of thousands of people heard from people in a Liverpool neighbourood, thanks to a powerful piece of community storytelling.

The Made In Liverpool film was a fantastic collaboration between Kensington Fields Community AssociationThe GuardianFeeding Liverpool and Church Action on Poverty.

If you’ve not seen it, or want to refresh your memory, here it is again:

Community voices

The film looked at issues around community development, local land ownership, food access and voice. 

So far, the film has been watched more than 70,000 times online, and has also been screened at Bolton Film Festival and as part of Challenge Poverty Week.

Now, eight months on, we wanted to catch up with one of the central storytellers, to see what had changed. 

Myra and Sue in front of the 'Kensington' mural outside the Kensington Fields community centre

Meet Sue...

Sue Robinson (on the right in the above photo) runs the community centre where most of the film was shot. 

She says: “The film was absolutely brilliant. Once people knew about it, they were all watching it and asking if there was anything they could do. We had lots of people coming over and wanting to volunteer at the Pantry and we’ve been asking some some people to help with other things.”

Filming during the Made In Liverpool project.

Cost of living: new responses

In recent months, local people have been dragged deeper and deeper into financial difficulty, as the cost of living has risen to perilous levels. Inevitably, the community centre has been doing what it can to keep people afloat.

“Demand for the Pantry now is off the scale,” says Sue.

“We try to keep to 150 members, but it’s hard and we have a waiting list now of about 35, and we’re also handing out a lot of emergency food support. 

“The other new thing we are doing is slow cookery classes. Everyone says the slow cookers are amazing – it’s cheaper than using the oven or microwave, so people can do a meal for much less. So we are doing classes and supplying slow cookers, and as soon as one course ends there are people wanting to join the next one. 

“We are still doing our lunch club as well, and we are doing two days a week as a warm hub, for people to come here and be able to save on turning the heating on at home.

“We always ask people what they want us to do at the centre, and at the moment people all want activities around the cost of living, so we try to meet those needs. We’re still doing work with children in the evenings and holidays as well, and a food element comes into everything now. Everything relates to food and energy.

“It is a strain. I am supposed to work 24 hours a week, but this week, by Wednesday, I have worked 30 hours already. I do it because I love being here and I love the people, but for things to change we need the Government or funders to change.”

Kensington Fields Community Centre in Liverpool. Photo from the Made In Liverpool film.

Where change starts

Bringing about change like that is not easy. But speaking up is a vital beginning. 

Sue and others locally are part of the new Speaking Truth To Power programme, backed by Church Action on Poverty, which will support people with experience of poverty and marginalisation as they campaign for systemic change, social justice and more inclusive, dignified systems.

And already, locally, there are glimmers of hope…

One of the big themes identified in last year’s film was the uncertainty around the community centre’s future. For years, Sue and the team have been asking the council to help them secure the lease on the building, or to secure new premises if they do need to move. 

Now, after much persistence and tenacity, talks are finally taking place. Watch this space.

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Church on the Margins reports

Church Action on Poverty North East annual report 2022-24

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78 pics: Pantry members get creative to end poverty

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“The PTC is one of the best things that’s ever happened to us”

Budget 2023: a precious chance to bridge the rich-poor divide

This week's Budget must bridge the rich-poor gulf, and start addressing the causes of poverty, say people with direct experience of UK poverty

Aerial view of Houses of Parliament

This week’s Budget statement is a precious chance to bridge the rich-poor divide and to enable opportunities instead of barriers for people on low incomes, according to a national panel of people, who all draw on their own personal experience of struggling against poverty.

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt should seize the moment to tackle the unjust systems that hold people and communities back, to ensure that incomes keep pace with soaring living costs, and to invest in the vital public systems that we all require.

The Speaking Truth to Power national panel includes people living on low incomes who have been involved in a variety of local projects to tackle and end poverty and strengthen community around the UK.

Members met ahead of Wednesday’s spring Budget statement, to discuss what it should include, and why, and to discuss how people’s lives could be enhanced if the Government committed to tackling the root causes of poverty.

Speaking Truth to Power

Time for concerted action

The group says: 

“The post-covid roadmap was meant to be for everyone. If we have a Budget – or a General Election campaign – that neglects poverty and the causes of poverty, then the wealthiest people will accelerate away with ease, while the rest of us are left at the side of the road. 

“We’re a compassionate society and we believe in justice. But we won’t get there by wishing ourselves forward – we need concerted, national action from our political leaders.”

Polling has shown that more than 60% of people think the Government should act to reduce income inequality, and an overwhelming majority see the prospect of widening inequality as problematic.

Key messages group members would like to see in the Budget included: 

  • Extending support on energy bills, and doing more to prevent the crisis from recurring
  • Making childcare more accessible and affordable, to support low-income parents
  • Creating opportunities for young people
  • Removing flaws and cliff-edge thresholds in systems such as the carer’s allowance, which can punish people instead of enabling them
  • Committing to serious investment in new social housing 
  • Increasing the living wage, to help low-income workers

Budget 2023: Wayne's view

One of the panel members is Wayne Green, from Shoreham By Sea, who has been campaigning against the structural causes of poverty for more than 25 years. 

He says: 

“The money that people in poverty have is not enough to live on, and people need to be able to live. As a country we have the money to end poverty. We have the expertise. We have the technology. It is now a matter of political will. 

“The will is there to pump as much money as they can into other things, yet they are withholding what it takes to address poverty, while millions sink further into debt and difficulty. It’s really problematic the way the decisions are made. 

“People who are not in the situation do not understand what it’s like being poor or on social security. It falls below the bare minimum people need. There’s such a social distance now between parliament and professionals and those of us who have fallen into unemployment or hard times.

“I think the Budget needs to remove things like the cap on housing benefits, and to protect people from high energy bills and address the huge profits the energy companies make. Profits should be for a noble cause, not to make rich companies richer. The Budget should also guarantee everyone an income they can live on, like a citizens’ income.”

Budget 2023: Gemma's view

Another panel member, Gemma Athanasius-Coleman, from Cornwall, said:

“Young people want change and want to influence change, and they want opportunities. The Budget should do more to create opportunities for young people.

“I don’t like divisive politics that pits people against each other – we need to give all young people the opportunities they will need, especially if they have coke from a socially-deprived background. 

“The Government could do so much more for people in regards to the cost of living. They know what’s happening, they can see it – but they are not doing enough. It’s not necessarily handing out money – they need to help bring down costs in the first place, by looking at the energy companies, as well as putting more money in people’s pockets. 

“Another thing the Budget should look at is childcare. We need them to do more to ensure childcare is well-funded and available and affordable for parents, like in the rest of Europe. It’s so unaffordable that it keeps people out of work, as many parents are financially better off not working, due to what childcare would cost if they worked.”

Speaking Truth To Power

The Speaking Truth to Power programme is coordinated by the charity Church Action on Poverty, and works with people on low incomes to identify causes of poverty, work on potential solutions to end poverty, and advocate for change.

The group also discussed the vital values that should drive the Budget statement. There was consensus that it should be guided by a desire to create a just society, which truly listens to and heeds people in poverty and on the margins, and which works to support people being swept into deepest difficulty. 

There was a strong desire among the group for sustainable solutions that create inclusive opportunities, not barriers, and for a commitment that recognises everyone’s right to housing and affordable good food.

Sheffield Civic Breakfast: leaders told about mounting pressures of poverty

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Church Action on Poverty in Sheffield: annual report 2023-24

SPARK newsletter summer 2024

Church on the Margins reports

Church Action on Poverty North East annual report 2022-24

Stories that challenge: Sarah and Rosie’s health

Dreams & Realities: welcome to an incredible exhibition

Building hopes and dreams in Bootle

This outrageous, counter-productive Budget marginalises people with least

A sermon for Church Action on Poverty Sunday

Stories that challenge: Emma’s road to church

The Let's End Poverty text logo, on a collage of four images of people doing craft or art.

78 pics: Pantry members get creative to end poverty

Dreams & Realities: reflections on an amazing tour

“The PTC is one of the best things that’s ever happened to us”

Stef: What dignity, agency & power mean to me

Each year, the Dignity, Agency, Power calendar tells stories of people who bring those values to life. This page features STEF BENSTEAD.

Stef Benstead

In 2019, Stef wrote Second Class Citizens, looking at the shameful way the UK state has treated disabled people, and she has also taken part in Manchester Poverty Truth Commission.

At the recent launch of the Dignity, Agency, Power anthology, Stef told Church Action on Poverty supporters about her work:

Why I wrote Second Class Citizens

“Quite often a lot of the policies and decisions being made are made by people who don’t really have enough information – people who have expertise as professionals but not by experience. They’re often not listening to people with expertise by experience, and the result is a lot of policies are harmful rather than helping.

“The reason I ended up writing Second Class Citizens was that I had a background in disability through my own illness and had gone into research. It was very clear that the Government was causing a lot of harm, but I had a lot of friends from a more conservative evangelical Christian background. A lot of friends talked about poverty and sounded like they cared but they felt welfare reform act was good, and I was sitting there saying no, it’s not, it’s awful!”

Stef cites the example of Universal Credit, where some of the founding principle and ideas were good, but where many problems ensued because policy makers didn’t think about how much people really needed to live on, the effect of switching to monthly payments, the impact on couples being paid jointly, and many other practical scenarios.

My experience of Manchester Poverty Truth Commission

“The Poverty Truth Commission takes a similar approach on a more local level. What a lot of professionals don’t realise until they get into a commission is just how harmful some of their policies are. 

“In the commission, you come together and have repeated conversations, to the point where you have relationships, and it’s really interesting.

“Within organisations, a lot of people really care and want to do right, so they’re really distressed when they hear they’re doing wrong – but they’re willing to change. You need people with experience in the room making decisions, because that’s the only way you get good policy.”

Stef: What dignity means to me

“Dignity is about having enough to live off – so you’re not scrambling for money, constantly wondering whether you can afford to have the heating on, the light on, to eat this food or not.

“It’s also a bit more than that – it’s having enough to participate in society, it’s about being able to have a friend come over and not feel ashamed that your house is cold, or having no milk to offer a cup of tea, or if you have children being able to buy them the latest thing and for them not to be excluded but to enjoy the same things their peers have. 

“It’s being able to help friends and neighbours and have a reciprocity, so at least some of the time you have something to give to someone else. Also it’s about having long term security, and knowing you’ll be okay if something goes wrong. Dignity is partly about having that confidence to look to the future and say actually there are systems that will help me stay on my feet is something goes wrong.”

Stef: What agency means to me

“Agency is that control you have over your life, to be able to direct where it goes and to make choices, so if you apply for a job you’re not just stuck taking the first job no matter how awful it is. Or it’s being able to pick the subjects you do at school, or what school you go to – being able to control where your life goes. 

“What a lot of people face is not having that agency. If you’re on unemployment benefits, you’re always being told how many hours you have to do, what jobs to apply for. There’s no trust on you to make your own life better.”

Stef: What power means to me

“Power, I think, is about having an impact on the world around you. Agency is partly about having impact on your own life, but power is going: ‘actually I can make changes in society as well’. 

“Maybe that means being a governor of a local primary school, it might be in a residents’ association, it might mean being part of political or religious association, or maybe it’s just knowing I’m someone who, if you go to police or social care and say there’s an issue, they’ll take me seriously and involve me in the decision making process.

“We tend to have professionals who make decisions, then people who are affected, and there’s a lack of power. In general, the more money you have the more power you have and that doesn’t generally lead to a country that works for everybody.”

Stef: My hopes are for the Dignity, Agency, Power anthology

“Because I’m from evangelical background, I want to see church groupings reading this, and I would like to see Christians take seriously the command of God that we all pursue justice for the poor and oppressed and to have their hearts moved by the stories.”

Be part of a movement that’s reclaiming dignity, agency and power

Merseyside Pantries reach big milestone

Transforming the Jericho Road

Partner focus: Meet Community One Stop in Edinburgh

Thank you Pat! 40 years of compassionate action

Halifax voices: on housing, hope and scandalous costs

The UK doesn’t want demonising rhetoric – it wants to end poverty

Sheffield Civic Breakfast: leaders told about mounting pressures of poverty

Artists perform for change in Manchester

Church Action on Poverty in Sheffield: annual report 2023-24

SPARK newsletter summer 2024

Dark Holy Ground – autobiography of a Church Action on Poverty campaigner

Linda Granville is an anti-poverty activist who worked in the past with Church Action on Poverty on Teesside. Her autobiography, 'Dark Holy Ground', is available now.

Linda says:

“With Church Action on Poverty’s Local People National Voice campaign in 1998 I finally found my own voice! Both in the Teesside and National Poverty hearing in Church House in London and at the CCBI National conference in Swanwick. I’ve written about my involvement with the Debt on your Doorstep campaign and the Living Ghosts campaign.

“I want you to know how much I appreciate Church Action on Poverty for playing its part in the very beginning getting this long-term unemployed single parent (dole scrounger) with two kids with different fathers having never being married, to allow me to analyse my own and other situations and help to provide a pathway to give me dignity and to work toward an absolutely fulfilling life.”

“Let LOVE trickle down and let the fear of poverty disappear forever.”

Church Action on Poverty trustee Gemma Athanasius-Coleman (who has spoken about her own journey into activism here) took a look at Linda’s book, and this was her reaction:

“Linda’s book highlights a recurring theme throughout where vulnerable members of society are kept in the cycle and trap of poverty. The words ‘unemployed’, ‘single parent’, and ‘poverty’ imply that if you don’t have a job (regardless of the reason) and if you have a child but not a partner then you are oppressively underestimated, often used as an economic scapegoat so that the government can cut benefits and that you deserve to remain poor.

“Gender inequalities which are so out of date are still playing a huge role in the exploitation of women’s labour in the home, which is not only undervalued but continues to reinforce this negative gender stereotype. Poverty creates fear, and the current ‘trickle down’ economic system is ensuring this demographic stays down and remains exploited. As Linda says in the book we should ‘Let LOVE trickle down and let the fear of poverty disappear forever.’”

From churches to the Government: end this great sibling injustice

Church Action on Poverty in Sheffield: 15th annual Pilgrimage

Unheard no more: Story project brings hope for change

Our use of social media: an update

Just Worship review

6 places, 41 people: Some of the UK’s unheard election voices

The Let's End Poverty text logo, on a collage of four images of people doing craft or art.

78 pics: Pantry members get creative to end poverty

Dreams & Realities: reflections on an amazing tour

“The PTC is one of the best things that’s ever happened to us”

Undercurrent book review: “you can’t kick hunger into touch with a beautiful view”

We're marking World Book Day on 2 March 2023 by exploring books about UK poverty - especially those written by people who have experienced it for themselves. 'Undercurrent' by Natasha Carthew, coming out soon, is one such book - reflecting on the experience of poverty in Cornwall. We asked Gemma Athanasius-Coleman, who has spoken out about her own experiences through End Hunger Cornwall, to take a look.

This book poetically tells a story of the unique issues that Cornwall as a county faces when it comes to poverty. The author describes how during the 2020 lockdown, Cornwall saw a large increase in poverty, and how she believes factors contributing to this include a lack of access to healthcare services, poor transport, education, and leisure.

These factors are described as the ‘undercurrents’ that move in and around society without ever being properly recorded.

Poverty in Cornwall is different: it’s off-grid gas, low income and high costs, poor housing, seasonal work, zero-hour contracts with limited education and job opportunities. Fuel, transport, and food poverty are strongly linked, and if you are experiencing one, the likelihood is you’ll be experiencing another simultaneously. If you live in rural isolation, then your options for affordable goods and services are also limited.

Poverty in Cornwall is different: it’s off-grid gas, low income and high costs, poor housing, seasonal work, zero-hour contracts with limited education and job opportunities.

Cornwall is a gorgeous county and one of beauty, mystery and wonder, and yes, we folk that live here are lucky to do so, but it comes with a price. As beautiful as she is with her blue seas, rocky coastline and rich heritage and history, I must agree with the author that “you can’t kick hunger into touch with a beautiful view”.

“You can’t kick hunger into touch with a beautiful view”

Central to this memoir is the importance of nature and its healing properties, which must never be taken for granted. Nature is sacred to many in Cornwall, and it is the one commodity that we must strive to restore, protect, and maintain. We should encourage the next generation to use nature as therapy and medicine, to help soothe the stresses of poverty, isolation and life struggles and empower the next generation to make positive changes.

Here in Cornwall, we can’t eat the view, but we can certainly benefit from it and fight for its right to remain unspoiled for everyone’s benefit.

Sheffield Civic Breakfast: leaders told about mounting pressures of poverty

Artists perform for change in Manchester

Church Action on Poverty in Sheffield: annual report 2023-24

SPARK newsletter summer 2024

Church on the Margins reports

Church Action on Poverty North East annual report 2022-24

Stories that challenge: Sarah and Rosie’s health

Dreams & Realities: welcome to an incredible exhibition

Building hopes and dreams in Bootle

This outrageous, counter-productive Budget marginalises people with least

A sermon for Church Action on Poverty Sunday

Stories that challenge: Emma’s road to church

The Let's End Poverty text logo, on a collage of four images of people doing craft or art.

78 pics: Pantry members get creative to end poverty

Dreams & Realities: reflections on an amazing tour

“The PTC is one of the best things that’s ever happened to us”

Books about poverty: some recommendations for World Book Day

Thursday 2 March 2023 is World Book Day. Why not take a look at some of these books about poverty?

These are some of the best books to read if you want to understand more about poverty in the UK – and how we can work together to put an end to it.

They’ve been recommended by members of our staff team, and members of our Speaking Truth to Power panel.

Click on the title or image to find out more about a book. 


Books about poverty from personal experience

Hear from the real experts – people who’ve lived with poverty themselves.

Poverty SafariPoverty Safari by Darren McGarvey

A powerful memoir by the rapper Loki, with a unique and challenging perspective.

Second Class Citizens by Stef Benstead

A Church Action on Poverty trustee draws on her own experiences and her academic expertise to analyse the injustices of how our benefits system treats people with disabilities.

Skint Estate by Cash Carraway

A darkly funny memoir and a scream of rage against austerity.

Same BoatSame Boat 

Poems on poverty and lockdown, written by people involved in Church Action on Poverty projects.


Books about poverty and stigma

Read about how our culture excludes and demonises people in poverty – and explore ways of telling a different story.

The Shame GameThe Shame Game by Mary O’Hara

Ideas for overturning the toxic poverty narrative.

ChavsChavs by Owen Jones

A powerful analysis of how our media and politicians demonise working-class people.


Books about poverty and children

These books can help young children to understand more about poverty and its solutions.

Grace and the Grumblies by Emily Shore

Grace and her superhero mum work together to take on the ‘Grumblies’ of hunger.

It’s a No-Money Day by Kate Milner

A gentle, poignant and powerful exploration of food banks and life below the poverty line.


Books about poverty and faith

Theology, prayers and ideas for how churches and Christians are called to respond to poverty.

Dignitu, Agency, PowerDignity, Agency, Power

An anthology of prayers, reflections, Bible studies and stories released to mark our 40th anniversary in 2022.

Mission from BelowMission from Below by Janet Hodgson

Makes the case for a new model of people-driven servant leadership, using the example of two Loreto Sisters working alongside one of the most socially deprived communities in North East England.


And a cookbook!

Our Cookery Book

A collection of stories and recipes from members of the Self-Reliant Groups supported by Church Action on Poverty.

 


More in-depth reviews

Finally, we have more in-depth reviews of a couple of new books:

Sheffield Civic Breakfast: leaders told about mounting pressures of poverty

Artists perform for change in Manchester

Church Action on Poverty in Sheffield: annual report 2023-24

SPARK newsletter summer 2024

Church on the Margins reports

Church Action on Poverty North East annual report 2022-24

Stories that challenge: Sarah and Rosie’s health

Dreams & Realities: welcome to an incredible exhibition

Building hopes and dreams in Bootle

This outrageous, counter-productive Budget marginalises people with least

A sermon for Church Action on Poverty Sunday

Stories that challenge: Emma’s road to church

The Let's End Poverty text logo, on a collage of four images of people doing craft or art.

78 pics: Pantry members get creative to end poverty

Dreams & Realities: reflections on an amazing tour

“The PTC is one of the best things that’s ever happened to us”

What does it mean to be a church on the margins?

In this excerpt from our new report, Deirdre Brower Latz shares some of what she learned in three years talking to churches in communities pushed to the 'margins' in Greater Manchester.

Poverty and marginalisation are a reality in the UK for millions of households. In rural and urban spaces, people without enough food to eat, money to live on, experience social exclusion and negative perception and this reality is worsening. Where is the church and where should it be? According to our research, the place of mainline denominations in proximity or immersed in communities in need has declined over the last decade.

The church’s presence may have declined, or may be patchy; economic hardship, though, is a reality for many. In the UK, poverty is acute and the poverty gap growing and poverty increasing, globally nations slide towards levels of poverty that even recently would have been considered impossible. People with lived experience of poverty are ‘marginalized from effective participation in mainstream economic, social and political life and concentrated into “settlements of the marginal, the socially problematic and welfare-dependent.”’’ This is a scandal – dehumanising people who experience economic (or other) marginalisation and poverty, assumptions about their value, worth and purpose are all too common, even in the church.

People’s stories and lives are frequently measured through economic engagement, which is a distorted view of humankind. The church’s theological life and imagination has something else to say, which should and could offer vision and a new imagination. There need to be reinvigorated understandings of the intrinsic value of all people, and their stories as alive with good meaning and purpose – significant in the world regardless of economic impact. The question and challenge presented by Pope Francis (one could argue building on Jesus!) and later reframed by Niall Cooper, Director of Church Action on Poverty, is this:

“Do we really believe that God can be found at the margins; do we really believe in a countercultural church of and for the poor; are we prepared to let go of our own power?”

Responses to poverty and people living in communities of poverty are varied and often appear to be poles apart. Social action or social justice; evangelistic responses or community development; unhelpful dichotomies form. In places, the church has separated acts of service and acts of worship, or has left communities, or has remained with congregations who now drive in as commuters to a congregation’s building, once dwellers, now consumers of space. At times, the church has remained present or has reinvested, resourcing new ways of being-in communities identified as in acute need. Some responses to marginal communities are top-down, either mandated denominationally, based on quantitative and normative hard data, or based on qualitative and descriptive narrated research. Often led by a sincere passion for caring for people in poverty, and a sincere hope that the people of estates or marginal communities would once again populate churches. Some church organisations have sought to save communities through immersive engagement in them, operating as benevolent examples of a better way. Some have moved out entirely to areas where middle-class values and church-life have currency as interchangeable.

Poverty and marginality are challenging for the church, no matter the theological persuasion.

In the church, as in the country, poverty is normally perceived from the standpoint of those who are not poor. Tracing its roots through attitudes created in feudal and parish systems, attitudes to poverty emerge in contemporary society as somehow less-than, a shame, a curse, merited or deserved. In a capitalist world, poverty ‘draws its meaning primarily from the plight of a flawed consumer.’ The church is influenced by cultural attitudes, and pathologised approaches towards poor people, pejorative judgements, or patronising approaches can all be seen in and amongst the church.

It’s too easy to speak of ‘the poor’ as a category – poverty is heterogeneous, with differing causes, responses and realities.

What might it mean to have a nuanced view of poverty and marginality? How might the church hear from those often voiceless or scapegoats? How can the church be amongst, for, with, in and of the poorer people, places and communities of the UK? How can the church resist easy answers and singular responses? How can the church respond to the question and challenge: who speaks for people with lived experiences of poverty? In fact, how, when, where and in what way do people speak on their own behalf? Bearing witness to how people themselves navigate poverty and marginality in all its complexities. Since “[p]eople in poverty may thus constitute a serial collectivity, without necessarily having anything in common other than their poverty and societal reactions to it”, how does the church align itself with communities of economic poverty, marginality and do so intent on instilling dignity, listening to the voice of those speaking on their own behalf, from their own lives, telling power how church that honours them could, should and must be, navigating inclusion and belonging as integral to church in and for the margins? What might a church on the margins be?

These questions have been addressed over years by Church Action on Poverty, described as ‘a national ecumenical Christian social justice charity, committed to tackling poverty in the UK’, the organisation ‘work[s] in partnership with churches and with people in poverty themselves to find solutions to poverty, locally, nationally and globally.’ Preoccupied with navigating the church and poverty over decades, more recently alongside policy activism and partnership with research projects, Church Action on Poverty began to explore how to address this very challenge and the Church on the Margins (COTM) project was conceived. The reports from the project summarise the concept, method, process, encounters and tentative conclusions drawn by the researcher facilitator-team over the last three years. We describe the purposes, explore the challenges, name the encounters, offer the method up for scrutiny, and hear from the voices of people from marginalised communities who are vibrant participants in the life of the church. Their voices frame every conclusion and springboard into further discussion. Above all, we tried not to hide from the challenges we faced and faced by the people who courageously shared their stories with us.

Throughout our research we were clear that we would respect all we were told. Our use of stories shared with us was understood as a gift to be honoured. The hope of all those who participated in the research by openly describing their experiences relative to the church was that their voices could potentially change the church itself.

Sheffield Civic Breakfast: leaders told about mounting pressures of poverty

Artists perform for change in Manchester

Church Action on Poverty in Sheffield: annual report 2023-24

SPARK newsletter summer 2024

Church on the Margins reports

Church Action on Poverty North East annual report 2022-24

Stories that challenge: Sarah and Rosie’s health

Dreams & Realities: welcome to an incredible exhibition

Building hopes and dreams in Bootle

This outrageous, counter-productive Budget marginalises people with least

A sermon for Church Action on Poverty Sunday

Stories that challenge: Emma’s road to church

The Let's End Poverty text logo, on a collage of four images of people doing craft or art.

78 pics: Pantry members get creative to end poverty

Dreams & Realities: reflections on an amazing tour

“The PTC is one of the best things that’s ever happened to us”

We need to dig deeper in our response to poverty

In this guest blog, theologian Greg Smith challenges churches to find their prophetic anger.

A recent article by Jo Moore on Grace + Truth highlighted a significant issue: that unconditional generosity can so easily lead to dependency for the recipient. Those of us who have been active in this kind of work recognise the sense of entitlement which easily develops in response to whatever welfare provision or charity that is offered.

Christian professionals and campaigners in the poverty and development industry have long recognised that generosity is not enough. The arguments are well rehearsed in the context of international aid in Corbet and Finkett’s book When Helping Hurts

Strong reaction

But Jo’s article also provoked a strong reaction in me. My own church, alongside other faith and community groups and our council, is deeply involved in this ministry. Personally I spend many hours in supporting and organising such work. 

We are one example of the hundreds of churches, mosques and community groups who have been eager to respond to the urgent needs of people struggling with poverty and a precarious life. In recent years, over 2,500 food banks have been established. And now, in response to the current cost of living crisis, thousands of ‘warm welcome centres’ have opened too.  

While these initiatives provide essential first aid to people in crisis, and may even save lives, they remain problematic.

Digging deeper

Jo is right to dig deeper in trying to find out what kind of help can make a significant and real difference to people’s lives, so that they can move beyond the crisis of an empty larder. 

So in her (as in most other) food banks, customers are asked some questions, and attempts are made to address underlying issues. If the questions are asked sensitively and if there are good referral pathways to other agencies who can help with issues such as employment, debt, addictions and domestic violence, much good can be done. 

Transactional

However, the key to success is building long-term relationships of trust. Mutuality always trumps charity.

Sadly, the model of the food bank industry is fundamentally a welfare-client  transaction conditional on a referral from an organisation that holds power. This is simply not well fitted to building relationships of solidarity and providing personal dignity. Improved models of delivering food aid are emerging, such as food co-operatives, pay-as-you-feel markets, and Local Pantries. 

Transforming relationships

But there is also a strong case that anti-poverty work is most effective if located, not so much in projects and para-church organisations, but in the gospel and local churches that are deeply rooted in the life of economically struggling local communities. Here it is that deep, honest and life-transforming relationships can best be built.

The case is well and passionately argued in Mez McConnell’s The Least, The Last and the Lost (see my review).

Burden on individual

Jo’s questioning of people who visit the food bank seems to place a great burden on the individual, and to locate the causes of poverty firmly in personal behaviour and attitudes. A survey for The Evangelical Alliance in 2015 (p14-15) demonstrated that this interpretation of UK poverty is almost universal among Christians. In my view this is misguided and can become a dangerous form of victim blaming. 

We need to have more understanding and sympathy for the complex factors which underlie the struggles people face as they confront economic disadvantage. These include family and social class background, where they live, educational disadvantage, poor housing, health and disability issues, trauma from violence and abuse, and powerlessness against the system. Structural injustice and growing inequality are problems around the globe which cannot be ignored.

Going upstream

Therefore we need to go upstream, to investigate underlying causes of poverty and injustice to bring prophetic words and campaign for political change. We need holistic analysis and a programme of action on multiple fronts.

We can take inspiration from my friend Bob Holman (if you don’t know of him do follow the link), who combined Christian integrity, compassionate community work and a structural and political analysis of poverty.  His approach shows how Christians really can be good news to individuals, our communities and our country.

Personal responsibility

This does not mean we can deny individual agency and personal responsibility, for that is central to the human condition. People created by God and placed in society are moral beings. It is often right to challenge people with a word of ‘tough love’. Darren McGarvey, an expert in the field by lived experience, has explored this brilliantly in his books such as Poverty Safari and his recent Reith Lecture.

In short, Christians we need to go beyond the charity of food banks. We need to build honest relationships in community and work alongside people who come presenting a need. But we also need to raise our voice to change the inequality and injustice that has led to the rapid rise of so many services providing for basic needs. We need a prophetic anger about why we are even in this situation in the first place.


This article first appeared on the Grace + Truth blog and is reproduced by permission. 
Greg Smith lives in Preston, Lancashire and enjoys an active retirement following 40 years of urban church and community work. He is an honorary associate research fellow with the William Temple Foundation. 

Sheffield Civic Breakfast: leaders told about mounting pressures of poverty

Artists perform for change in Manchester

Church Action on Poverty in Sheffield: annual report 2023-24

SPARK newsletter summer 2024

Church on the Margins reports

Church Action on Poverty North East annual report 2022-24

Stories that challenge: Sarah and Rosie’s health

Dreams & Realities: welcome to an incredible exhibition

Building hopes and dreams in Bootle

This outrageous, counter-productive Budget marginalises people with least

A sermon for Church Action on Poverty Sunday

Stories that challenge: Emma’s road to church

The Let's End Poverty text logo, on a collage of four images of people doing craft or art.

78 pics: Pantry members get creative to end poverty

Dreams & Realities: reflections on an amazing tour

“The PTC is one of the best things that’s ever happened to us”