Food / fuel poverty help for cost of living crisis

Aim

To offer vulnerable women struggling with the cost of living crisis a ‘warm room’, community support, help combatting food and fuel poverty

Safe and Sound Dorset is a small women’s charity working in Boscombe which is one of the most disadvantaged areas in the South West of England, with overcrowding and a high percentage of HMOs.
Our sessions aim is for social inclusion, particularly for those who are marginalised and at risk from being exploited or trafficked, who are often encountering multiple lifestyle issues such as addiction, homelessness, relationship problems, housing, employment and educational difficulties creating isolation and mental or health stress.

We meet women at their most vulnerable out on the streets every  Friday night, handing out food and toiletries. We follow up with 1-1 visits during the week to help with appointments, court appearances, housing,  and linking women into five times weekly sessions at our ‘warm room’ coffee lounge or other local venues. The benefits are integration into community to be relationally, educationally and creatively supported particularly through this cost of living crisis where food and fuel poverty is on the increase.
Our vision is to have ‘warm rooms’ for women's sessions where food and fuel poverty is tackled as a community. We include a small team making lunch which we eat together, keeping warm, benefitting from collective eating, companionship and learning skills of how to create fresh inexpensive meals. We fund  economical resources such as slow cookers, electric blankets and halogen heaters.

The sessional activities include things such as personal development, debt management, knowing where to get help and support with escalating bills. We have CAP representatives and Shelter workers who come in creating a link to professional services.

We raise money so that each woman can have food vouchers, low cost cooking equipment, low cost heating appliances to help with their monthly budget.

Case study

N was on our outreach radar as we regularly saw her begging outside of shops and gave her food and toiletries. We also saw her when we called in to give leaflets and food to women in B&Bs over the pandemic.

Since then we have invited her to our sessions when we met her again rough sleeping in 2022. She came in for food, a shower and to do her laundry. We took her shopping to buy some new underwear and track suit. This really changed her and she started to talk to us, whereas before she had been in a survival bubble. She has recently joined our small cooking group to make inexpensive meals during our Women’s sessions. She attended a personal development course. She receives a monthly food voucher from us.

We invited her to our housing meal where she could meet a Shelter representative. Since then she has been placed in supported housing. She has joined in our summer activity programme and we have enabled her to attend The Horse Course, which helps with behaviour modification.

She still has a long way to go but we see her regularly to check things are working out for her and she can link into our sessions 5 times a week. She has had news that she is likely to be given a council flat and we will help her to move in.

It is a privilege to work with women who have so much potential once they have the support around them that they need. We can’t do it without the funding we require to run our sessions that help with food and fuel poverty.

Testimonial
‘I can not express to you the lengths of despair and trauma this journey for us as a family has been, but finally I felt that ‘Safe and Sound Dorset’ allowed me to talk about the experience whilst safeguarding my daughter who was homeless.

The evening meal at the Café is the most wonderful idea. It allows vulnerable women to feel welcome, safe and cared for. It is often very dignified and we all eat together sharing stories and events of the past week. I have been to counselling before and have separated myself from E’s lifestyle in order to manage an effective coping strategy. However, meeting with E in a safe setting led by women who are aware of the challenges she faces on the streets has been priceless. It has made me less afraid and better able to manage risks for myself and my family.

 ‘Safe and Sound Dorset’ are the ground-workers meeting basic needs of providing food, warmth, and safety for vulnerable women on the streets. Perhaps it is because of this that women can be encouraged to engage with services.

The rough sleepers team had eventually engaged with E and found her housing. I had a call from social services who asked me to find E as quickly as possible. It was Safe and Sound Dorset who had arranged to see E and took her to housing.  The Safe and Sound Dorset team are flexible, work as outreach and fill the gap when social services can’t be available; after 5pm. E has been placed in housing, but there is no food provided and E has to wait for her money. So once again the team has contacted me and said that when E needs help with a shop a member of their team will do that.’

This project successfully funded on 25th January 2023