Member Spotlight

Be Enriched

Be Enriched provides meals to families especially during school holidays.

1. 1. How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?

   Be Enriched addresses child poverty by ensuring that children and their families have access to nutritious, affordable food, especially during the school holidays when free school meal programs are unavailable. Through initiatives like the Food Bus, which serves groceries at reduced costs, and Kids Clubs providing meals and activities, we bring stability and joy to low-income families. Already this year, the Food Bus has served: 1,300 customers! That means we’ll serve over 7000 people over the next 3 years.

   2. Tell us something you are excited about?

   We are thrilled to share our “Gifts That Give Back Christmas Appeal” campaign. This initiative will bring food, companionship, and holiday cheer to over 300 people during the festive season. Through community meals, The Food Bus Project, and special kids’ activities, we will ensure no one feels forgotten this Christmas. We are particularly excited about hosting three weekly community meals throughout December and January, spreading warmth and joy in the midst of challenging times.

   3. Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?

   This year alone, we’ve already served 2,265 guests and provided 6,795 nutritious meals at our community canteens, as well as saving 2,159 kg of food from landfill. Last year, Be Enriched made a remarkable impact, serving nearly 10,000 meals and preventing over 6 tonnes of food waste. This year, 800 volunteers contributed over 4,800 hours to our community projects, showcasing the power of collaboration and shared purpose.

   4. What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?

   Network members can learn about innovative ways to reduce food waste while addressing food insecurity and social isolation. Our Food Bus Project, which brings affordable groceries and community space to areas in need, and our Community Canteens, where volunteers create meals from surplus food, are models of sustainability and fostering community resilience. We are always eager to share insights into creating inclusive, sustainable initiatives that foster long-term connections and tangible change.

   5. What would most help you achieve your goals?

   This Christmas, 1 in 5 Families will choose between heating and eating, and 1 in 10 Pensioners are set to spend the holiday in isolation. So, we’re calling on supporters to join our Gifts That Give Back Christmas Appeal.

   The Gifts That Give Back Christmas appeal will help combat the rising levels of hunger and loneliness affecting vulnerable people in South London this holiday season.

   Be Enriched will be hosting three community meals per week from December, right through January, providing 300+ people with a safe space, food, companionship and gifts this Christmas.

   This vital crowdfunding campaign will ensure that no one spends the holiday season hungry, alone, or forgotten.

   6. Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

   We joined 4in10 because of its unwavering commitment to addressing child poverty in London. Being part of this network provides invaluable opportunities to connect, collaborate, and learn from like-minded organisations. It’s inspiring to be among peers working toward a common goal, and we appreciate the platform to amplify our voice and share our impact.

   Some more information about their Christmas campaign can be found here and the link to their crowdfunder is here.

Family Fund

Family Fund deliver grants for families raising a disabled or seriously ill child or young people on a low income across the UK.

1. How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?

Family Fund helps families across the UK who are raising disabled and seriously ill children and young people on low incomes, with grants, tailored information and support about financial issues, and benefits checks. We have grants for families with a child or young person aged up to 17, and for families with a young person living at home aged 18 to 24. Find out about our grants and services on our website. 

1. Tell us something you are excited about?

Right now we’re really excited about the growth of our information and support services. We’ve just launched our new Discover more support tool on our website. The tool is a searchable online database full of over 145 organisations who can support families raising disabled and seriously ill children on a low income. We are also running more free managing finances workshops online, and we’re exploring partnerships to deliver more free online support such as our iPad accessibility workshops with Guide Dogs. To keep up to date, find us on Facebook @familyfund

1. Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?

We get lovely feedback about our online workshops.

“Education isn’t a one-size-fits-all, and we’ve found it hard to find activities that work with Joshua’s dyslexia. It feels like everything is either too academic or centred around sports. The workshop allowed Joshua to learn a new skill, use his creativity and have fun. It was perfectly catered to his interests, and as his parents, it was a huge relief for us to find something that he’d enjoy, that didn’t cost a penny.” Helen, mum of Joshua who attended our creative workshops over the summer holidays. 

“I learnt a lot of new things, and the information provided was straightforward. I was taught how to use an online benefits calculator, where you input your details, and it tells you which benefits you’re entitled to. As a result, I discovered I was missing out on the Child Tax Credit element of my benefits. It’s through the Family Fund workshop that I realised that I’m entitled to more money.” Hilda, mum of Kalani, who attended our Checking your benefits online workshop. 

1. What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?

We always want to talk to organisations that support families on low incomes who are raising disabled or seriously ill children or young people. As a UK-wide pan-disability organisation working in all the nations of the UK we’re really well connected, involved in partnerships and coalitions working for change and representing families’ issues at a high level. So we can be a great networking resource for smaller, or regional and local-focussed organisations. We’ve been going 50 years, and we’re very careful in our partnership work, so families really trust the information we share with them.

1. What would most help you achieve your goals?

Apart from more funding to be able to provide more grants, or better still an end to poverty and inequality, what would help us most would be being in touch with regional and local organisations so we can reach the families you work with.

1. Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

It’s great to be part of a network of organisations working in really practical ways to tackle the injustice of poverty that families in London face. It’s great to be part of the movement to make a difference.

If you would like to find out more about Family Fund please visit their website.

Acts 435

Acts 435 is an online national charity that connects those that want to help with those that have a need, by resourcing local churches and charities throughout the UK to meet the specific needs of their community.

How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?

Acts 435 has 116 partners within Greater London, and whilst all of them are undertaking different work, many of these churches and organisations will be utilising Acts 435 to meet the needs of children and their families. One of those partners is Lewisham Foodbank who continually support individuals, families and their children. One recent request was for Annette* who now has legal guardianship of her two grandchildren, and needed to purchase clothing for them. On receiving the money towards the clothing, Annette said, “Can you please extend my gratitude to the people who have helped me to be able to purchase school clothing, and clothing in general, for my two grandchildren. I am overwhelmed with their generosity, which has come at a time when I am most in need of assistance. Again, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”

Annette also told the local Acts 435 Advocate that, whilst friends and family have passed on some useful second-hand items, it meant so much to two teenage girls to be able to help choose some new clothes, and help to give them dignity in their time of need.

Tell us something you are excited about?

As a charity we’re continually excited about the fact that 100% of the requests that get posted onto our website by our partners are all met quickly, in comparison to a lot of other application processes. As we rely on individual donors going onto our website to give towards the needs, the amount of time for a request to be crowdfunded fluctuates, but generally all requests are met within a maximum of two weeks.  Also, because of this funding model, we can also offer our resource to churches/charities for FREE!

Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?

Acts 435 was founded 14 years ago, and since then we have been able to resource over 700 churches and organisations to meet the specific needs of individuals. During that time we have helped over 52,000 individuals with over £6,000,000, which all goes directly to meet their need. We can also guarantee that 100% of every donation is given to the recipient, as all our charity’s costs are covered by GIft Aid reclaimed on applicable donations.

What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?

Our vision is to meet the needs of as many people as possible, all over the UK. However, we’re very aware that many cities, like London, have a huge amount of deprivation. We would love to resource more churches and charities in London with Acts 435 to be able to directly help their communities and those that they may already be supporting through our work. It would be fantastic if we could let as many churches/charities know about us as possible. If you’re not already partnered with us, you may like to attend one of our online coffee mornings to find out more: https://guestlist.co/u/acts435

What would most help you achieve your goals?

As we’re a small charity, with only four paid staff members, we don’t have a fundraising budget and can’t attend all the large events and conferences that many other charities can. Therefore, people spreading the word, and talking about our work, is the most effective way for new churches and charities to hear about us. We would love to equip more people with the knowledge about our work, so that they can then let other churches/charities know about the fantastic resource through Acts 435.

Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

We are quite new to the 4in10 network, and have really appreciated the support from the team. We have also enjoyed sharing our work at  a recent online meeting. We joined because we know that there must be many more churches and charities who are seeking to alleviate child poverty within London, and we want to resource them to meet the needs that they are seeing in their areas of Greater London.

If you would like to find out more about Acts 435 and how your church or organisation could get involved, please visit: acts435.org.uk/partner

Lee Dema from St Matthews Project

1. 1. How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?

   The majority of our participants live in the Brixton Rush Common and Coldharbour wards of Lambeth which are within the top 10% Deprivation Deciles nationally for crime and living environment.68% of our participants are entitled to free school meals.  At the heart of what we do is a desire to make sure that no child in our community is left behind. To help us realise that aim, we do a number of things. All of our activities are free, which is very important as the vast majority of the young people we work with cannot otherwise afford to make use of the limited sporting facilities available within the local area. To help those who cannot afford proper football boots, we have a scheme where people can donate second-hand boots in good condition to us. We run holiday programmes, which combine access to free high quality sporting activities with a nutritional meal, as well as free after-school snacks twice a week at our estate-based cage football sessions. Some children often take these snacks home for parents. We also hand out take and make boxes, to ensure that our participants are not going hungry, and provide feminine hygiene products to those who need them. We have recently secured some digital inclusion funding enabling us to buy equipment, so that we can support young people with their school work. During the lockdowns, we were able to provide free laptops and dongles to some of our families to ensure that they could fully participate in homeschooling.

   2. Tell us something you are excited about?

   We have seen a marked upturn in the number of young people accessing our services in recent years, particularly in the wake of the pandemic and the ongoing cost of living crisis.  We now regularly work with over 350 young people each week and have been expanding the range of programmes we offer. For example, we are now delivering innovative programmes  focused on improving young people’s mental health and wellbeing in school and community settings. Word of these programmes has spread beyond the project and we are now receiving increasing recognition from local councilors and other organisations for the quality of work we are doing in this area.

   3. Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?

   Football is a powerful hook for young people in our area and experience has shown us that it is the best means to deliver support and guidance. Due to the relationships we have built up with young people and their families over a long period of time, we have earned a legitimacy to advise and help them in a way that other organisations cannot.  Young people turn to St Matthew’s because our consistent approach to working with the community provides them with a sense of stability in increasingly uncertain times. As a result, we can maintain relationships with young people who are on the fringes of our community when they have cut themselves off from most or all of the other positive influences in their lives. Equally, it means that their families feel able to come to us for support when they are often reluctant to engage with statutory services. Our coaches are recruited from within the local community and include people who have been St. Matthew’s members who can then act as inspiring and positive role models to the participants. We find that using former participants, including ex-gang members, as coaches not only has a knock-on effect for that particular individual, but also on the young people they are working with, who begin to see what they could do in the future. Through our partnerships with local education providers, residents’ associations and community groups, we know that we are unique in the area in the type of sport and training programmes we deliver. Staff, parents, the police and young people all say that they think our activities offer something positive and can help deter young people from getting involved in more negative activities.

   4. What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?

   We are a good example of the importance of being firmly rooted in your local community. Being ‘hyper’ local can actually be an advantage, as it affords you the opportunity to really build up trust and credibility.  It isn’t always about trying to expand your geographical reach.

   5. What would most help you achieve your goals?

   Just like any other voluntary organisation, long-term funding is crucial to helping us achieve our goals. We currently have a very small staff team, comparative to the amount of services we are delivering to such a large number of young people. We need to look to increase our size in line with the demand for our programmes. In addition, help with reporting and data analysis would be goo

   6. Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

   We joined the network to ensure that we are as well informed about child poverty issues as possible. It’s useful for us to be part of a group of organisations who understand the issue and challenges we face.

In Kind Direct

1. How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?

At In Kind Direct, we believe that everyone deserves access to life’s essentials and no usable product should go to waste. In 2023, we supported a network of over 6,600 charitable organisations across the UK, including 1,160 in London, by distributing products from well-known manufacturers and retailers for charitable organisations to use to run their services and share with people they support.

We distribute a range of essential products, including hygiene and household cleaning products, clothing, and toys books and games. Across our network, 37% of charitable organisations say they use products from In Kind Direct to support school-aged children – that equates to nearly 135,000 children helped each week. In 2023 alone, we distributed over 226,230 toys books and games, that’s enough to support the equivalent of 7,540 classrooms of children. One organisation supported through our ‘Summer of Play’ campaign, which aimed to support children and families throughout the summer holidays, shared:

“We support many single parent families who are struggling to get by on Universal Credit. Little extras we provide like toys and clothing, accessed from In Kind Direct, are such a lifeline”.

2. Tell us something you are excited about?

In Kind Direct was originally founded to help reduce environmental impact. We take usable products from retailers and manufacturers that may otherwise go to waste and make it available to charitable organisations for use in their communities. To-date we’ve diverted more than 36,840 tonnes of product from landfill.

Ensuring that everyone can access life’s essentials will always be our focus, but we want to make sure that we are doing this as sustainably as possible. This year, we are calculating our carbon emissions across our organisation and value chain and are excited to be releasing a sustainability strategy next year, to ensure increasing our impact doesn’t cost the earth. We are also looking forward to expanding our refurbished tech offering to our network of charitable organisations, promoting the circular economy, and aiding digital poverty. We’re excited to work more with increasing access to second hand items to ensure people have access to the products they need to keep clean, warm, and well.

3. Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?

In Kind Direct was set up over 26 years ago, and we are so proud of the impact we have had since our founding. To-date we have worked with more than 1,300 companies to distribute products to over 15,000 charitable organisations across the UK, unlocking an incredible £314m in savings for the charitable sector. Through our charitable network, our products support over 365,000 people each week.

The savings we unlock help our charitable network stretch their funds further, enabling them to support more people and deliver more services. As one charitable organisation in our network put it:

“We would not be able to support our community to the extent we do without In Kind Direct”.  

4. What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?

In addition to accessing products through our catalogue, we have partnered with a number of companies to unlock additional savings and benefits for our network of charitable organisations. This includes discounted access to workplace supplies, refurbished laptops, printers/ photocopiers, and DSC membership.

We also conduct research and advocacy on issues surrounding poverty and access to essential products. We represent the views of our network in broader sector campaigns and we conduct new research on the causes and impacts of going without, to help make the case for funding and action. An example of this is our Human Right to Hygiene report, which maps the systems underlying hygiene poverty and sets out a roadmap for change.

5. What would most help you achieve your goals?

We are always looking for charitable organisations to join our network to help more people access much-needed products and help more organisations save money on essential supplies. Registering with us is free and can be done via our website.  We welcome a wide range of charitable organisations, including registered charities, CICs, CIOs, community groups, food banks, most schools and nurseries and public sector run outreach projects.

6. Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

In Kind Direct joined 4in10 to connect with other charitable organisations across London that are committed to ending poverty and to learn more about the activities the network is driving to support change. We are always eager to share knowledge and use our combined voices to fight the challenges that many are facing and make a difference. We would love to reach and engage with more 4in10 members and support their charitable mission by inviting them to register with us and access our services and benefits.

4in10 spotlight blog – BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials Programme

London Challenge Poverty Week 16th to 22^nd October 2023

How are you helping tackle child poverty in London?

The UK-wide BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials Programme helps tackle child poverty in London by providing essential grants to vulnerable children and young people in crisis, right across the city.

BBC Children in Need believe every child and young person deserves the opportunity to thrive and be the best they can be.. Delivered by the team at Family Fund Business Services, the Emergency Essentials programme provides items that meet a child’s most basic needs, such as a bed to sleep in, a cooker to provide a hot meal and other items critical to a child’s wellbeing. Our dedicated suppliers work hard to get grant items out quickly to families. Everything is taken care of from – delivery, installation/build (furniture) to recycling of old white good appliances.

We aim to alleviate the pressures associated with furniture poverty and the wider impact on a child or young person’s wellbeing. Growing up in poverty brings additional educational and health challenges, leading to significantly diminished life chances.

For any parent or carer, knowing your child will have a safe, comfortable night’s sleep or being able to prepare a warm meal for them and wash their clothes for school the next day, reduces parental stress and helps build better family relationships.

We work in partnership with BBC Children in Need to deliver this programme but we can only reach our goals with the support of our dedicated network of Emergency Essentials Referrers so a big thank you to them.

Tell us something you are excited about?

We’re excited about supporting BBC Children in Need’s ‘Positive Relationships’ campaign which celebrates the power of positive relationships, and the impact of these relationships in helping to support children and young people.

We’re also excited to be part of London Challenge Poverty Week 2023, to raise better awareness of the many challenges disadvantaged children in London face It’s clear we all have a crucial role to play as we enter difficult winter months and the next phase of the cost-of-living crisis. As history teaches us, ‘alone we can do so little, together we can do so much’.

We look forward to forging lasting relationships with other 4in10 members driving this work in London.

Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?

Since launching the programme in June 2018, the BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials Programme has supported 140,000 children and young people. We have distributed over £20million to directly support the needs of children and young people in poverty across the UK.

We have around 4000 active referrers making applications to the programme at any one time and the programme received 80,000 applications and fulfilled over 100,000 items in the first five years of delivery (we’re now in our sixth year).

Our service has a quick turnaround time for decision with an average turnaround time of 5-7 days.

What can other network members learn from you or find out more about, through you?

By connecting with the partnerships team, other network members can learn about the individual grants provided by the BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials Programme, as well as the wider grants that Family Fund provides for families raising seriously ill and disabled children (the partnerships team are employed by Family Fund as a dedicated resource for the Emergency Essentials Programme).

We have a growing network of referrers regularly accessing emergency essentials grants for the children and young people they are supporting across London. Referrers often comment about the simple application process and quick turnaround times for decisions:

“The Emergency Essentials Programme is really good, and quick and easy to do.  For me it’s fantastic and means my time is not taken away from families or the children who need me, the response is quick and the delivery options for the family are amazing.  The online application is easy to use, and the families really need the help.” (Emergency Essentials Referrer)

We encourage network members to reach out and connect with the partnerships team to find out more about our free training sessions and webinars, which can be tailored to your organisation’s needs.

Please email cinpartnerships@familyfundservices.co.uk for more information.

What would most help you achieve your goals?

Put simply, to achieve our main goal of- helping more children and young people in London we need to form even more new partnerships and gain more registered referrers locally.

As a team we are supportive, connected, passionate and determined. These values are echoed in the partnerships and relationships we maintain across the programme.

The BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials programme is referrer-led and is shaped by the voices of our referrers. We encourage them to take part in regular topic-based forums, coffee and connect sessions and surveys. We always welcome feedback in any form and recognise the ever-changing needs of children and young people. It’s through these engagement mechanisms that we ensure our offer remains relevant at the time of delivery.

Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

We were completely hooked after attending our first event hosted by 4in10 during the pandemic. It was clear we needed to be part of this dynamic network and movement for change.

Crucially, we love being able to connect with other likeminded people who are dedicated to improving the lives of children and young people growing up in poverty.