The Cost of Living Appeal with ELBA & BIG Alliance 2023

The Cost of Living Appeal is a prompt response to the impact of inflation and rising prices - we are all feeling it, however for some parts of our community it is more than tightening belts.

We have heard of families going to libraries and warm hubs after school so they can delay switching the heating on, the high and sustained demand at foodbanks, families giving up on broadband connections and unable to get laptop repairs for their children's to learn at home. We have heard of people not talking daily showers and children coming to school with ill fitting, poor condition and missing uniform. We have heard of people too sacred to open their utility bills and elderly people in dire housing conditions forced to keep the heating on for their homes to be at all habitable. Shockingly, these are all things we have heard from speaking with community groups in the first two weeks of January alone.

How can you help?

We asked our community partners what their service users needed. The answer is simple:

Energy Credits - company donations direct to ELBA & BIG Alliance or via our Just Giving page where individual employees can also donate towards our new drive to create energy credits for the most hard pressed families.

With already had low levels of earnings and low financial resilience. Many east London and Islington households had low or zero savings going into the pandemic so even with the best will and budgeting skills in the world, it is hard to find the extra which is needed for rising bills. For example, with recent weather being below freezing at times a family we heard about where the energy bill went up from £250 to £1,000. ELBA & BIG Alliance will ensure that 100% of everything which is donated reaches a family or individual in need through our strong community links.

Other ways to help:

Household Essentials - for more information please visit: www.justgiving.com/campaign/elbacostoflivingappealessentials