Some stories from the foodbank

A few stories from Hope+ Foodbank (A partnership between the Cathedrals and local Churches) meeting at St Bride's.

All offers of help gratefully received. You'll find a shopping list at the end of this article. (All names below have been changed).

Shakktar and Marianne: A Syrian refugee and his family newly arrived in Liverpool from Aleppo, where he had been the chief pharmacist at the central hospital. His daughter aged twelve had suffered brain damage, has difficulty walking, and is incontinent.  Using another guest as interpreter, he asked us to take back the food we had given him in exchange for the largest nappies we could supply.  Eventually we managed to ascertain what her needs were, and through our partners at the Red Cross we supplied a child’s wheelchair, which was sponsored by a member of the Cathedral congregation, and through NLRCo we supplied incontinence equipment and specialist food.

Tommy: We were the first people Tommy had had a conversation with since his brother’s funeral five months previously. His mother had died three weeks before that, and now he was alone.  He had been working, but was on the minimum wage and things were tight.  Faced with the bills for two funerals and probate costs, he had taken out a loan from a company not unknown to Archbishop Justin.  With no one to turn to his wellbeing began to suffer and he became ill being diagnosed with depression.  Within weeks he had lost his job; unable to repay the loan, he gave up his tenancy, took his dog to the RSPCA, and moved into a bedsit.  As his health became worse, he missed an appointment at the Job Centre, who sanctioned his benefits for two months.  Without money, his utilities had been disconnected.  When he came to us, he had not eaten for over a week.  With help from a number of our partners, we helped him reinstate his benefits, sort out his loan repayments, and reconnected his utilities.  We discovered he loved to draw, and introduced him to an art course at St Bride’s, which several months later he still attends.

Mowgli: An Eritrean child refugee with no family. Although classed by the Border agency as aged eighteen and therefore an adult, he is clearly much younger.  A paediatric physiologist at Alder Hey has put his age at between fifteen and sixteen.  He left Eritrea five years ago and was trafficked into Europe via three other African countries, arriving here just four weeks ago.  He has been placed in a bedsit on his own with no personal possessions but the clothes he was wearing.  Within days of his horrific story being known, generous supporters provided him with warm clothes, shoes, and small gifts and treats.  His smile lit up the whole of St Bride’s when we gave them to him.