A week ago Croydon Council withdrew its ludicrous High Court injunction against this website. Inside Croydon’s Editor had pledged that any money raised by readers for the #KerswellBallsFund, its legal fighting fund, that was not needed for the court case would be donated to local charities.
This week, iC was delighted to be able to give £1,000 from that fund to Croydon Nightwatch. Here the charity’s chair, JAD ADAMS, explains how that money is being put to very good use
Queuing for help: the long line of people seeking help from Croydon Nightwatch demonstrates just how tough things have got for many
A big thank you to Inside Croydon and to people who donated to the legal fighting fund which is now being donated to homelessness charities.
As the cost of living crisis worsens, we are seeing more people through the week at our nightly sessions in Croydon town centre, and their needs are greater, so we have to step up our work.
The energy crisis means we regularly see people who are not only living in cold flats which they can’t afford to heat, but their credit has run out and they don’t even have the use of an electric light.
One woman told me that at night she lived by the light of the street lamp outside her window.
Offering help: Nightwatch volunteers provide warm food and groceries. But the charity is looking at a £30,000 funding shortfall this year
We are handing out £280-worth of energy vouchers each week, which can be used to top up the blue keys, which is how most of our clients access power.
As well as providing hot food every night, we give out groceries once a week.
Our spending on food has gone up by 50per cent since last year because of the increased costs, but also because of increased demand.
I stood in our storeroom in summer this year and calculated we had one month left of food, and three months before Harvest Festival donations came in. We had to buy in to cover the shortfall.
This year we are looking at a gap of £30,000 between our income and expenditure.
This £1,000 donation from Inside Croydon is very welcome.
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