Overcoming austerity together

Volunteers from the County Durham Socialist Clothing Bank, which was set up with the assistance of Durham Unite Community in October 2014, have been presented with the Durham County Council Chairman’s Award.

 

Dawn Wilson, who is a full-time carer for her disabled husband, established the clothes bank after she heard a mother tell her son that he would not be getting any shoes this year as she could only afford footwear for his sister.

 

Held at Brandon Welfare Hall, the fortnightly service for anyone on benefits provides free clothing, toiletries, interview clothing, school uniforms and baby food/nappies. Each session is attended by around 140 people, some of whom are also able to gain the assistance of a nearby established food bank.

Need on the rise

The need for clothes and food banks continues to rise. The benefits sanctions system being driven by the Tory government has meant that half a million people have had their benefits stopped in the last year, including cases involving people not applying for a job while waiting to start one.

 

Consequently the Trussell Trust’s 424 food banks have just recorded a new high in 2015/16 by providing more than a million three-day emergency food supplies to people in crisis. Of this figure, nearly half went to children.

 

The Trust’s data shows that benefit delays and changes account for 42 per cent of all referrals, with a further 23 per cent the result of low income due to low wages, insecure work, high living costs and problems accessing working benefits.

 

The volunteers, all of which are Unite Community members, at Brandon are supporting people in real need.

 

“We have helped low waged, irregular workers who because they cannot afford home insurance are in crisis after their homes have been burnt down,” explained Dawn. “Other people who have lost their benefits are homeless and we were able to do boxes of food and clothing for them at Christmas.”

 

Such great work was why the Socialist Clothing Bank has just won its award. There are ten Area Action Partnerships (AAPs) across County Durham. They give local people a say in the delivery of local services and give organisations the chance to speak directly with local communities.

 

 AAP’s annually nominate a local group, which they recognise as having contributed something special to their local community, for the Durham County Council Chairman’s Medal, which is selected by the chairman and vice chairman of the county council. This winner this year was Durham Socialist Clothing Bank.

 

‘Indictment of society’

“There was some very good entries but Jan Blakey, the chairman, and myself were particularly impressed by the clothing bank as it is a tremendous example of working class people helping each other to overcome the austerity agenda of this Tory government,” said councillor Eddie Bell, vice chairman of Durham County Council.

 

There was also praise from Dave Hopper, Secretary of the Durham Miners’ Association (DMA), who said, “It’s marvellous what has been achieved but it is also an indictment of what sort of society we have become that a clothing bank is required. We need to get people into decently paid jobs so that they can look forward to the future.”

 

Such hopes are tempered by the knowledge that the North East jobless total currently stands at 107,000, which is an unemployment rate of 8.1 per cent. This is the highest in the UK, which has an average rate of 5.1 per cent.

 

“It is great that we have won this award as it is recognition for the efforts of so many volunteer,” Dawn went on to say. “We could also never had done it without the practical support of Unite Community and Unite regionally who pay for the hire of a 20 inch container.

 

“The Northern TUC has also helped provide funds for interview clothing and many individual trade unionists have made donations,” she added. “Durham Miners’ Association have allowed us to store clothes at their Redhills headquarters.”

 

Since October 2014, Durham Unite Community, which in November 2013 opened a joint UNITE/DMA Community centre that provides welfare support and skills courses, has assisted another local group to open the Penshaw Community Clothing Bank. An outreach Durham Unite Community West Rainton Advice Service was also launched in November last year.

 

“We are determined to let claimants know that there is an organisation they can turn to for help and which they can join to fight alongside others to improve society”, said Trevor Bark, chair of the Durham Unite Community branch.

 

•  Pic by Mark Pinder