Blog: Families will struggle this winter. Please help them.

Scottish families are struggling this winter. The cost of living has never been higher, and children are paying the price.

Across Scotland, children are going without the basics: things most of us take for granted.

We are acting now to help families in poverty. We have recently highlighted the injustice of school meal debt in partnership with The Scottish Sun.

Now we have launched our winter Poverty Relief Fundraising Campaign. This will raise funds for our national Urgent Assistance Fund which provides emergency grants for struggling families.

Our emergency cash grants are a lifeline. They enable families who have nowhere else to turn to get the basics needed to feed and clothe their children. They provide beds and bedding for children as well as heating and lighting for their homes.

In a country as rich as ours, no family should go without the essentials for life. No child should go without a warm house, food and a bed. It’s just not right.

Families tell us what it is like to live in poverty in 21st century Scotland. One mum supported by Aberlour describes how poverty makes her feel:
“It’s been really hard having to sit in the dark with the kids if my electricity’s cut off or you’re freezing. As a parent you just feel like a failure. You feel like what have I done so wrong that I can’t afford to give my kids better food or have to go without electricity. It’s just horrible.”

Laura, another mum Aberlour supports said: “I don’t feed myself, I only put enough on for the wee ones and there’s not enough for me, so I don’t eat.”
We must help these families now before it is too late.

We know that:

Almost half of the families who apply to our Urgent Assistance Fund don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

We know that parents are often going without meals in order to feed their children. One mother we support told us she skips meals up to three days a week to ensure that her daughter is fed. Missing breakfast and lunch while her daughter is at school so as not to upset her.

Our fund will give families the cash they need to feed themselves.

More than 50% of the families who apply to the fund need clothing for their children.

Families need our emergency fund to get warm winter jackets for their children. They need help to buy school shoes and uniforms so that their children can go to school without being stigmatised.

Our fund will give families the cash they need to keep their children warm and dry in the winter.

20% of the families who apply to the fund don’t have a bed for their children.

We hear of children sleeping on the floor on mattresses, often without proper bedding. How can a child do well at school if they haven’t had a good sleep?

Our Fund will give families the cash they need to ensure their children get a good night’s sleep and are ready for school.

Last winter Aberlour was flooded with applications from families in need for our emergency fund. Due to the high demand, we launched our “Poverty Relief” campaign and as a result. Aberlour helped over 1,000 families, providing much needed relief to children living in poverty.

Upon receiving support one mum said: “I’m stuck in this rut and without financial support from people like Aberlour, I don’t know what I would do. Sometimes I feel like I’m in a hole and I can see the ladders, but I can’t reach them, but with Aberlour’s support I feel like I can start to get out.”

This winter, we continue to face the biggest cost of living crisis in recent memory. More and more families are turning to us for help. But because of this soaring demand, our Urgent Assistance Fund is going to run out of money by Christmas when it’s needed most.

That’s why Aberlour is asking you, if you can, to support Scottish children in desperate need this winter by donating to our Poverty Relief Appeal today.

David Grant

Director of Growth and Marketing

This article was written for The Scottish Sun and published on Wednesday 15th November 2023.