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Our Address
Contact:
Pat Burke (Chairman)
Address:
17 Langhouse Place
Inverkip
PA16 0EW
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01475 521808
07801 472081
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Introduction
We promote assistance for those who face daily challenges within our key priority areas of Poverty, Health, Equality and Participation.
Poverty can have a profound impact on the child, their family and the rest of society.
It often sets in motion a deepening spiral of social exclusion creating problems in education, employment, mental and physical health and social interaction.
Child poverty in Inverclyde has a rate of 25% with the area topping the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) listings in April 2023 depicting Greenock as the most impoverished town in Scotland.
The correlation between food poverty and child poverty is evidenced with Inverclyde Foodbank dispensing over 6000 food parcels to beleaguered families in the last year.
Poverty is when your resources are well below your minimum needs.
Persistent poverty is defined as when a household has relatively low income both
Relative poverty used is when people live in a household with a disposable income that falls below 60% of the national median in the current year.
Working poverty is where incomes are below the poverty line due to lack of work hours and/or low wages.
Due to such low wages, those people face numerous struggles such as finding affordable housing, arranging transportation to and from work, buying basic necessities, arranging childcare, having unpredictable work schedules, juggling two or more jobs, and coping with low-status work.
In the last 5 years there has been a significant rise in working poverty caused by stagnant or falling wages for people in below-average paid jobs which offer vulnerable job security evidenced by the rapid growth of the Gig Economy and zero hours contracts.
Welfare benefits cuts and tax credits has greatly disadvantaged households with many seeing some of the welfare safety net being taken away.
The proportion of people in poverty who live in a working family is at a record high.
THE FUTURE
The coronavirus outbreak has triggered unprecedented mass layoffs and furloughs in the midst of the deepest global recession in peacetime.
Many large companies are no longer trading with resultant job losses in their thousands.
In Inverclyde, businesses have lost valued income and some might fail to re-open.
Small family owned business e.g. bakers, butchers and fruit & veg wholesalers who have improvised their normal customer base have been rewarded for their innovation and ability to react to change..
The effects of recession will be most felt by the unemployed and low income workers in job opportunity and an absence of savings to fall back on to provide for their children.
Children who grow up in poverty in Inverclyde are far less likely to do well at school than their better off classmates, seriously harming their future life chances and perpetuating the cycle of poverty.
Indeed, we risk creating a situation where poverty is so stark that children grow up in parallel worlds where rich and poor families have entirely different lifestyles that are poles apart.
OUR PROMISE
No child in our community should feel stigmatised or marginalised because of the impact of poverty.
We will make them feel valued and empowered to participate - on an equal footing - with their more affluent peers in all opportunities available to Inverclyde's children.
By providing holidays for impoverished families in the beautiful scenic location of the Cowal Peninsula, children and families alienated from society through poverty will enjoy great facilities with recreational and outdoor activities where they will be stimulated, energised, laugh and get them interested in life.
We will never be able to completely eradicate poverty but we can try and the impact of trying can bequite incredible and fulfilling.
‘Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity.
It is an act of justice.
It is the protection of a fundamental
human right, the right to dignity and
a decent life .’
Nelson Mandela
Child Poverty In Inverclyde
Quick Facts:
1. 26% of children in Inverclyde are growing up in poverty, compared to the Scotland wide figure of 20%.
2. In half of the wards in Inverclyde over a quarter of children are growing up in poverty.
3. 891 children in Inverclyde live in severe poverty - 11% of all children in the area.
4. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation Index (SIMD)denotes Inverclyde as amongst the most deprived (impoverished) areas in Scotland with a category 1 classification.
Children who grow up in poverty in Inverclyde are far less likely to do well at school than their better off classmates, seriously harming their future life chances and perpetuating the cycle of poverty:
1. 28% of primary school pupils in Inverclyde are eligible for free school meals, compared to a national average of 20%.
2. At age 16, there is a 16% gap in attainment levels between the poorest pupils and their classmates in Inverclyde.
3. 15% of the poorest young people in Inverclyde become unemployed immediately after leaving school.
4. 19% of the poorest young people in Inverclyde go to university, compared to an average of 37% across the Local Authority area.
Why we do what we do:
According to recently published statistics one million Scots are living in poverty, meaning that almost 1 in 5 adults are on the breadline and the problem is getting worse. These figures include 220,000 children, up 30 000 on the previous year.
Six out of 10 children in poverty are from families where at least one adult is employed but exacerbated by low wages and rising costs of living.
Scotlands poorest households have seen the largest decrease in income with the equivalent of £20 a week.
Inverclyde contains a disproportionate number of the poor, the vulnerable and the desperate with. the Foodbank is amongst the busiest in Scotland.
There is an obvious correlation between food poverty and child poverty with latest Save the Children figures reporting that Inverclyde has 24% children in poverty and 1000 children in severe poverty (11%).
Inverclyde is amongst the highest areas for deprivation in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) statistics.
No child in our community must feel stigmatised or marginalised because of the impact of poverty. Children from poor families will, as a consequence of our organisation's purpose and activities, feel valued and be empowered to participate - on an equal footing - with their more affluent peers, in all opportunities available to Inverclyde's children.
Poverty can have a profound impact on the child, their family, and the rest of society. It often sets in motion a deepening spiral of social exclusion, creating problems in education, employment, mental and physical health and social interaction.
Our charity, incorporated and registered by OSCR in January 2014, aims to assist in the alleviation of poverty on these impoverished families by providing support through donated new clothing, educational books and toys.
However, our main thrust is in the provision of holidays for Inverclyde families in poverty to the beautiful scenic location of Hunters Quay Holiday Park on the Cowal Peninsula.
Here, children and their families will enjoy great facilities with recreational and outdoor activities where they can feel stimulated,energised, laugh and get them interested in life.
There should not be people living with nothing, in destitution, in a country as prosperous as Scotland.
There should not be parents going without food to feed and clothe their children.
There should not be almost 24% of children in in Inverclyde who likely will not have a holiday,
will not be clothed properly and who constantly feel marginalised.
Britain is the sixth largest economy in the world with more millionaires than ever, so why have 330,000 food parcels been handed out to hungry children? Inverclyde accounts for over 4000 of these parcels.
It’s time to think
£700 can send a family (2 adults & 4 children) on holiday where all accommodation, travel costs, spending money and shopping vouchers are provided.
This year, we have sent 10 families (22 adults & 38 children) on holiday; our ambition in 2015 is to send over 100 children and their parents.
Please consider your support to these families by visiting our donate page or offer your assistance any way you can.
Together, we can and will make a real difference.
Sincere thanks,
Pat Burke
Chairman (Trustee)