Here to Help 21/11/02
CHARITIES BACK £150M ATTACK ON HOUSEHOLD POVERTY A NEW ALLIANCE of Britain's leading charities is joining forces with British Gas and social housing providers to create the UK's biggest initiative dedicated to tackling household poverty. Charity partners Gingerbread, Help the Aged, Scope, Save The Children, Family Welfare Association, RNIB, and National Debt Line will be working in a ground breaking partnership with British Gas targeting half a million of Britain's most disadvantaged households.
The £150m Here to HELP programme will run over three years, providing a package of targeted support to lone parent families, older people and disabled people in 500 locations across Great Britain. First to benefit from Here To HELP will be communities in London and the South East, Kent, North East, South West, Wales and Scotland.
As part of the Here To HELP scheme British Gas will offer households practical support from including free insulation services as well as energy efficiency advice to help tackle fuel poverty. The charity partners will offer householders a range of targeted and coordinated support services.
Amanda Ball, Gingerbread's chief executive, representing the initiative's charity partners said: "Here to HELP is corporate support at its best. This innovative partnership will make a real, lasting and tangible difference to the lives of more than a million of Britain's most disadvantaged households".
The pre-Christmas roll-out, prior to the on-set of the cold weather, may help stem a further rise in ill health and hardship amongst children and their carers and stem the dramatic 10%
rise in unnecessary winter deaths amongst older people. ` continues
Amanda Ball added: "All the charities are really excited to be working together with the Here to HELP programme, responding to urgent needs across the whole community and easing the worries of the most vulnerable this winter and in the year ahead."
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Notes to editors
Family Welfare Association provides support to some of the poorest families in the country.
As part of the Here to HELP programme FWA's grant service will provide energy efficient fridges and freezers to low income households referred by EAGA. Contact Helen Dent 020 7241 7601
Gingerbread is the leading support charity for lone parent families providing a range of community based and national support services. With one family in four now headed by a lone parent these are some of the most disadvantaged families in the UK. As part of the Here to HELP programme Gingerbread will set up lone parent family self help support groups and provide access to the Gingerbread Advice Line, offering specialist confidential information and advice. Contact Amanda Ball 020 7488 7300 ext 212, mobile 07957 245712 or Margaret Creear 020 7488 7300 ext 208 mobile 07957 243173.
Help the Aged - has a vision of a future where older people are highly valued, have lives that are richer and voices that are heard. Help the Aged campaigns with and on behalf of the UK's 11.1 million older people. Help the Aged also provides advice, information and practical support to help older people live independent lives. As part of the Here to HELP programme Help the Aged will deliver their HandyVan service where available, installing home security equipment in the homes of vulnerable older people, offer SeniorLink units, enabling access to personal immediate response telephone service available 24 hours a day 365 days a year, and provide access to SeniorLine, a free and confidential telephone service offering welfare advice for older people and their carers. Contacts : Julia Coverdale, 020 7239 1933
Royal National Institute for the Blind is the leading charity offering practical support and advice to anyone with a sight problem. As part of the Here to HELP programme RNIB will offer support tailored to the individual circumstances of each person. Known as the Quality of Life check the support offered will range from advice on how to perform day-to-day tasks more easily through to welfare rights and home safety and security. Contact press office 020 7391 2223
Save the Children is the UK's leading international children's charity, working to create a better future for children. We work in around 70 countries across the world, including the UK, tackling poverty and opening up opportunities so that all children can grow up to fulfil their potential. As part of the Here to HELP programme Save the Children will be working in local communities with children and young people to develop and promote practical initiatives to tackle child poverty. Contact Damian Wilson, 020 7716 2280
Scope is a national disability organisation whose focus is people with cerebral palsy. Our aim is that disabled people achieve equality: a society in which they are as valued and have the same human and civil rights as everyone else. In 2002 Scope celebrates its 50th Anniversary. The charity was formed in 1952 by three parents and a social worker to fight for better opportunities and services for people with cerebral palsy and associated impairments.
As part of the Here to HELP programme Scope and Capability Scotland will offer disabled people advice, information and assistance The two charities' expertise in the field of disability, and their huge body of local and national knowledge, ensure that a menu of financial, emotional and practical support is offered to disabled people across England, Wales and Scotland. Help in securing education opportunities for children and young people, support for disabled adults in obtaining and retaining work and assistance in daily living are just a few examples of the services on offer. Contact David Crook, Scope Corporate Partnerships, on 020 7619 7281