‘A LOT MORE PEOPLE ARE HERE FOR HELP NOW’
With the rising cost of living causing many to struggle, Lidl is supporting the charities who are helping the vulnerable
The staff of the Lifehouse centre in Portsmouth would love to help everyone who needs it, but they know it isn’t possible. “There’s a lot of vulnerable people out there,” says manager Mike Morell.
What the charity does is still impressive, giving out 500 food parcels a month, with around 25 a week being delivered to vulnerable people who cannot make it into the building. It also offers a full cooked breakfast on Wednesdays and an evening meal on Thursdays.
The centre is open three days a week and also provides rooms for meetings, free Wi-fi to help with job applications or benefits, a range of donated clothes and household items and visits from hairdressers and footcare specialists.
Meanwhile, the cost of living is rising sharply. “We have a lot more people coming to the door for food parcels now,” says Mike. “They’re starting to queue outside in the morning. When benefits are paid monthly people start to run out of money around week three or four.”
To meet this growing demand, LifeHouse has looked to businesses for support and donations. “Lidl has been great,” says Mike. “It has the donation boxes at the front of the supermarket, but it’s also very good at giving us things from the back, like multipacks that have been split up, or mislabelled produce.”
The supermarket chain is working with Neighbourly, a platform that connects local businesses with charities in their area. A fund of £500,000 has been set up by Lidl, which is accessible to the network of charities that currently collect food from Lidl GB stores to give to those in need.
And thanks to a grant from Lidl, Lifehouse has been able to get a new door for its centre. “The old one had been boarded over – it was basically just a sheet of wood,” says Mike. The new door is much more secure and it is also wider, which improves accessibility for users in wheelchairs or with prams.
The grant awarded by Lidl means Lifehouse and other charities like it can continue to give support to the people who need it. And Lidl shoppers can know they are spending their money with a retailer who cares about their community.