Suffer the Little Children

The UK is the sixth richest nation in the world UK so you’d think that poverty, particularly child poverty, had long ago been banished; something that we only read about in Victorian novels?

Wrong! Today!! 4.5 million children are living in poverty in this country and things are expected to get worse. Difficult to believe?

Don’t take my word for it – Just read the article below; it makes uncomfortable reading.

So what can we do about it?

Clearly the root causes of child poverty can only be addressed by our Government. But we can; raise this issue with our local MPs, start a petition or support an existing one – there are a number of online platforms which facilitate individual raising petitions, write directly to the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary, the Health Minister, write to local or national newspapers.

Locally we can support; food banks, clothing banks, charity shops to name but a few.

At All Saints, working with other churches under the umbrella of ‘Heanor Cornerstone’ we are planning to offer meals to all families in the Heanor area that have a child eligible for free school meals, during the February 2026 half term. That might not seem like much but this could take the pressure off as many of 1,000 families at a miserable time of year and when other costs are often at their greatest.

Can you help? – if you’d like to make a financial contribution towards this initiative or would be able to help in preparation and distribution during the February half term week please contact us for more details.