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grannygas

As an over 70 year old I am very conscious that in many ways we are very lucky.    In particular in contrast to the working population  we have guaranteed income from our pensions.  I know that very many pensioners do struggle financially but I think there are also many like us that have enough money to enjoy our lives.  At the moment when we can't go out to spend,  many of us will have more than we need.  We are not allowed to go out to provide physical help, even for our grandchildren,  at the moment but we could afford to make donations.  However I would like  to ensure that  such donations are used efficiently and directed to the most needy.  Also I don't want to be the target of scammers.  I am posting on this website because I trust Martin Lewis  and I'm hoping that the users of this forum may have sensible and useful suggestions.To get the ball rolling my suggestion would be that  as food banks are struggling at the moment I did wonder if it would be possible  to include a facility on  all the supermarket online order websites so that as we place an order for ourselves we could also  add a donation to fund food for the needy.  Maybe this is something that if  Martin suggested it the supermarkets would listen.  I'll be interested to see what other ideas you may have

Silvertabby

grannygas said:

As an over 70 year old I am very conscious that in many ways we are very lucky.    In particular in contrast to the working population  we have guaranteed income from our pensions.  I know that very many pensioners do struggle financially but I think there are also many like us that have enough money to enjoy our lives.  At the moment when we can't go out to spend,  many of us will have more than we need.  We are not allowed to go out to provide physical help, even for our grandchildren,  at the moment but we could afford to make donations.  However I would like  to ensure that  such donations are used efficiently and directed to the most needy.  Also I don't want to be the target of scammers.  I am posting on this website because I trust Martin Lewis  and I'm hoping that the users of this forum may have sensible and useful suggestions.To get the ball rolling my suggestion would be that  as food banks are struggling at the moment I did wonder if it would be possible  to include a facility on  all the supermarket online order websites so that as we place an order for ourselves we could also  add a donation to fund food for the needy.  Maybe this is something that if  Martin suggested it the supermarkets would listen.  I'll be interested to see what other ideas you may have

We are in a similar situation, except that as we are in our 60s (and healthy) we can currently do our own shopping.  I do put stuff into the foodbank collection box - but as it is so difficult to get hold of staples such as pasta, UHT milk, beans, etc the box has always been very bare of late.  I've therefore been popping in sanitary protection and pet food.  It all helps.

It's a good idea - but I think on line shopping would have similar problems - ie not enough of the long life stuff that foodbanks prefer.

Savvy_Sue

You could of course send financial help direct to the foodbank. Many of them will also be buying in groceries where stocks are low through donations. Plus they have vans to run in many cases, and hopefully they pay mileage to any volunteers making car deliveries. 

p00hsticks

There are plenty of the major charities who are facing a large additional workload and are appealing for extra funds as a result of this  - examples I've seen are

Crisis - to help the homeless, ensure they have a place to self-isolate etc

https://www.crisis.org.uk/

Shelter - to help those in danger of being evicted (I know the law has been changed so it's not supposed to happen but apparently it is - their current appeal cites the case of a nurse who's landlord doesn't want them to stay because they are scared of catching the virus) and they need more software licenses to enable them to handle the quatity of calls they are getting

https://england.shelter.org.uk/donate

Trussell Trust - foodbanks

https://www.trusselltrust.org/

Misslayed

Hospices rely on donations, their retail shops and sponsored events for their income, ours needs £18,000 a DAY. They have lost most of their income, we donate by direct debit every month and usually ignore pleas for extra donations, but made an exception this time

grannygas

Thank you all for your replies.  I wasn't aware of the Trussell trust so have been able to donate to them now.  Since I wrote  my original post there has been a lot of publicity about hospices needing donations so I have donated to them too  

gentlepurr

Another one here pushing for Hospice donations, they are amazing places and still need vital funds through all of the current crisis. Even if you cant donate a bit extra, maybe think of joining their lottery scheme? xx