ELBA & BIG Alliance’s response to the cost of living crisis

Written by Stanley Shepherd, Challenge:ELBA Senior Project Manager

The cost of living crisis has had a detrimental impact on the lives of millions of people in the UK. Inflation has reached a 41-year high; 3 million households have been unable to afford to heat their home, with 1 in 5 households saying they have already faced a ‘heat or eat’ dilemma. ELBA and BIG Alliance are looking to ease the pressure on the east London community through our response, focused on six key issues:

1. Food
2. Care for children
3. Energy costs
4. Essential items
5. Warmth & social contact
6. Digital exclusion

Food
We have helped organise a huge number of Team Challenges at several east London foodbanks and homeless charities, where volunteers have helped out in a variety of ways from sorting donations, to taking part in supermarket sweeps and cooking hot meals for those in need.

We are also encouraging office drives, with over 1,100 items already donated by our partners to foodbanks we work with closely.

Care for children
Over 17,000 toys were donated to over 105 community organisations in east London and Islington that work with children, many of whom would not have otherwise received a gift at Christmas. Find out more here.

Energy costs & essential items
We asked our community partners what their service users needed. The answer is simple:

Help with energy bills
Join our new drive to create energy credits for the most hard-pressed families by donating as a company or individual direct to ELBA or via our Just Giving pages.

A big thank you to Linklaters, who have donated £10,000 towards the energy credits response. ELBA have matched this from donations associated with the annual toy appeal. Our target is to double these amounts with the help of our business supporters.

Household Essentials
Our 3 strand approach, ‘Keep warm, Keep Clean, Help with Baby,’ allows business supporters to get involved and support through raising funds and buying items identified by the community partners for their service users.

1. Keeping warm – blankets, duvets. sleeping bags
2. Keeping clean – hygiene packs for children and adults; household cleaning items
3. Helping with baby – nappies, wipes, food for older infants and associated items

ELBA will ensure all donations reach a family or individual in need. –  www.justgiving.com/campaign/elbacostoflivingappealessentials

Warmth & Social Contact
Our first warm hub event was a huge success. Members of St Luke’s Over 50s Club met with volunteers from Linklaters for a fun-filled day. For some of the members, events such as these are the only time they get to socialise and leave the house, so this really does make a huge difference. A big thank you to Linklaters, who were generous enough to not only host at their central office but also cater for the session and cover travel costs. ELBA is keen to keep these warm hubs going as the cold months continue and is looking for businesses to host in their offices.

Digital exclusion
Since the start of 2022, we have supported over 450 young people in east London with computer kits to use at home, thanks to the Learn at Home scheme run by the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

We have upcycled and donated over 550 laptops, tablets and desktop PCs and we are also involved in the National Data & Device Bank as part of the Good Things Foundation’s network of local community organisations, where we are in the process of distributing 16 refurbished smartphones and free data packages.

We are continuing to look at ways we can support the east London & Islington community and with your support, we can make a difference, big or small to those struggling in our local community. For more information or to express interest in supporting ELBA’s cost of living response, please contact info@elba-1.org.uk.

To stay up to date with the latest news, opportunities and success stories, please sign up to receive our monthly newsletter, here.