East of England Co-op has donated more than £22,000 to support people in its trading area who are facing fuel poverty.
The retail society is donating £9,000 to the Surviving Winter appeals organised by the Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex Community Foundations, and a further £13,400 to 25 foodbanks in the county – money which local residents will be able to use to top up their gas or electricity meters in store.
An estimated 13.6% of households in England experienced fuel poverty in 2020 – the equivalent to 3.16 million homes – and the problem will worsen with energy costs set to rise by more than 50% in April.
Niall O’Keeffe, joint CEO of the co-op, said: “It is thanks to the generous support of our members and customers that we’ve been able to make these donations to organisations across the East of England. No one should have to face going home to a cold house, but sadly that is the case for many people living in our local communities.”
Organisations receiving support include the Great Yarmouth Foodbank in Norfolk, whose trustee and secretary Tricia Slade said: “We are currently supporting more than 30 families in fuel poverty and this donation will go a long way to helping them pay for energy and put food on the table.
“The impact that these cost-of-living increases are having on people cannot be underestimated; those who were already on the breadline have had to cut down even further. For many of the people we work with, it really is a case of having to choose between eating or putting the heating on.”
The co-op’s donation of £13,400 to foodbanks has been made possible thanks to the generosity of its members and customers, through both cash donations received in store and the purchase of their Foodbank Donation Card during the festive period.
Click here to read more about East of England’s work on food justice.
