News / Cost of living
Crisis support charity launches new programme
A crisis support charity which temporarily paused its services earlier in the year due to funding problems has launched a new programme in response to the cost-of-living crisis.
The Matthew Tree Project’s Rebuilding Lives Plus programme seeks to address the underlying causes of poverty while providing food aid and energy support.
The programme is run from Matthew Tree’s Holistic Support Hub on Filwood Broadway in Knowle West, which is where the charity is currently only operating from.
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Due to a “significant” reduction of funding, the charity paused its services in May – but resumed these for existing clients in July and new ones in September.
But to reduce operation costs, the charity has had to close its satellite centres in Cadbury Heath, St Jude’s and Brislington – and stop the home delivery of food aid.
The Matthew Tree Project, which was founded in 2010, has launched a new programme in response to the cost-of-living crisis – photo: Charlie Watts
The charity has however started a new Citizen Voice Group, who come together to discuss what challenges people are facing and potential changes to Rebuilding Lives Plus.
The programme, an “enhanced” version of the previous Rebuilding Lives programme, was formed as a result of the Citizen Voice Group, which is made up of current and ex-clients.
Matthew Tree CEO and founder Mark Goodway said: “The ‘pause’ [in services] afforded the charity the time and capacity to explore ways to significantly reduce operational costs whilst consulting more deeply with its client group to understand better what kind and level of service support is most needed going forward, given the extreme challenges so many are facing due to the ‘cost-of-living-catastrophe’ that is unfolding in the UK.”
Before its temporary closure, the charity was providing essential crisis support to some 600 vulnerable people and distributing the food equivalent of around 9,000 meals each week.
Charlie Watts is reporting on Knowle West as part of Bristol24/7’s community reporter scheme, a project which aims to tell stories from areas of Bristol traditionally under-served by the mainstream media
Main photo: The Matthew Tree Project
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