Crowdfunding campaign launched in Brighton to help charity affected by cost of living crisis

We are all affected personally by the rise in the cost of living but charities are also experiencing difficulty because of this. St. Luke’s Advice Service provides debt and benefit advice to some of the most vulnerable in Brighton and Hove and has seen a massive increase in demand for their help. Alongside this they’ve also seen a rise in their own costs and a reduction in the amount of discretionary grant funding they receive as grant making bodies are also being squeezed financially.

To combat this they have launched a crowdfunding campaign with the support of the Aviva Community Fund who will match every donation up to £250. The campaign is live until the middle of June and the first two weeks have seen almost £10,000 raised which means they can continue to support anyone from the city who comes to them for advice.

People like Marlena who came to the charity because her benefits had been stopped and she was struggling to afford food. The charity got her some emergency supermarket vouchers and helped her appeal the decision about her benefits resulting in them being re-instated.

Tom came to the charity with multiple debts and an adviser determined that the best solution for him was to declare bankruptcy. Sadly he wasn't able to pay the £680 fee that is required to go bankrupt but the charity was able to find a funder who was able to pay that fee, wiping out Tom's £24,000 of debt.

Caroline struggled to fill in the complicated forms she needed to get benefit that she was due and so was rejected by the Department for Work and Pensions. St. Luke's Advice Service appealed that decision for her and got that decision reversed along with a back payment of benefit owed of £9,000.

The charity helped over 800 people in need last year winning £1.3million of additional benefit for residents of Brighton and Hove. They have an 85% success rate supporting clients through the appeals process and specialise in assisting those with mental health issues.

You can read more about the campaign and see a short video about the work and make a donation on this link avivacommunityfund.co.uk/p/stlukesadvice