The Vicar of St Peter’s de Beauvoir has urged locals to come to the church for support and said “there’s no stigma” in turning to places of worship for help.
As the cost-of-living crisis soars and winter deepens, the church is seeing more people ask for food and has responded to the situation with a new initiative, ‘Warm Wednesdays’.
Father Simon Cuff said: “People have been coming and asking for food and normally we can give them pasta and baked beans and they’re now refusing that and saying ‘can we have a sandwich’ because they can’t afford to heat it … so that’s been the biggest change I think.”
“We’re seeing the impact of rising energy bills.”
‘Warm Wednesdays’ at St Peter’s Church, De Beauvoir, will run every Wednesday from 7 December, 10am – 5pm.
People will be able to enjoy a free soup lunch from 12pm and join in with board games, bingo and watching films. There will also be free WiFi available.
The church hopes that it will provide a warm space to help locals save money on their heating bills and bring the community together while having fun.
Fr Simon said: “We knew we could open the church building, we knew we could make some spaces available and we didn’t need to hire out, we knew we could therefore have a building that was warm … and we knew we could fundraise to have the heating on.”
“Hopefully it might grow into something that has come out of the cost-of-living crisis but actually is more than that.”
