Worthy charity reveals harsh reality of poverty happening here in Yorkshire: Bird Lovegod

Acts435 has a well designed website that’s pretty self explanatory. They have partners, churches and other small charities, who post needs on the site on behalf of the people they support. Needs include utility bills, the purchase of fridges, freezers, and ovens, and the carpeting of homes. I can very much relate to these as authentic needs, given my own experience in this space.

Also being funded are skip hire to clear gardens lost under years of rubbish, GP letters to be given to the family courts at £30 each, a bed and mattress, a wardrobe, an air fryer for an elderly person, a mobile phone for an asylum seeker, a dehumidifier for a family in a mouldy flat.

And so the list goes on, and in doing so, describes the banality of UK poverty, including here in Yorkshire.

We can then donate to these specific needs, which typically require between £100 and £200 to fulfil, £200 being the maximum that can be requested. But it’s true, and sad, that £200 in the right place can be transformative.

It’s crowdfunding, on a very targeted micro scale, but the impacts are life changing. One mother who had carpets laid in her otherwise bare floored home testifies to the effect in the impact stories section.

It’s moving, and pitiful, and true, that some carpeting changed her life, yet it has, and does, and will do for others.

We have no idea what poverty is like until we’ve been unable to have friends over, or to allow the children to have friends over, because the house has no carpets and feels more like a garage than a home.

For donors, 100 per cent of their donation goes to the project they’re funding, which raises the question of how the organisation funds itself.

This is answered in their Q&A, they use the gift aid from applicable donations, the extra 25p on each £1 donated by taxpayers. They also run a very tight ship I think, with no costly fundraisers employed, so it’s good to give them a little helpful publicity.

Importantly, the Acts435 partners ensure the funds are used correctly and truthfully. I can attest through my own experience that there are a lot of people for whom spinning a tale of hardship is part and parcel of their unfortunate lifestyle.

Drug addicts, gambling addicts, these need to be weeded out because supporting them financially is equivalent to digging them a deeper hole. Been there and done that. As has everyone who gives money to street beggars.

If, like me, you are compassionate and have a tendency to trust people, and a desire to help them, I strongly recommend giving via Acts435.org.uk rather than giving ‘change’ to street beggars who are definitely going to spend it on hard drugs. We have to love with discernment, which as well as saying Yes to some means saying No to others.

Acts435 have been going for 14 years, in which time they have helped over 50,000 people. I feel my penance will be complete when I’ve made a donation. Done.

Bird Lovegod is a business consultant and Christian commentator