Just over a month ago, we launched the Guardian and Observer’s annual charity appeal in a mood of rage and despair. How could it be, I wrote, that in one of the world’s wealthiest countries, millions of people were forced to skip meals because they couldn’t afford food, or were sitting freezing at home because they were too scared to switch the heating on.
Our aim was to raise money for grassroots charities providing a lifeline to those households hit hardest by the cost of living crisis. Heating or eating: which one would you choose? That was the blunt question we asked in our appeal adverts. We didn’t know how the appeal would work out – after all, many potential donors would understandably be feeling the pinch this year.
I’m delighted to say our readers have responded in heartfelt and generous fashion. With just a few days to go before the appeal closes, 11,000 have already donated, and the current total stands at more than £1.3m. It is possible that, with your help, and a late surge in giving, we will raise more than £1.5m, which would make it our most successful appeal for five years.
The money you raise will go, via our two charity appeal partners, Locality and Citizens Advice, to local voluntary groups rooted in some of the UK’s most deprived communities. There, they provide a practical, empathetic and expert response to the fresh tide of hunger, poverty, debt, social isolation and mental stress that has crashed over those neighbourhoods in recent months.
Many of you told us you had given to the appeal because you shared our outrage at a decade of government policy that had left these communities especially exposed to soaring energy and food prices, injustice and suffering. Many of you were inspired by our appeal reports – not least the Anywhere But Westminster film These Are The People Holding Britain Together – which demonstrated the passion and commitment of our partner charities.
As John Harris said in Anywhere But Westminster, we set out not just to document suffering but also to “tell hopeful stories about amazing people doing amazing things to hold their communities together”.
There is still time to give. The appeal closes at midnight on Sunday. The more we raise, the more grassroots groups we can help to fund. Our thanks to those of you who have already donated and to those we hope to persuade to give: what started in a spirit of rage ends, instead, in a spirit of hope.