Cost of living: 'We run food banks, now we're keeping people warm'

Despite government intervention, fuel bills are set to rise and many councils and community organisations are setting up "warm banks" to help people this winter. In Norfolk there is funding - and a request for people to offer centres to become "community hot spots", such as the Baseline Centre in Norwich.

Grace Richardson from Future Projects, which runs the Baseline Centre, says: "When we're talking about a warm bank who ever would have thought that even last year?

"We've been running food banks for a long time and now were talking about keeping people warm and helping them cutting down on their own costs at home."

She says the situation is "very desperate", with people "already struggling with the increased costs up until the end September, let alone what's happening in October".

"It was only a few weeks ago I had someone in tears worrying because they had put £40 in their pre-payment meter and it had all just gone away," she says.

"He has two children with special needs and the extra electricity and washing it entails to take care of those children he just can't help the amount of electricity being sucked out of his meter.

"We keep talking about the cost of living crisis as though it's a temporary time and there is light at the end of the tunnel.

"I'm not sure we can see any light at the moment."

Mike Easter is one of the people who comes to the centre after it was recommended by a friend.

He says: "I thought I needed some help and saw one of the ladies here and said 'I feel really embarrassed and ashamed but I need some help I'm struggling big time' and they've been helping me ever since.

"I come up here for company, I'm all on my own and life's a bit tough. I can come here, have a chat, have a cup of tea and laugh and a joke."

The retired 57-year-old visits the centre four or five days a week and says: "I don't have the heating on at home."

"I don't know how I would be alive because they have helped me a lot and I was down as low as you can get", he says.

Tia Risby, who also visits the Norwich centre, says her energy company told her that her bills would almost double from November.

"How am I going to pay for that, I have no idea what I am going to do, it's a bit of struggle," she says.

She believes warm banks or community hot spots are a good idea and will also help people who are isolated to socialise.

But the 30-year-old adds: "It is bit ridiculous, it is nice the community is coming together, on the other hand people want to spend their Christmas [time] at home, at the moment, how things are going, you can't have that."

Ms Risby says with a two-year-old, she has to keep her home warm but "I've only got three storage heaters on, I daren't turn any more on".

"I can see it getting worse, but everything gets worse before it gets better, so you've got look at the positive," she says.

Laura Wigby, from Norfolk Community Foundation, who are providing the funding for the community hot spots, says they will be "a warm venue, or a pub or cafe, where voluntary and community group come together to provide a warm space".

"It'll bring people together to do activities, to stay warm and stay connected to others and have some social time," she says.

She says the charity want to have a hot spot "somewhere most people who live in the county [can] get to" and will also help fund community transport for rural areas.

"There are people who are lonely, there are people who are struggling, it's important we can give funding out to enable some activities to go on," she says.

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