Financial advice specialist and broadcaster Martin Lewis has donated £500,000 to a national project supporting foodbank users.
Mr Lewis’s donation to the Trussell Trust, which runs a network of more than 420 foodbanks across the UK, will go towards money management advice as part of the charity’s “More than Food” programme, addressing some of the underlying causes of food poverty.
He said: “The hope is that this scheme will provide a financial equivalent of ‘give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’.
“I’ve been campaigning for financial education in schools for years. Finally that starts on the curriculum in September, but that still leaves great swathes of our society, especially some of the most needy, struggling with even the basics of money management.”
Mr Lewis added: “Those who go to foodbanks are already open to asking for help. They’ve rightly prioritised the urgent need to feed themselves and their children.
“If we can intervene at that point to start to get their financial lives back on track by approachable, non-judgemental help, it will hopefully cut down the number of return visits.”
Trussell Trust chief executive David McAuley said that in pilot schemes, “people struggling with housing payments, redundancy or illness whilst on a low income were helped by advisers to have the confidence to tackle their finances and turn their
lives around.
“We’re very grateful to Martin for his extremely generous donation and look forward to working with more foodbanks to extend the pilot.”
