Good Company received a boost to our End Poverty Pledge campaign after Councillor Bernie Muir as Chair signed the pledge on behalf of Surrey’s Health and Wellbeing Board, which is comprised of senior representatives from the NHS, social care, councils and voluntary sector organisations. The Board is committed to reducing the stark health inequalities in communities, with differences in life expectancy of ten years or more between the least and most deprived parts of the county.
The End Poverty Pledge campaign encourages individuals, businesses and organisations to commit to doing what they can to help end poverty in Surrey: from paying contractors in good time, to taking steps to becoming a Living Wage Employer or training frontline staff in poverty awareness.
Cllr Muir commented: ‘I am delighted to have signed the Good Company’s End Poverty Pledge on behalf of the Health and Well-being Board. As a Surrey-wide strategic board, we will focus on helping organisations identify all those in or at risk of poverty, work with those individuals and communities to shape the support offered and deliver it together’
Board member organisations will be challenging each other to change the way they do things, so all their decision-making takes account of the financial pressures individuals and families are experiencing.
Cllr Muir continued: ‘We know there are lots of initiatives already being delivered to tackle poverty in Surrey; we need to join them up to maximise their impact, so that we deliver on the mission of our Health and Well-being Strategy – that no-one is left behind’
Good Company’s hope is that individuals, businesses and organisations will follow this example, take the pledge, create a groundswell of action and help to reduce the demand for foodbanks, which has doubled in recent years, due to the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis.
Jonathan Lees, founder and Managing Director of Good Company says:
“Each year we support between 3,000 and 4000 people who are struggling and living in poverty. The more we can do together for those in our community that could be experiencing financial hardship, debt, mental health struggles or other complexities of poverty, the more effective we can be in seeing an end to foodbanks and beating poverty in our community. Do get involved, and sign up to the End Poverty Pledge because we believe, together, we can make a difference.”
If you’re an individual, business or local organisation and agree that –
- Everyone in our community should be able to afford life’s essentials
- Those struggling financially should receive respect and compassion
- It’s up to all of us, as a community, to help tackle poverty
– sign up to the pledge on our website today
