It was difficult to find too much to talk about this week from the Chancellors Autumn statement which most commentators have labelled unexciting. However, hidden in there was a bit of a helping hand for the North with a £556m funding pot for local enterprise partnerships across the north along with the promise of an upgrade to the A66 heading over to Cumbria. This area needs some infrastructure investment so this is a promising sign. There was also a cut in corporation tax and monies for new homes so hopefully this will give a welcome boost to the local economy this winter.
While the Chancellor has been giving business a helping hand, we at Jacksons have been providing support for the charitable initiative Helping Homeless Women, North East. This is a collection service for homeless women in the region, set up by Newcastle based Gill Minto two years ago, whereby people fill an old handbag with gifts for a homeless woman including gloves, soap and toiletries. I had an interesting conversation last weekend on this with my daughter who recently returned from India when we talked about poverty in the third world and on our own doorstep. We are all shocked by the extreme deprivation we see on the television in other countries but often fail to notice or ignore that on our own doorstep.
The government is busy talking about JAM families, but clearly there are many in our communities who do not meet this basic standard of living. When we decided to support Helping Homeless Women, North East this Christmas, there was some discussion in the office as to the emphasis of our campaign and I have to admit to being one who didn’t want to focus in too strongly for an office promotion on “women’s needs”. Having talked about this though, I feel rather ashamed because if women do not use the opportunities presented to them to highlight the needs of other women in our community, then who will. I am therefore nailing my colours to the mast and spelling out one of the items these poor women need, more than any other, are sanitary products which cannot be obtained as essentials on prescription. For any woman not to have access to such necessities is a terrible thing and, without being feminist or political, we need to understand this is happening in our own country, in our own backyard and do what we can to assist. I do not therefore apologise for using this forum to discuss this and hope that you will support us in this campaign by finding a handbag and filling it with some essential toiletries this Christmas for someone living nearby who cannot afford them. If you would like us to deliver your items to the organisers of this campaign for you then please drop off your donations to Jacksons office, either in Newcastle or Stockton no later than Thursday 8th December.
It is not just the Chancellor who has the power to give a helping hand we can all do so in one way or another.
