How You Alleviated Families This Winter
Sunny days! They’re finally here, lifting our mood, energising our spirits and replenishing our stores of Vitamin D. Time to whip out the t-shirts, bring out the crepe and cotton, slap on the SPF, and stock the freezer with ice-cream. We’re all enjoying the uplifting rays of sunshine this bank holiday weekend, with a sweltering heat-wave to follow in the weeks to come.
With yesterday being the hottest day of the year so far, the freezing Winter that passed us is a distant memory – and perhaps even more faint is the bleak reality it meant for thousands in the UK, including the HHUGS families we work with.
Whilst you’re celebrating the brighter days ahead, we want to celebrate the difference that you made to families this Winter.
As the chill permeated homes, if it had not been for your support, HHUGS mothers would have been forced to choose between ‘heating or eating’ as they struggled to keep up with rising energy bills. With more than 1 million more people having been forced into poverty this winter and with 7 million experiencing fuel poverty, UK deprivation levels were pushed to their highest for two decades. Children in such homes are four times more at risk of developing multiple mental health problems. 38% of people had to skip meals for an entire day because they couldn’t afford to buy enough food.
As the temperatures dropped outside, they prayed for strength and support to make it through of the cold season. As they called out to Allah, you were sent by Him as a means of relief. You seized the opportunity to gain the reward of supporting these families.
Thanks to your generous donations and your fundraising efforts over the Winter months, you raised £43,883 to enable HHUGS families to survive the Winter chill. Your generous support has alleviated the harsh effects of this season. You have helped remove the anxiety around Winter for those who could not afford to protect themselves adequately against it.
HHUGS distributed £219,529 support to families, adults and children this Winter:
- £28,502 in fuel support for 44 families in need.
- £19,767, providing 61 families with clothing vouchers.
- £494 providing 33 families with draught excluders to protect their homes against the chill.
- £767 to maximise energy efficiency for 34 homes by providing radiator reflectors
- £1032 to provide 24 families with heaters
- £1600 to protect 37 families with winter duvets
- £29,756 to shelter 12 families throughout the Winter.
- £102,901 to feed 70 families during the Winter months.
- £34,709 to relieve their debts in this period.
The absence of a father and husband leaves an unimaginable trail of mental, emotional, psychological and financial burdens for a family. These struggles are only exacerbated by the difficulties of the harsh Winter season.
“When their Dad is imprisoned, at the very least you want to provide warm clothing, food and a warm house to comfort your children. My children often fall ill with runny noses without the heating. So for HHUGS to have helped us this winter to keep warm has been such a huge relief. To be able to get fleecy pyjamas and warm bathrobes for the children has helped so much.”
Thanks to your assistance, single mothers could keep their children warm. In the words of our beneficiaries, your support was “life-saving,” “literally a lifeline”. As one mother described, “HHUGS became part of my life. Without them I could not survive.”
With rising fuel costs, and the need to clothe and feed their children, families can be forced to take out loans to cover essential costs. This leads them to be trapped in a never-ending cycle of increasing debt. However, with the support HHUGS during Winter, families are assisted with energy bills, food and clothing vouchers and debt relief, helping to lift the burden of these families.
When families were asked whether the support enabled them to be debt free, 79% scored 8+. You helped break the cycle, and relieved the financial stress of vulnerable families. Our families were overwhelmed with gratitude:
“We are so grateful. We can’t even thank you all enough. The Winter support helped us in the time my family needed it most; we were struggling with debt. The help kept my family and I warm, fed, we didn’t fall into debt. Our hearts are filled with gratitude, our home is warm, our bills are paid.”
We may take for granted the fact we are able to heat our homes. But for many, without your support, they would have been unable to cope.
“HHUGS really helped me at a time when I have barely anything.”
“If it wasn’t for HHUGS, we would have been completely unable to afford any gas or electricity.”
Some mothers were unable to provide even the most basic essentials.
“Without HHUGS, we couldn’t afford clothes.”
The conditions that HHUGS families live in during Winter are often difficult to comprehend. Rising damp, cold air filling children’s bedrooms and duvets too thin and worn to keep bodies warm. Without HHUGS Winter support, many families would find it impossible to survive, with rising energy bills, trying to keep the house warm is a struggle.
“Alhamdulillah, the duvets and radiator helped us immensely this winter. The cost of keeping the house warm was too much. The kids had a warm duvet and sleep patterns improved, without the kids feeling cold all the time.”
When families were surveyed about the quality of support they received in this campaign. 71%, on a scale of 1-10, gave a 10 rating for quality, with all families rating it 8 or above.
98% scored 8+ on scale that our campaign helped keep them warm. 93% said the support “helped massively.”
“This winter was stress-free. My family can pay bills and shopping thanks to HHUGS. I will be forever grateful. I know that I am in safe hands. Whenever I am in need of support, the best charity out there, they always make you feel comfortable and always there to help.”
83% scored 8+ for aiding them through the cost of living crisis and high energy bills. They explained, “We have been struggling very much, HHUGS has put us back on our feet.”
“Without them, only Allah knows how my situation would be.”
“They came to my children and my needs when my benefits were significantly reduced. It was such a small amount of money that we had to live on which made me become in debt. Alhamdulillah with the help of HHUGS it made our lives more easier to bear and not worrying whether to buy food or putting on the heating as well as paying bills.”
The campaign did not only help their physical well-being but made them feel supported psychologically. It meant that they felt “not ignored, not forgotten…supported”
Families were asked to what extent the Winter support, relieved their anxiety and stress. 88% scored the campaign 7 and above, on a scale of 1-10, in alleviating their anxiety. They spoke of the“huge stress relief taken off them” and how the Winter campaign “took away so much of our pain.”
“I was really worried about bills this winter as I am already struggling with the high price. I wouldn’t have made it without the help of HHUGS.”
In a time when they have been abandoned by the community, the support from HHUGS has been a light of hope, restoring their faith in humanity.
“You are the only people who looked after us in our time of need.”
Many families echoed these sentiments.
“HHUGS has always supported me when no one else gave me the support I truly needed. Without HHUGS I wouldn’t have been able to give my children what they required in terms of clothing and food. They lifted a lot of weight off my shoulders.”
Your support has been a reminder to struggling families that they are not alone. For many, it is to such an extent that they consider the charity like family.
“HHUGS is family to us. We can always rely on HHUGS for that support. They are quick to respond unlike the other charities, and help out where they can. HHUGS has been a life support for us.”
The support you have given to HHUGS families has been truly life changing. You have been a beacon of light for them in the dark days of Winter. As one of our families describe:
“I was initially extremely worried about the winter period coming and I was already trying to cut down on spending in the months of winter in order for the kids to not suffer through winter. Then HHUGS contacted me about their Winter Campaign, and, in all honesty, I was astounded by the amount of support we got and was not expecting it at all. It relieved the pressure immensely, as extra bills, winter coats and clothing needed in the cold soon all adds up. It was a much welcome relief for the family.”
When you make that card transaction online, you may not realise the impact of that donation, however great or small. But its effect ripples. Its impact does not go unnoticed by those in this world, as well as being recorded by the angels and reverberating in the Heavens.
“May Allah reward the entire HHUGS team and all the donors that are behind the scenes. I can’t reiterate enough how fundamentally important HHUGS is to families like myself as they are a lifeline for us during some very difficult times. Where a lot of us have been unable to earn an income due to various reasons, and at times, due to no fault of the families, life can become very difficult and the money just isn’t there to get even the basic necessities. Children don’t get the opportunities to be able to achieve the things their peers are achieving due to the lack of income. However, through tireless work that HHUGS have been doing, these families have had much respite through extra support that have been given to them in order to meet everyone’s basic needs alhamdullillah. I ask Allah that all those that have been involved with HHUGS in any capacity for the best of the dunya and akhirah.”
The work of HHUGS is unique. With your assistance this Winter, despite the harsh reality of the world outside, families were able to settle into their homes, warm, secure and safe. Even though Winter was a difficult time for us all to get through, you still dug deep. You ensured those who needed your help were protected in their time of hardship.
“Thank you so much HHUGS. HHUGS, for me and my family, is like the shield on this difficult life after Allah. Thank you, HHUGS, again.”