we know that illegal lending is going on across all our communities, and we re always concerned in a cost of living issue that this has potential to grow. and certainly in areas where there might be some deprivation, we ve seen illegal lenders operating who exploit. this is just one estate where loan sharks have been befriending and then exploiting people struggling with the cost of living. in stradbroke, in sheffield, it s an ongoing problem that s causing misery. we ve had illegal moneylenders on the estate for as long as i can remember. it s quite an easy trap to get into. you ve got nowhere else to go. so where would you get money from? if you really skint and you need money, you ve got no choice. if you re really skint and you need money, you ve got no choice. helen is part of the link community hub on this estate, a charity helping with food parcels, counselling and debt advice. things are difficult here. at the moment, poverty is overwhelming. it overwhelms us.
breakfast at the school gates is just the first sign of the work ingle primary is doing to help this community survive. go straight into your coats off and i ll hang it up for you, ok? as the children head into the classroom, one of the staff is keeping busy in the kitchen, preparing food parcels, and sometimes even hot meals, for families who need them. school generally wouldn t have been the first point of call for many people. now, they re coming to us, they re asking for help with uniforms, meals, shoes, winter coats, those kind of things. the need for christmas presents, those kind of things we ve had so many more requests, it s becoming an almost everyday occurrence. teaching assistant katie knows only too well the challenges that families here are facing. she s had to accept help from the school herself. they know when i m struggling,
school being asked to do? well, we have been seeing obviously a decline in the amount of money that people have got in their pockets. that has meant that we have had to step up and we have had to provide things like food and clothing, support generally to other parents. we do food parcels, we have done christmas food which we cooked off so they could just microwave at home because a lot of people don t have the money to put on the electricity meters to use their cookers and such. we do donations to the families and we try to support them wherever we can because we know how tough it is because we are suffering financially on our budget as well. emma, you have got two kids and you are learning it is ok to reach out and ask for help. of course it is. i mean, the school are fantastic. they have helped me immensely with washing, food parcels, they do hot meals twice a week which we have used because even though i am working and my partner works, it doesn t necessarily mean you will have ext
the most pressing need, followed by food. i the most pressing need, followed by food.- the most pressing need, followed by food. i don t know how many followed by food. i don t know how many of followed by food. i don t know how many of our followed by food. i don t know how many of our viewers - how many of our viewers remember that i certainly do, we spoke tojust remember that i certainly do, we spoke to just a few weeks ago at a time when you and your communities were battling pretty heavy rains and flooding then, too. just how much harder does this make the rescue and relief effort, given what you are faced with now?- relief effort, given what you are faced with now? yes, we were only are faced with now? yes, we were onlyjust are faced with now? yes, we were onlyjust getting - are faced with now? yes, we were onlyjust getting to - are faced with now? yes, we | were onlyjust getting to their families that didn t come to the evacuation centres, so we were just getting to the
effort now given what you are pleased with? we effort now given what you are pleased with? effort now given what you are pleased with? we were only ust caettin to pleased with? we were only ust getting to the i pleased with? we were only ust getting to the family s pleased with? we were only ust getting to the family s that h getting to the family s that did not come to the evacuation centres which is getting to them. a lot of people especially families here it is hard to ask for help so we were getting a lot of those families that had been flooded and they were turning up to our evacuation sites really for food parcels, but when they were presented they were covered in brushes from waterborne bacteria from still living in the homes that were flooded. so we were just trying to kind of immobilized towards the house response and now this has happened. and so it is a good thing that we still have our state of emergency, because we are prepared this time around. so we have these