Oxford Friends Action Against Poverty (OxFAP)
Jill Green
This group represents Oxford and Headington Meetings’ response to poverty and inequality in our city. The committee of 8 members, convened by Karima Brooke, distributes funds raised from regular giving by individuals in our meetings. We only give grants in response to requests from organisations (such as the Probation Service, Family Centres, CABx) and their caseworkers, for individuals whose needs they have carefully assessed.
Friends annual giving and related Gift Aid raises about £1,000 per calendar month. This year one-off donations from local Friends, funds allocated by Oxford Meeting as a whole, a donation from Headington Meeting, and £20,000 from an anonymous local family trust allowed us to increase our maximum grant for individuals from £300 to £400 in February.
This was important due to the increasing cost of white goods and our wish to encourage the organisations who apply for grants on behalf of their clients to go for ethical and sustainable options when submitting applications. However, requests for grants, in the current context of a cost-of-living crisis, are increasing all the time.
From 1 January to the present we have allocated a total of £47,674. This presents us with a dilemma that is illustrated well by the sort of requests we receive for help from caseworkers in the city. Notably almost all the applications are for people who are in work, unless prevented by disability. There are families for whom the breakdown of a washing machine or fridge is a disaster. We have funded laptops to enable children to do their homework, clothes for people whose clothes no longer fit, and ID documents to enable people to open a bank account or apply for a job. Still people are being catapulted into debt due to rising food and fuel costs, and it is heartbreaking when one of our boundaries (aside from the slightly easier geographical ones) is that we do not give grants to repay debt. However, we do help organisations that have clients who are applying for Debt Relief Orders.
Now we are hovering on the brink of reducing back our maximum grants for individuals to £300.00 while inflation gathers pace daily.
We realise that everyone is feeling the pinch just now, but we still hope you may be able to find some spare money to give to OxFAP – particularly during our collections in September this year. While one-off donations are always welcome, regular giving is the most helpful.
For details of how to donate please visit oxfordquakers.org, go to the SOCIAL ACTION heading and find various methods of donating to OxFAP there.
Alternatively send a cheque to 43 St Giles OX1 3LW made payable to Oxford Quaker Meeting and please be sure to write ‘OxFAP’ on the back.
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Forty-Three Newsletter • Number 521 • September 2022
Oxford Friends Meeting
43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW
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