Teacher George Pointon (29) from Portsmouth, is taking on a dynamic journey to combat child poverty. With 29% of UK children facing economic hardship. George will embark on a mission to complete every day throughout August. One of those challenges is for George to provide a week's worth of food shopping for a family of four through The Roberts Centre in Portsmouth.
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00:00Hi, my name is George Poynton. I'm here at the Roberts Centre today.
00:04And tell me why we're at the Roberts Centre.
00:06So I'm currently in the middle of what I'm calling Challenge 29, which is a charity event that I've set up
00:12where I'm doing 29 challenges over 29 days, and that is in aid of the 29% of children
00:18that are living below the poverty threshold in the UK.
00:21So tell me why you're doing this.
00:24So I'm a teacher by trade, but I've worked in education for a really, really long time
00:29and I've seen firsthand the disparity between those that have and those that have not
00:35and the equity and opportunities of young people if they're living below that poverty threshold
00:40and what that means to them.
00:42And I thought of this great opportunity, I'm working with a company that's helping set this up,
00:46so yeah, it was a no-brainer.
00:48And how does it feel to be taking on this sort of challenge?
00:52It's tough, maybe tougher than I anticipated because there's so much planning and logistical stuff
00:58that goes to it, but ultimately it's nothing in comparison to hopefully what we can raise
01:03and what we can achieve, it will all be worth it.
01:06And tell me about this challenge, this particular challenge today that you've been doing.
01:13So today's challenge was to plan and buy a food shop for a family of four while keeping it at £30.
01:20Really the challenge was to see if it's possible, to see if you're able to meet those difficulties
01:26that families have. I actually didn't, I actually came in over budget because of how hard that challenge was
01:32but we managed to get it here and we managed to get it to the people who really need it.
01:39So we're looking to raise £10,000, we're currently sat at around £3,000
01:43but if people are able to donate, I'm working for four charities but one of them is local,
01:49I wanted to keep it local to me and to my community, so yeah, if people out there are able to donate
01:54then please do.
01:55And how do they do that?
01:56They can do that through the GiveStar app, they can Google Challenge 29 GiveStar,
02:00my page will be on there or it will be on all forms of social media at georgepointon underscore.
02:07I'm Mel Goddard, I'm the CEO here at the Robert Centre in Portsmouth.
02:11Tell me a little bit about the Robert Centre.
02:12So the Robert Centre's been in Portsmouth and the surrounding area for 37 years now.
02:17We support families who are going through any sort of difficulties really,
02:22particularly those who are facing homelessness or are currently living in temporary accommodation
02:28or families that are going through family breakdowns because that's what is very difficult for everyone concerned.
02:33And we also support people who have had to flee their own country because of wars
02:38and young people that have unfortunately been through the care system and need some support
02:43now they're going on into adult life.
02:45So it's those kind of things where people are facing difficult times
02:49and that often comes with the problems of being in a situation of poverty.
02:55So tell me about George's Challenge 29 and what you guys think about it.
03:00Well when he first came to us I was just absolutely blown away with the concept
03:04of 29 challenges for 29% of children living in poverty.
03:08And we know during the time that he's been planning that the number's actually going up
03:13which is the sad side to this.
03:16But I thought it was great that children were actually choosing the challenges for him as well
03:20because that puts them right at the centre of what he's doing.
03:23But I think poverty, people often just think of no finances
03:27but actually it's everything that comes with poverty.
03:30It's that not being able to eat, not having heating, not having the same opportunities as everybody else.
03:37Children who might be living out of boxes in temporary accommodation,
03:41they can't have their friends back so they don't get involved in their peer groups.
03:45They're not able to afford to go to those enrichment activities that are after school
03:50and often get bullied.
03:52Unfortunately it affects both their physical and their mental health
03:56and their life chances going forward.
03:59So poverty is not to be underestimated.
04:03It has a huge impact on children and the whole family and the next generation.
04:09So tell me, like George's challenge and other challenges,
04:15how important is that to people like yourselves at the Robb Centre?
04:20I think it's twofold.
04:22One is it's fantastic that it's raising funds for us
04:25because like a lot of charities at the moment, we're actually struggling to keep going.
04:30And without support like that, this charity won't be here in the future.
04:34And then the other side is the raising of awareness
04:37of the fact that so many children are going through this experience.
04:41Probably children we walk past every day.
04:44The family that George got the shopping for today
04:48expressed how they burst into tears when they heard that someone was going to do that for them
04:52because that means for one week out of 52,
04:55for once they can go to bed not worrying about how they're going to feed their family.
04:59That's one less stress just for one week.
05:02And that relief is something that most of us just can't understand.
05:06And another service that we offer is our nursery,
05:10which is really important because a lot of our families who are living in poverty,
05:13children do attend that nursery.
05:15And it's all about narrowing the gap
05:17and making sure that they have the very best chance in life right from the beginning of their life.