A charity which provides beds to children living in poverty says the cost of living crisis has hit donations.

The Forget-Me-Notts project has been giving out mattresses, bed frames and bedding across in Nottinghamshire since 2017.

But the charity behind it, Operation Orphan, said it was now struggling to meet demand, with 40 families on its waiting list.

Staff said referrals from social services had been increasing over the last two years but donations from local businesses, organisations and families were dwindling.

Children’s charity Barnardo’s said about one million children in the UK were currently experiencing "bed poverty".

'Dickensian conditions'

Brad Moore, co-founder and managing director of Operation Orphan, said: “We’ve delivered about 1,300 beds since 2017.

“Referrals are going up and now, yearly on average, we’re installing up to 350 beds.”

Mr Moore said bed poverty had short and long-term consequences on children, including their behaviour” and learning at school.

Matt Simpson, who delivers and assemble beds, said: “It’s so sad to see in this day and age, children living in Dickensian conditions”.

The charity said some of the children they deliver to “barely have anything” and are often “sleeping on the floor or sharing a bed”.

“It’s heartbreaking at times when you walk into a home. It never gets easier - you just get a bit de-sensitised to it, but the reality is always there and it’s always shocking to be honest,” caseworker Daniel Griffith said.

Room without bed

Domestic abuse survivor Kemi fled from a violent relationship with her three children.

When she was provided a house, she said “there was nothing” in it, “not even carpet”.

Forget-Me-Notts provided her family with beds and bedding.

She said: “I’ll never forget the day they turned up. They set up the bed in my boys’ room and that was the start of our journey.”

“The boys came home from school and they couldn’t believe it. The joy on their faces, that gave me hope.”

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by Corazon Garcia

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