Coming up to Scratch

THEY show a sector of society some would prefer to sweep under the carpet that someone actually gives a damn.

Last year, Southampton City & Region Action to Combat Hardship (Scratch) helped 12,500 impoverished individuals - and that is a conservative estimate.

The flourishing charity, established in 1999, gives people (who are often wordless with gratitude) food, clothes, furniture, a removal service, work experience, Christmas presents and much, much more.

These people have one thing in common.

All have been referred by agencies such as social services, and are struggling for survival.

The project is spearheaded by chief executive and modern-day Good Samaritan Chris Davis, a man driven by his iron-strong Christian faith to help others.

He has seen at first hand the horrific conditions which still exist amid Southampton's penthouses and gleaming yachts.

"I hope Scratch makes a difference. A lot of our projects are about stepping in when there's an emergency, like when the Giro hasn't turned up and there's no food in the cupboard.

"I think it desperately sad that, living in the 21st century in the affluent south of England, we're still having to give out food parcels - from 3,500 two years ago to 6,850 last year.

"That can't all be because we're better known. And I have to say that a very, very small minority of these are asylum seekers and refugees. These are our own indigenous poor.

"It's much easier to be poor in Manchester than Southampton where people are surrounded by relative wealth. I can walk through Ocean Village and see yachts worth millions, yet half a mile away people are struggling to feed and clothe their kids.

"Southampton MP John Denham asked me why the numbers we help are going up. But some of the poverty we see is aggravated by government policies.

"The government has tightened up on benefit fraud. To do that people have to have identification when they claim, for instance, housing benefit.

"While I fully appreciate there's a need to crack down on fraud, a lot of the people I deal with don't have a passport or driving licence. If you don't have this type of ID your housing benefit gets delayed."

Chris feels the way this country treats its poor is deeply unjust.

"There's another class in this classless society (which I think is a joke) and it's a class that lives from day to day. It's a class that's unable to plan; it's a class of people who have been robbed of opportunity, robbed of choice.

"There was the mother who came to collect supplies from the Basics Bank late one lunchtime. As they walked away her young daughter looked up and asked: 'Will we have breakfast now?'

"We've been into homes where there's nothing. The conditions that some people live in are intolerable. Care in the Community doesn't care. It's fallen down and there are people who fall through the net.

"One mum said: 'You turned this shell of a house into a home'.

"Another said: 'It was like a light burning in a dark place to know that someone cared about you even though you are a stranger'. That was a mum who had escaped domestic violence and come to this area.

"I've got a vision of Southampton. By 2020 I would like to see the eradication of the effects of poverty.

"By then anyone who finds themselves in a poverty situation should find the charities in place to step in at that point of need. I'm absolutely determined."

The proof of Chris's drive can be seen in Scratch's achievements since its conception in 1999 as part of Southampton City Mission.

"It all started when we were working with our home church over in Shirley. We were visiting a mum and girl on the 15th floor of a tower block.

"I sat on the settee, which collapsed. I realised she needed a new one. Someone at the church had one so we hired a van and delivered it. Now we're making 2,500 deliveries a year."

Chris is at pains to stress that the roles he and wife Annette fulfil at Scratch are as city missioners, God's workers, not charity employees. "What started by accident 12 years ago has developed into an organisation with 24 employees, three premises, five commercial vehicles and a budget close to £500,000 a year to find."

And when there isn't enough?

"We had a cash flow problem in September so my wife and I and another member of staff delayed being paid.

"It doesn't happen often."

The future

Chris is brimming with ideas for the future development of Scratch.

Basics Banks are expanding into Fareham and Winchester and he hopes to start a service which counsels the vulnerable on how to budget and get out of debt.

"It's fine doing the emergency stuff but the danger is that people keep on going round and round. We want to break the cycle.

"There are hundreds of furniture projects and basics banks around the country. I think the unique thing about us is that we do all of it. Now we're hoping to start restoring furniture too."

Christian faith

"It's our motivation, we've made that clear right from the start.

"Jesus once said to his disciples: 'Give them something to eat.' We're still giving people something to eat. It's about seeing a need and doing something about it.

"My mum and dad were members of the Anglican church. We went to church every week and then I decided for myself when I was 16.

"That was 30 years ago. I can't imagine life without faith. It absolutely drives me.

"It's a source of peace and joy even in the most difficult times. People say: 'Do you believe?' but I've got past that.

"I've got to the stage where we've proved it. When money's been short we've prayed and money has come in."

Winning awards

Scratch is shortlisted for the Faith Works/Spring Harvest award for the UK's churches best community project. The result will be announced at a House of Commons reception on Monday.

Chris is also a finalist for the Beacon Fellowship Award for his role at the cause.

"You might as well know that we've been shortlisted for two national awards," he says, squirming as he talks uneasily about them. "We're not doing it for accolades."

Christmas

"We run a project called Christmas Completed. Last year we gave five or six presents to 1,168 children from over 400 families.

"There was a lovely story of a mum who was trying to decide whether to buy her children colouring books and felt tip pens or a box of crackers.

"While she was thinking that through the box of presents arrived. In the box were carrier bags full of gifts for each of the children, with their name on them.

"In the top of the bags were colouring books and felt tip pens.

"When the mum finished crying she went out and bought the box of crackers."