Taking place in Marlborough Town Hall on 3^rd October, the Challenge Poverty event will feature Danny Kruger MP, Cllr Jane Davies from Wiltshire Council and Suzanne Wigmore CEO of Citizen’s Advice Wiltshire.

Alex Montegriffo, Project Officer at the foodbank says:

As part of Challenge Poverty Week 2024, Devizes and District Foodbank, joint with Marlborough Area Poverty Action Group, invite the community of Marlborough to this event to challenge the systems that are contributing to local poverty, for example housing-related issues, and to get information on the different levels that destitution is being challenged on - local, regional and national.

The speakers will give short presentations followed by questions from the audience, and answers. The event is all about challenging perceptions of poverty in Marlborough, starting conversations with decision-makers, and hearing about projects in Marlborough, Wiltshire and the UK that aim to challenge the systems that are pushing people towards poverty.

As a food bank, we know that food is not the answer to rising poverty in the UK. The people who are pushed towards a food bank are not just struggling with affording food, but also paying rent, bills, buying school uniform, and other essential costs. The factors that push people towards food banks include precarious work, low wages, a flawed social security system, and housing issues, amongst others.

As well as the three speakers, the Mayor of Marlborough, and Town Councillor, Kym-Marie Cleasby, will be attending.

For any enquiries, please contact Chairman of Devizes and District Foodbank, Richard Oliver, on richard@devizesdistrict.foodbank.org.uk.