Live Below The Line 2015 - Prep Time!

It's that time again! Time to start preparing for Live Below The Line 2015! Last year I did it for The Hunger Project UK and raised over £150, you can read about how I got on right here at Project52.





This year I'm doing it for Unicef (Unicef.org.uk) and fingers crossed I'll make my target of £200

I won't lie to you: It was hard! I'm used to huge plates of food and being able to graze on snacks whenever I want to, all of that goes out of the window when you have to weigh out your food and calculate the cost per portion so you know if you can have that extra cheap rich tea biscuit as an evening snack, but that rumbling tummy reminds you of just how the people who will benefit from your funds raised feel on a regular basis. Five days isn't a long time to go without the luxury of convenience foods, especially when on day six you can treat yourself to your favourite foods knowing that it's all over for the year, but for those who are living in poverty, it's a lifetime without the things that others take for granted.

So here I am, prepared to do it all again for a good cause. wish me luck!
- See more at: https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/vegankitten
you can also follow me on my other blog, femveggeek.wordpress.com  to see what I do when I'm not working on Project52!

The Live Below The Line 2014 Diary

As my personal page for live below the line 2014 is now locked and will be deleted later on this year to create space for 2015's campaign, I thought I'd share the Diary of it in here for anybody who is thinking of taking part in 2015!

Gearing Up! 
12th May 2014 

So here I am! This is my first time taking the live below the live challenge, it will be interesting to see if there are any other outcomes besides me reducing my shopping budget to less than half of what I usually spend on mon-fri foods, and also as a vegan, my recipes won't be the same as the suggested ones!  I predict I will be starving most of the time as I am a big eater and make very generous portions usually.

I am planning to do my 5 days at the start of June, so that I may use this time now to get support and sponsors to cheer me on.

Wish me luck!
 
Looking for sponsors
12th May 2014

well, I have now posted on my twitter (@vegankitten) on my facebook page, in four groups that I am a member of on facebook, of which so far, two people have asked to donate towards my sponsorship (eg give a whole amount rather than an amount for each day I complete without cheating on) which is a great start!

I also keep a blog, http://project52ayear.blogspot.co.uk and a facebook page to accompany it, https://www.facebook.com/project52ayear if anyone would like to see what else I have been up to prior to this challenge, and what I'll be doing from now on.

As I am vegan, some of the suggested recipes will have to be tweaked for me as I don't eat eggs or cheese or dairy yogurt, some vegan yougurt and cheese costs more than the dairy counterparts... but as a frozen banana then blended makes a great ice cream subsitute, I could always do that instead :)

I already have a well stocked herb and spice rack and oils in the house, which means I can use those at cost per portion, which would keep the overall cost down as I wouldn't need to buy any to get me started.

I'm hoping that I will be able to use this experience to show that you can be vegan on a budget as well :)













Gathering supporters pt1
15th May 2014

I've now mentioned this to a few people at work, who have said they will sponsor me next week...we get paid on friday so if I know it's the best time to ask them. I am hoping that my work place will let me put up a sign on the notice board and keep a collection tin in the cash office as we're not allowed to carry money during shift. I don't have access to a printer until the weekend so I can't do sponsor forms until then anyways.

No new online donations yet, but I am still grateful to Clare for donating that first £20 to get me started. I'm on minimum wage, so £20 is a lot of money to me as I earn roughly £25 a day before tax & pension takes their 4%. One thing about this challenge is that I can afford to take part as the £5 budget will make me think about my food shopping habits and to save money too (a bonus)

I've gathered a few people via twitter who I can go to for advice/recipe suggestions... Chickpea curry seems to be popular! I've also started hunting in the shops for the cheapest but sensible options, I found a bag of oats for 49p yesterday, that you can mix with water and microwave. the bag claims to have 12 portions in it, so even if i eat double it's still 10p a time for breakfast, so I will be going back to buy it soon. still not found rice for less than £1 but will keep looking. One thing I haven't seen yet is people using reduced to clear foods. I got a pummet of plums earlier this week for 77p... it had more than 10 in it, which makes those around 8p each. If I can get a similar deal on 2nd June, I can have fresh(ish) fruit instead of biscuit or dry cracker for snacks.

Another tip I did pick up was to check out Jack Monroe. Her recipes are budget friendly, and she also took part in the live below the line challenge. Her guardian article on it is here: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/may/01/jack-monroe-one-pound-a-day-below-the-line   and she also recently posted a potato curry recipe that is quite cheap as a whole: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/14/jack-monroe-potato-courgette-curry-recipe If I take out the courgette and corriander, I can make it at 50p a portion which will be quite filling too, that will cover two dinners or a dinner then lunch.  Quite tempted to buy her book actually but wary as there will be meat or fish based recipes in it, as I wont need those. might suggest on her site that she could do a vegetarian cook book as so many of them out there are full of delicious but expensive meals. and I should know...I have 12+ vegetarian or vegan cookbooks at last count Including Rose Elliot and two Linda McCartney's :) Going to go through them all soon to see if they give me any ideas beyond chilli - curry with veg, lentil or chickpea. xx

Started shopping! spent £1.79 so far....
15th May 2014

More shopping and sponsors
17th May 2014

Between Friday and today, I've brought a bag of breakfast oats for 49p, it's a 500g bag and each portion is 40grams, giving me 12.5 portions at 4p a portion (rounded to nearest penny) ... besides typos on my last update, the 1kg of rice, cost me 40p, is 70grams per portion and 14 portions out of it, making it 3p a portion (again to nearest penny) ...which is even better than I first thought! I've also brought some food bags so i can split food up into portions before I begin so that I do not get tempted to put more in than what the packaging states.

I've received another online donation, this time from a member of swap-bot.com, which is a giant online crafts and trading community website, and also £30 in cash donations from 4 of the ladies from Manchester Vegan Society, which is awesome!

This puts me half way towards my goal, and my spending at £2.28, leaving me with £2.72 to spend on more supplies to get me through the 5 days :) 

Nearly finished shopping....
19th May 2014

Since Sunday, I've brought soup - 25p, sweetcorn - 21p, chickpeas tin - 50p, and soya milk, at 59p, but as a bottle normally lasts me 7 days, it means my tea will cost less than 10p a day no matter how many of cups of it I drink. which brings me to £3.83....I've checked out my options for frozen veg and snacks, the cheapest I can find is 75p for frozen veg, and a pack of biscuits... wanted to get fruit but that seems to cost much more! As I already have flour & yeast I could make the flatbreads suggested in the recipe pdfs, at cost per piece or buy a loaf of bread, which seems to be around 50p for the cheapest around here.... I've also received another £7 in online donation and a colleague at work has said she will sponsor me £5, which I will get off her once I have done the challenge! Just two weeks to go now!

Nearly there....
22nd May 2014

I found a packet of rich tea biscuits for 23p, so these will cover my snacks as I can have them with tea... this takes me up to £4.04 though, just enough to buy a bag of frozen veg and then make do with as little spice as possble! which that will be harder for me as I love chillis and hot sauces. so much so I was once bet a tenner that I couldn't eat a whole jar of haberneros chillis (aka jalapenos) ... 5 mins later there was an empty jar, the smell of pickling vinegar and ... well they welched on the bet and brought me a drink instead. ah well. I'll be missing the scotch bonets and bottle of blazing saddles from the fridge.

A dear cousin also donated £10, (awesome Terri!) which brings my total up... now I just hope that one of you reading this will find it in your hearts (or wallets) to donate some spare change to help get my total up. I am really hoping I will reach my £100 target before I start my challenge week on June 2nd. Please make me going without my favourite food addition worth it!

Hey, if I manage to raise even more than my target goal, I will accept any chilli challenge that can be thrown at me (not in the eyes!) providing I do not have to eat meat/fish/animal by-product to do it!

Starting Monday!
31st May 2014

Just need to collect the £5 from my work colleague who sponsored me and I will have passed my initial £100 target that I set when I signed up to take part this year. Hurrah!

I've still not brought my bag of frozen veg, but have since found a reduced to clear bottle of UHT organic sweetened soya milk for 46p, (use by July) making my daily cups of tea even cheaper! and better soya milk to go in it. :D my bf brought the 59p bottle off me so that I could have the money back to my £5 budget. It brings my £4.04 current spend down by 13p to £3.91 YAY! This means I can still have 75p for frozen veg and use more herbs/spices in my cooking! All I need to do now is split my portions up and I'm raring to go!

In my free time, I have also taken up Rainbow Loom ® but unfortunately I'm stuck with other loom brand to use as nowhere sells or has in stock the official loom or bands near me, at £1 a bag of bands. It's keeping me busy and I have started using it to make various objects. I am hoping it will make a good hunger pains distraction! Apart from a few snapped bands, so far so good!


The Night Before
1st June 2014

Just had my last regular meal so to speak, using up what was left of the fresh veg and other stuff that would cost too much to use during this week as I'll be starting my challenge in the morning.

Have measured out 5 x 40g bags of oats ready for breakfast each day, and 10 x 70g bags of rice incase I decide to have rice for both lunch and dinner or add it to something like the vegetable soup to make more of it. the rich tea maths works out at 0.8p a biscuit, so I can have at least 3 a time! 23p for the packet with 29 in it.

I've also had a another larger donation from my friend Kes, which truely takes me over my pre-set target. Woo! Looking at other people's blog posts and twitter feeds, it seems that quite a few also lost a pound or two in weight from doing this, so to see if that is the case, I will weigh myself now and again after the last meal on friday night. I am currently 13 stone and 2.8 Ibs ....  fingers crossed I'll lose a couple.

See you all in the morning!

Pamela xx

Day 1 - Breakfast!
2nd June 2014 

Day 1 - Breakfast!

2nd June 2014

Day 1 - Lunch, snack & Dinner
2nd June 2014 

Day 1 so far....
2nd June 2014

This first day has been harder than I expected. My breakfast oats, which work out at 4p a portion tasted ok without added sugar or anything, so I will keep them as they are. I had this with a large cup of tea, but didnt drink it all. The soup I had for my lunch was a little disapointing. I would normally eat a whole tin to myself and have bread or crackers with it, whereas I only had half and nothing with it. I took a bottle of water with me to work and put 3 rich tea biscuits in my bag in case i needed a snack.

I ate breakfast around 9.30 am, had the soup around 12.15pm and by 2.30pm I felt dizzy, a little sick and my stomach was growling. As I couldnt eat in work, I saved my biscuits for the bus ride back to where I am currently staying. I was really glad I'd had the foresight to put them in my bag as they gave me the energy I needed to get back.

For dinner I made chickpea + mushroom curry using half a tin of chickpeas, 1/4 a jar of curry sauce, 4 mushrooms and some water. I also cooked my 70g of rice in a little too much water! This meal tasted nice enough to me and is very similar to what I would normally go for. I had a 2nd cup of tea, but smaller this time.

I've decided to avoid watching tv lest I see anything that I know will make me crave foods, and to use a shallow bowl for my meals instead of the larger plates I normally use. I had heard that using smaller plates or bowls is a good diet trick as it makes you think you are getting a bigger portion than you are, as there is no space left on the plate, whereas on a bigger plate, the same portion would leave gaps. So, tonight's viewing for dinner was episode 1 of the 2003 anime series, "Bottle Fairy" as an animation is not going to make me want to eat what is on screen.

Cost Breakdown for Today:

• oats 4p
• tea 3p
• soup 12.5p
• biscuitsx3  0.8x3 =2.4p
• curry sauce 5p
• chickpeas 25p
• mushrooms 5.5p
• rice 2.8p
• small tea 2.5p

equals = 62.7 pence ...enough for a few more biscuits later :)

Day 2 so far....
3rd June 2014

After my last post yesterday, I had another cup of tea at 2.5p and 3 more biscuits at 0.8p each, making this extra drink / snack cost 4.9 p , and making the final day's total when I fell asleep come to 67.6 pence over all!

So far today I've had...

A small cup of tea at 2.5p, bowl of breakfast oats at 4p, and for lunch, chickpea & mushroom curry with rice, at 25p for chickpeas, curry sauce at 5p (added water to it) mushrooms at 9p and rice at 2.8p = 48.3 pence for my day up until now.

I have also now purchased a 1kg bag of mixed frozen vegetables from Asda for 75p for adding to meals. This brings my physical spend for the week up to £4.66  :D

For dinner I am planning to eat the remainder of yesterday's soup, with frozen veggies added to it and rice on the side. I estimate this will be 12.5p + (100g of veg) 7.5p + 2.8p making my meal cost 22.8 pence. Entire day would then be  71.1 pence!! I can have more tea and biscuits later if I want to :D

Not sure if it would be cheating to take what I did not use of Monday' £1 to carry over into the week as there's 32.4p left there, but as this is my first year, I better not unless I get really tired / sluggish and need a glass of coke, as my sig. other found a bottle of it for 17p (1.5 litre) so that I could have a glass if I got sick of tea or tap water. Covering all bases.

Promise I'll post pictures later xx

Day 2 - breakfast, lunch & dinner
3rd June 2014

Day 3 ... getting easier
4th June 2014

Hello all!

Update on yesterday, I added approximately 2p worth of pepper + mixed herbs to my evening meal, and had 2 biscuits as a snack later on, bringing yesterday's total up from 71.1p to 73.11pence by bed time.

I was hoping that I would gain another sponsor or two but nobody has done so. Ah well.

Today... well it's getting a little easier now I'm getting more used to it, I've been whipping out the scales for every meal so I know exactly how much is going into it, and my boyfriend made me a price breakdown spreadsheet, which holds the name of everything i have, the price per full unit, the full weight, and the clever bit is if i enter in how many grams i have used it tells me the cost per use, to 3 decimal points! This has made the maths much more exact. On the last day, in the interests of full disclosure, I am happy to provide a screen shot of the spreadsheet in case others want to see what I paid and where for items. It also turns out that what he said was a 1.5L bottle of cola was in fact a 17pence 2 litre bottle! So I had a 400ml glass with my dinner.

I'm still feeling hungry practically most of the day, but the best thing to do is to try to ignore that grumble and get on with things. No real sponsored task is easy, so why would this be? A friend got me a bag of posh dairy free chocolate buttons as a thank you for looking after their cat while they are moving house, so I have those as my treat on saturday when this is over. It's quite sad really as there are so many people for whom the grumbly tummy will never go away, so it makes me more determined and grateful that while I may not have what I wanted in life, at least I have a roof over my head, a safe place to sleep and a full tummy at night.

Ok, today's breakfast was porridge oats, as per usual with a cup of tea, for lunch I cooked 60g of kidney beans with 70g of sweetcorn and mixed it with 70g cooked rice. While small and very light, it was also reasonably filling, and probably one of the easiest things to make in a rush. For dinner, I made a vegetable chilli with 200g chopped tomatoes, 64g of sweetcorn, 60g kidney beans, 100g frozen veg, way too much water added to make the sauce.... and a pinch of mixed herbs and a heaped tea spoon of chilli powder (I'd call it 5p on herbs n spices combined) with 400ml of cheap cheap cola.

Breakfast tea & oats = 0.064p lunch = 0.178p Dinner = 0.484  making today's total = 0.726p ....rounded up 73p!

Day 3 Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner plus 2 drinks
4th June 2014

Day 4... hmmm....
5th June 2014

Update on day 3, I had a second glass of cola after writing my post, at a cost of 3.4p, making day 3's total up to ... 77p rounded up! :)

Today started off well enough, I had a small cup of tea and breakfast oats as I have done all week, had kidney beans, sweetcorn and rice for lunch and set off to travel to work. Along that journey I was not feeling myself at all. My boyfriend who was driving happens to have diabetes, said the feelings I was describing sounded exactly like when he has a low blood sugar level (he takes insulin for his) so I used his testing kit (it has disposable pins so nothing is ever used twice) and my level came up at 4.6 which is low for me, I am generally in the higher 5's or lower 6's which is the healthy range, so I had to dip into his sweet supply (what he takes when he needs sugar) and ate a mini pack of love heart sweets.(the kind you see in party bags) Based on what he paid for a 3 kg bag of them, they work out at 6 pence each, however I am aware that somebody genuinely living below the line would not have access to these. I did feel much better after I had eaten them... and in an emergency you have to have something. I think the dip in my levels is because of what I have been eating this week as all my fruits and sweet treats have been eliminated from my diet during the challenge.

I got through work ok, and made vegetable chilli with rice for dinner with a large mug of tea and feel a bit more like myself again after eating. I did go a bit nuts with the spices and so I am hoping there is enough of the day's budget left to have a small cup of tea with some biscuits later on tonight.

Today's breakdown....

• 40g breakfast oats + small tea = 3.9 + 2.5 = 6.4
• 70g rice, 68g kidney beans + 28g sweetcorn = 2.8 + 6.5 + 3.7 = 13
• emergency mini love hearts = 6p
• 70g rice, 100g frozen veg, 200g tomatoes, 70g kidney beans + chilli powder = 2.8 + 7.5 + 1.55 + 6.7 + 6 = 24.55
• large mug of tea = 3.5

today's total = 53.45 pence rounded up becomes 54p!!

Day 4 Breakfast, lunch & dinner plus drinks
5th June 2014

Day 5 ... almost over now!
6th June 2014

Update on day 4, I did have that small cup of tea plus 4 biscuits I mentioned I was thinking about in yesterday's post, which takes that total up from 53.45 to 59.15  (53.45p + 2.5 + 3.2) which rounds up to 60p by the time my head hit the pillow. no wonder I've been miserable, not even eating to my full allowance!

Day 5 is finally here! This morning I had breakfast oats [40g] and a cup of tea (3.9 + 2.5 = 6.4p ) Potato [176g] & mushroom [22g] curry [110g] with rice [70g] and a 400ml glass of cheap cheap cola for lunch ( 7.7+ 6.1 + 5.0 + 2.8 + 3.4 = 25p ) and finally for dinner I had potato [170g] and mixed veg [100g] Curry [110g] with rice [70g] ( 7.3 +7.5 +5.0 +2.8 = 22.6p)

and finally as an evening treat, a small cup of tea with 3 rich tea biscuits (2.5 + 2.4 = 4.9p )

full total is.... 58.9p or 59p! woo!

To be honest I have been pretty miserable not being able to eat what I want, which is another aspect of being in poverty, you can't eat what you want and will be hungry until the point of shrinking the stomach is reached.... which I doubt could ever happen to me! On the flip side if my maths has not failed I have lost just over 4lbs in weight this week, and went to the supermarket before I made my evening meal without impulse buying! So I now have some fresh peppers and hash browns for tomorrow's breakfast :)  My friend Terry has also donated, which helps to raise my end total even more!

How I have felt this week has not put me off taking apart again in the future should the opportunity arise, however I would not recommend what I have been eating as a diet as I know it was lacking in particular vitamins and minerals, which is very bad despite how low in fat / calories it all would have been. As I never ate the baked beans I had brought either, I can have those tomorrow instead.

See you all again soon!

Day 5 - Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, plus a snack!
6th June 2014

The Plug 

I'm Living Below the Line for The Hunger Project
Total raised so far
£154
My Goal
£100
Pamela Berry
WHY I'M TAKING THE CHALLENGE

In today's world, extreme poverty and inequality are unjustifiable and unfair. Live Below the Line demonstrates the problem in a concrete way, while raising money to address the problem. Support me as I live below the line by donating now – your generous support will go towards fighting extreme poverty. I feel that many causes and problems in the world have become invisible. I am taking part to shine some light on what can be done to help.
 

Online Donations Shout Out!

• Terry King donated 
• very proud of you xxx
  £10
  
  Kes Samuelson donated
  
  Hey Pamela, I like food too much to the challenge myself. Well done! :-)
  £40
  
  Sarah H donated
  
  £10
  
  Amy Cox donated
  
  Good luck! x
  £10
  
  TERRI-ANN KAVANAGH donated
  
  You go girl, love me, Paul and Blue x
  £10
  
  Laura Aust donated
  
  I don't think I could ever do this unless I had to - I'm looking forward to your updates as to how it goes!
  £7
  
  Terry Franks donated
  
  Best of luck! (";)
  £7
  
  Zoe Richardson donated
  
  zoev1975 on swap-bot. Sorry it isn't more. You are doing a truly wonderful thing, best lof luck!
  £5
  
  Clare Garrad donated
  
  Well done! I am planning to do this myself in the summer. Just need to block out a week to do it in. 
• £20

Started shopping! sent £1.79 so far....

15th May 2014

- See more at: https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/2014/vegankitten#sthash.A4SQJqxr.dpuf

So here I am! This is my first time taking the live below the live challenge, it will be interesting to see if there are any other outcomes besides me reducing my shopping budget to less than half of what I usually spend on mon-fri foods, and also as a vegan, my recipes won't be the same as the suggested ones!  I predict I will be starving most of the time as I am a big eater and make very generous portions usually.
I am planning to do my 5 days at the start of June, so that I may use this time now to get support and sponsors to cheer me on.
Wish me luck!
- See more at: https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/2014/vegankitten#sthash.A4SQJqxr.dpuf

!

Gearing up!

12th May 2014

So here I am! This is my first time taking the live below the live challenge, it will be interesting to see if there are any other outcomes besides me reducing my shopping budget to less than half of what I usually spend on mon-fri foods, and also as a vegan, my recipes won't be the same as the suggested ones!  I predict I will be starving most of the time as I am a big eater and make very generous portions usually.
I am planning to do my 5 days at the start of June, so that I may use this time now to get support and sponsors to cheer me on.
Wish me luck!

- See more at: https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/2014/vegankitten#sthash.A4SQJqxr.dpuf

Gearing up!

12th May 2014

So here I am! This is my first time taking the live below the live challenge, it will be interesting to see if there are any other outcomes besides me reducing my shopping budget to less than half of what I usually spend on mon-fri foods, and also as a vegan, my recipes won't be the same as the suggested ones!  I predict I will be starving most of the time as I am a big eater and make very generous portions usually.
I am planning to do my 5 days at the start of June, so that I may use this time now to get support and sponsors to cheer me on.
Wish me luck!

- See more at: https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/2014/vegankitten#sthash.A4SQJqxr.dpuf

Gearing up!

12th May 2014

So here I am! This is my first time taking the live below the live challenge, it will be interesting to see if there are any other outcomes besides me reducing my shopping budget to less than half of what I usually spend on mon-fri foods, and also as a vegan, my recipes won't be the same as the suggested ones!  I predict I will be starving most of the time as I am a big eater and make very generous portions usually.
I am planning to do my 5 days at the start of June, so that I may use this time now to get support and sponsors to cheer me on.
Wish me luck!

- See more at: https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/2014/vegankitten#sthash.A4SQJqxr.dpuf

Gearing up!

12th May 2014

So here I am! This is my first time taking the live below the live challenge, it will be interesting to see if there are any other outcomes besides me reducing my shopping budget to less than half of what I usually spend on mon-fri foods, and also as a vegan, my recipes won't be the same as the suggested ones!  I predict I will be starving most of the time as I am a big eater and make very generous portions usually.
I am planning to do my 5 days at the start of June, so that I may use this time now to get support and sponsors to cheer me on.
Wish me luck!

- See more at: https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/2014/vegankitten#sthash.A4SQJqxr.dpuf

Week 23 - It's On! live below the line 2014

  I am now in day 3 of my Live Below The Line challenge week, if you want to read up on how I have been doing with it, visit: www.livebelowtheline.com/me/vegankitten So far I have felt hungry. A lot. I have however raised £144 for The Hunger Project UK, so hopefully it will all be worth it.

It has been an interesting challenge, it has made me scrutinize my portion sizes so much so that I am having to weigh ingredients before I cook a meal so that I can work out the cost of it. I have managed to stay under the £1 budget for each day so far, which is good as I thought I'd be pushing it almost every time. My sleep hasn't been effected by it too much, as I have tried to have a biscuit close to bed time so that I do not sleep on an empty stomach, and I may have lost 2 Ibs in doing it to this point, but I have never heard my stomach grumble so much 2 hours after a meal. It would be dangerous to do this on a full time basis as there is no fruit at all in my meals and vegetables are tinned or frozen. I'm really starting to miss having bananas now. It is startling how much we take having a roof over our heads and a full, really full tummy. I may be on minimum wages and not be in the life style or career I planned for myself, but I am feeling more grateful for what I do have. I also have some chocolate saved for Saturday as my reward for the week.

This week is also the start of petitions & protest season here at project 52. As a regular petition signer, I run a facebook group for sharing petitions in, which has until recently been largely unnoticed. I made the mistake of signing and sharing a petition that was aimed at the removal of a band as a headline act at a music festival due to the fact this particular band has been glamorizing bear hunting. I posted that I had signed and shared it in my group for the attention of the petition writers. What followed has been a steady trail of abuse by males my own age or older, mostly for the fact I am a girl, then secondly for admitting to signing it. Despite the fact they themselves will not be in attendance at the festival or are even fans of this band.

This has made it clear to me that while a petition itself can be good thing, it is also important to check just who will be effected by it and if indeed it contains factual information, as many have claimed this petition to be false, and I myself have stumbled upon petitions that are clearly false or misleading as the events they are campaigning against happened years before they were written. Or did not even occur in the first place.  I think for my next feature it will be valuable to those of you who are interested in the role of petitions for a guide to be done, looking at how to write one, how to keep those signatures safe so that others are not attacked for it as I was. And of course, how to deal with trolls that you'll come across if you wish to use social media to share your petition.

Week 22 - Almost time

Sorry for the delay on this week's post, I have been doing extra hours at work so that I will have more money to put towards the activities I wish to do for the latter half of this year in regards to Project52ayear. This has left me a little frazzled but I am determined not to drop the ball so to speak.

Following on from earlier this month, one of the participants for the Hate Crime Survey has asked to be able to share my final article with a few members of his local constabulary. I am hopeful that it will be beneficial to them and help in a positive step forward into having discrimination against sub cultures added to their own local definitions of hate crime, as it has already been done in both Bolton and the city of Manchester. Fingers crossed!

I am now a little nearer to my goal of raising £100 for The Hunger Project UK, in participation with Live Below The Line 2014. I start my challenge week of living off £1 a day for 5 days on Monday, so if any of you reading this visit my blog on their site, expect daily updates!

This can be visited at: www.livebelowtheline.com/me/vegankitten I'd like the outcome to be that more people are encouraged to waste less and to help those who may be living in poverty in their areas. Anything else is just a bonus! I have also taken up the craze that is Rainbow Loom, and so I am making small gifts using this method to say thank you to anybody who donates to my fund. All donations made through the site link go straight to the charity itself.  

Week 21 - Live below the line prep

It's been two weeks since my last official weekly post, although last week's post on 13/5/14 would count as that week's action - registering and starting fund-raising for Live Below The Line 2014, which is a co-allegiance between 36 charities world wide to combine their efforts to help end world poverty & world hunger. I am doing it in aid of The Hunger Project.

So far I'm heading towards my goal of raising £100 for the charity. Participants who take part have to live off £5 (or their country's equivalent currency worth) for 5 days for all their food and drink, including anything in the house that you already own. All must be factored in at cost per portion. I know it will be hard, it's been hard to just find food that will stretch for two meals and be under £1 an item. It's so easy to live off £5 a day, or even £3 a day if you don't buy expensive brands...but £1? and to eat sensibly without skipping meals? near impossible. Yet this is something that many people in the UK or even around the world face every day. No wonder so many rely on food banks or food stamps where they exist.

If you want to see where I'm up to, follow my progress or even donate a small amount...even 50p would be welcome! please visit: www.livebelowtheline.com/me/vegankitten
I'm doing my challenge week starting June 2nd!

This past weekend, I also made chocolate cornflake cakes and donated them for sale on a vegan society UK stall at a local vegan fair. All 12 sold for 50p each and went really quickly! In total, we raised £116 for the Vegan Society, which is a campaign and outreach/support group for Vegans in the UK and Europe.

I am hopeful on my next post that I will have reached my personal goal of £100 for Live Below The Line and The hunger project. Fingers crossed!

Live Below The Line Challenge 2014

From 2nd to 6th June (5 days) I'm eating and drinking on just £1 per day with thousands of others across the world in a global movement to help end extreme poverty. It's called Live Below the Line.

I'm taking the challenge raising awareness and funds to support the work of The Hunger Project and I need your help to make a real impact.

Can you spare a few dollars, a pound or even just pocket change and donate to support my efforts for The Hunger Project at https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/vegankitten?

£1 is the UK equivalent of the extreme poverty line. Eating and drinking on so little gives a glimpse into the challenges faced by the 1.2 billion people who have no choice but to live below the line everyday for everything — that's food, medical care, transport, education, everything.

Find out how to donate and support my efforts for The Hunger Project at https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/vegankitten.

Thanks,
Pamela &
Project52

Update: I set my goal as £100 as I was worried I couldn't hit a higher goal... so far I have had £20 donated directly, and three verbal offers of pledges! wish me luck! I've now started drafting my menu for the week. visit soon for more updates. x

April - Help for Animals

April - Homeless Animals

• As mentioned back in March, animals can also be the victims of being made homeless, they may be abandoned, abused, neglected, become stray and end up at the pound / in the animal shelter system. 

• If you are considering getting a new pet, please, please go to your local animal shelter / sanctuary first. The staff there will be able to help match you with the right dog, cat, bunny, rat, bird etc for you, and YOU WILL SAVE A LIFE. Many shelters are over-run with animals looking for new homes and often have to turn away animals that need their help, or send otherwise healthy, ideal for companionship animals to be destroyed as there is no where else for them to go... humane death or die on the streets is a sad factor facing thousands upon thousands every year. Adopt a pet - save a life, but please remember that a pet is not a gift for a special occasion to be traded in for an upgrade like an object. They are a life time commitment. 

• If you would like to help out an animal shelter or sanctuary, then go look for one close enough for you to travel to, and take part in one of their open days or fundraisers. You could donate old (but clean) blankets, pet beds, foods, toys for the animals, or bric-a-brac for table-top sales at these events. My favourite local shelter is called Bleakholt  http://www.bleakholt.org/ It is based in the north west of England, near to my home town. Their spring open day is at the end of April, so as part of that week's activity, my blog update will feature Bleakholt and some of the animals there. The open days calendar can be seen here: http://bleakholt.org/coming-soon.html I would like to invite any guest bloggers to post details of their own local shelters, to visit those when they have open days and post spotlights for those too. 

• Sponsor an Animal! Yup, you can help an animal right there from the comfort of your own home. you don't need to travel to an event, you don't need to feed it by hand or clean up after it, as that is done for you by the care team of that particular animal. I, myself, purchased two animal sponsor packs, a chimp and a wolf pack as Christmas gifts for my family in 2013 (these were done through the Born Free Foundation http://www.bornfree.org.uk/) I also currently sponsor a dog named 'Scooby' through The Dogs Trust. http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/ 

[update 24/01/2014 - I have been informed that Scooby sadly passed away in the last week, and so I now have a new sponsor Dog, named Skye. RIP Scooby]

Another way to help animals is quite simple, and all you will need is a pair or rubber or safety gloves, sensible shoes and a bin liner (rubbish/refuse sack) - Clean Up Crew! 

• get together a group of your friends, and go for a walk on your nearest beach, woodlands or nature park /river or stream. It is an unfortunate fact that people like to dump trash in local areas rather than dispose of it properly, and anybody who has watched any animal rescue tv programs will have seen footage of birds who have gotten fishing hooks caught on their beaks or wings, or fish that have swam into trash and can't get out of it, or animals who have become sick from the water being polluted in their natural habitat. 
• So get together a group of your friends, go for a walk or a picnic, and take what you need with you, then when you get there, let the clean-up commence! 
• collect any rubbish you find that is safe for you to remove - don't want anybody to get stabbed with glass or a drug user's needle, and then dispose of it properly. The animals and the environment will thank you for taking away anything that will continue to pollute their area. You might even find some beautiful pebbles, feathers, shells or drift wood to take home as a souvenir! 

I was inspired to add this as an April activity after watching a trailer for the film 'Midway' which focuses on the rather cute Albatross (bird). One image on screen does show the inside of a dead albatross that has died from ingesting trash when trying to feed :( 

to view the trailer, or to support the 'Midway' film project, please visit: midway film - view trailer or follow the progress of Midway film project

Spotlight on.... The Foxton Centre

The Foxton Centre, based in Preston, UK is a very special organisation indeed. They run projects and programs aimed at helping children and teens in the community; teaching new skills to those who are at risk; outreach projects, known as Streetlink, for street sex workers (something that many groups who aim to help those on the street shy away from) and finally drop in centre for the homeless, skills workshops for the homeless and a mentoring scheme to help ensure those sleeping rough can develop the means to get themselves out of that cycle and stay out of it, for good. Simply just these actions alone make The Foxton Centre and the work they do worth highlighting and celebrating for creating real positive change for the people who live and work in the town of Preston.

I interviewed Shirah Bamber, who works in marketing and communications at The Foxton Centre for more information on the work done by the staff and volunteers at The Foxton Centre.

With thanks to Ms. Bamber

As March is 'help the homeless' month over at Project52, could you describe what services The Foxton Centre offers in aid or support of the homeless?

The Foxton Centre offers various services to homeless & vulnerably housed adults. Our largest project, Community Café http://www.thefoxtoncentre.co.uk/content/foxton-projects/community-cafe/, provides a hot meal for £1 (although vouchers are provided for people who are rough sleeping), shower, laundry, telephone and IT facilities, as well as social activities and a high level of support from our team of Community Social Workers.  Through the Café we provided 3004 meals in 2013.

We are currently running a campaign called Hungry which allows patrons in local cafés Ravenous & Café Fresch to donate £1 and purchase a meal for a homeless person. This campaign has been running since July 2013 and has already provided over 700 meals.

Other Projects provided for rough sleepers & vulnerably housed adults:
Our Wet Garden http://www.thefoxtoncentre.co.uk/content/foxton-projects/wet-garden/, has been developed to break down barriers when working with established street drinkers
 The Assertive Outreach Team (http://www.thefoxtoncentre.co.uk/content/foxton-projects/assertive-outreach/) go out a number of times a week during the day & fortnightly in the wee hours of the morning.

Finally, our GreenFingers Allotment Project http://www.thefoxtoncentre.co.uk/content/foxton-projects/greenfingers-allotment-project/ has been developed by a team of volunteers & service users to develop life skills, encourage community involvement and improve health and well being.

It currently costs us £2000 per week to provide these services.

The Foxton Centre has existed in Preston for over 40 years. During this time it will have seen many changes to the services it offers and the lives of those who make use of The Foxton Centre. At present the centre has several projects in the running including Safelink, which is aimed at supporting at risk young people, StreetLink, which offers support to street sex workers, and Amity befriending, which offers support to the presently or former homeless. Are there any plans to add to the current list of projects run by The Foxton Centre?  

We increase our projects as the needs present themselves. Just last year we saw a 23% increase in the number of service users attending the Community Café, which caused us to develop the Hungry campaign. We increased our projects from 10 to 13 in the last 12 months and are currently working at capacity.

In the document "Street Sex Workers in Preston: An Evidence-Based Study" It was suggested that a Foxton Centre Charity shop could be set up to help those who take part in the StreetLink project to gain current work experience and to raise self-esteem amongst the workers. Have there been any further developments on this idea or is it still at proposal stage? 

At present it is only an idea. As with many ideas they can take a long time to come into fruition through the simple reality that we are incredibly busy with the projects and service user base we are already working with and taking on a shop would be a large commitment of time and resources.
The study can be found at: http://www.thefoxtoncentre.co.uk/content/information/publications-resources/

The Foxton Centre [appears to] rely on a mixture of public donations, local business support for the free meal voucher schemes and national lottery funding besides making use of physical object donations. As we're now in Spring and heading into summer, does the list of requested physical donated items change at all with the seasons?

You are right, we are funded through a mixture of funding bodies (including the Big Lottery, but also Comic Relief, Children in Need, Esme Fairhurst, to name just a few) and local donations of money and supplies.

There are some requirements that stay the same all year round, such as toiletry items (soap, shampoo, disposable razors, etc) and others change with the seasons (ie. Sunscreen, winter coats, etc).

As we go further into 2014 are there any changes you hope to see at The Foxton Centre, whether that is an increase in projects or services offered, or an increase in public donations and support of The Foxton Centre itself... what would those be?

This year my personal goal at The Foxton Centre is to develop formal partnerships with local businesses. We began 2014 with a strong new partnership with Magma Digital and hope that the year will continue as it began!

We are also getting ready to host our 2nd Annual Evening Fundraiser at St. John, The Minster (on Church Street), which is an evening of live entertainment, 2 course meal and complimentary glass of wine for £25, and hope that this year we will attract a wider audience of supporters.


And finally, is there anything you would like to ask of the readers of this interview to do in the future, either towards those who attend The Foxton Centre or vulnerable individuals at large in the world?  

There are so many ways to help vulnerable people, but sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start. We try to make it easy for you, and I’m certain that charities in other areas would be happy to discuss potential ideas if you live elsewhere. What can seem like a little thing to you can make such a difference in someone’s life.

Some of the ways people like to get involved with us is through donating to our Hungry campaign, donating an hour or two of expertise, becoming a regular (or occasional!) volunteer, attending our fundraising events or organizing an office fundraiser such as a bake sale, or casual day. It doesn’t need to be big or complicated to have an impact.

Thank you to Shirah for taking part in the interview and thank you to all of the staff and volunteers at The Foxton Centre for all your hard work, time and dedication from myself and on behalf of the readers of Project52 blog.