The number of impoverished children in the municipality of Groningen that is helped by the Stichting Leergeld continues to rise.
In the first half of this year, 2353 children were helped, compared to 2227 in the first 6 months of 2022.
School stuff pass
Coordinator Patrick Poelma of the Stichting Leergeld Groningen has announced this. According to him, Leergeld is currently mainly busy with extending membership of sports clubs and providing school materials, including through the so-called school stuff pass. “This is for the coming school year.”
Leergeld has been the last safety net for years when it comes to helping poor parents of children between 4 and 18 years old. If they can no longer turn to municipal or other schemes, they can turn to Leergeld.
Swimming lessons
,,We help in different ways”, says Poelma. ,,At the moment it is therefore a lot about school supplies, but after the summer holidays there will be applications for paying for swimming lessons again. We also reimburse participation in cultural activities such as music and dance. We give the money to the providers of those activities, it does not go to the parents or children. Where do we get the money from? From various governments, funds, but also private donations.”
Before the corona crisis, the number of requests for help was already on the rise, according to the coordinator. “It remained stable during the crisis, but now we are clearly seeing growth again. The causes? Perhaps a greater awareness of us. The higher energy costs probably also contributed to this.
From the taboo sphere
According to him, the national discussion about those higher taxes may have helped to remove the subject of ‘poverty’ from the taboo atmosphere. ,,That can also lead to us getting busier.” Poelma emphasizes that Leergeld Groningen runs on about 25 volunteers.
Elsewhere in the province of Groningen there are also Stichting Leergeld (they all fall under the umbrella of the national organization of that name). The Stichting Leergeld Zuidoost-Groningen, for example. It helps children in Oldambt, Veendam, Pekela, Stadskanaal and Westerwolde and also sees the number of applications growing.
“Last year we helped 1940 children while we were at 1600 to 1700 before the corona crisis,” says chairman Jan Bessembinders. ,,And also this year we have already had more applications than we had estimated. I also see the higher energy costs as an important cause of the growth.”