Hello,

I would like to apply on behalf of the Student Financial Support team for a grant of £1,000 to support the additional costs of running the University Essentials Cupboard.

What is the Essentials Cupboard?

The Essentials Cupboard was set up at the start of the 2019/20 academic year and is designed to give in the moment support and can provide three to four days’ worth of essential items including food with recipe ideas, household items and personal care to students. This cupboard (a smaller version of a food bank) is based in the Carrington Building and was set up in response to a growing demand for financial support to students in financial difficulty and needing immediate support with essential items and food while other forms of financial support are assessed. The student financial support team often receive referrals from the Welfare team, chaplaincy and the Reading Students’ Union Advice Service as well as academic tutors/supervisors.

Why are we making this application?

As demand has grown for this type of support due to the COVID pandemic and now Cost-of-Living crisis, we are needing to purchase more stock and expand our storage space for the items we do stock. Demand has increased from supporting under 20 students in 2019/20 to over 150 students in this academic year. Our initial spend and set up costs on these essential items was under £500 but these have increased, and we have spent over £2,500 on essential items in this academic year.

The grant of £1,000 would primarily be used on purchasing three additional lockable cabinets (approx. £250 each) so that we are able to keep greater quantities of stock in Carrington to distribute to students in financial difficulty, the funds remaining would be used to support the costs of purchasing more “bags for life” for students needing to use the Essentials Cupboard to carry the items home and keep and initial set-up stock to fill the new cupboards.

Thank you very much for considering our request for support. If we are successful in receiving an award from the Friends of the University of Reading it will make an important difference to our ongoing support to students struggling to live with inflation while studying and the rising cost-of-living.

Best wishes

Matt

Matt Daley

Head of Student Financial Support and Customer Service

Tel: + 44 (0) 118 378 5644 | General Enquiries: +44 (0)118 378 5555 | Email: m.d.daley@reading.ac.uk | Twitter: @UniRdg_Money

For further information on financial support available to you as a student, go to our Money Matters web page.

For further information on how the University is supporting students with the Cost-of-Living Crisis, go to our Focus on the Cost-of-living website.