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17
Dec 2022
Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal: 'I shouldn't need this - but it's a lifesaver'
This year’s Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal is for Resurrected Bites in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Today, Vicky finds out how a series of life events left one woman unable to afford food.
Please give generously to support local people who are struggling this Christmas. They need your help.
Lara Rundle is a single mum to four grown-up children.
For the last three years, she has lived in Burton Leonard, having moved up from the south-east following the death of her father.
It was the first in a string of events that left her struggling to cover all her outgoings – even before she tried to buy food.
With some savings in the bank and a small, fixed-rate mortgage, Lara had enough money to get by. However, a reaction to the covid vaccination left her leaving hospital treatment and unable to work for some time.
As she recovered, Lara received some devastating news:
Read more:
- Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal: How high standards help to feed hungry families
- Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal: 'We had good jobs but we were still struggling'
Lara spent many months travelling up and down the country to visit her daughter, eating into her dwindling savings.
She began to look into ways to cut her costs and find some money.
Lara had been in receipt of some benefits, but that changed when her youngest daughter went away to university. She was given an annual pay rise of £90 a month, which meant she was no longer entitled to the £180 a month she had been receiving in Universal Credit.
At £90 a month worse off than before, she then received a letter saying her council tax was going to increase because the valuations office believed her house should be in a higher band.
Lara simply didn’t know what to do. 
Shelves full of products at Resurrected Bites' community grocery
She was helped by her GP practice, which put her in touch with Resurrected Bites.
She became a customer of the community grocery at Gracious Street in Knaresborough, paying £3 for a shop worth many times that amount. She said:
With her daughter well on the road to recovery and the support of Resurrected Bites when she needs it, as well as welcoming neighbours in her new home, Lara feels much more positive about the future.
She said:
Nobody in the Harrogate district should go hungry this Christmas.
It costs £300 to run the community grocery for one day. Please help to keep it open for everyone who relies on it.
Click here to contribute now.
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