Church on the Street: Kind-hearted global donors raise thousands in just days to support most vulnerable in Burnley
Pastor Mick Fleming, along with Father Alex of St Matthew's Church, featured on the BBC this week to talk about how poverty in Burnley had reached unprecedented levels during lockdown.
At the beginning of pandemic, Pastor Fleming spoke to the Burnley Express about how he, along with an army of volunteers, had been delivering more than 100 food parcels a day to vulnerable households.
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Hide AdHe told us he was being met on doorsteps by elderly people in floods of tears, and by hundreds of young families desperately ripping open care parcels.
It is poverty epidemic that he believes has now been exacerbated by recent events.
"It's certainly got worse since then. We're seeing different problems now. A lot more mental health problems, suicides, the relapses, the use of opiates.
"Many of my friends have died. It's just horrendous, absolutely horrendous. Access to mental health services are really, really bad; access to drug and health services, horrendous. People are living on the streets again. It's awful."
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