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It is a routine for Frank-Johan Melby (56).
Drive the tired car out to Nannestad, stand in the queue, get a badly needed free food box.
But now he has seen a change, because the food queues have become increasingly large.
People on disability benefits, families with children, single parents, refugees and pensioners.
More and more people need assistance to make ends meet, the food centers across the country report.
– The food distribution means that I survive until after Christmas.
Behind Melby and his girlfriend Pia, the queue grows.
– Without this, I would have to go to bed hungry at least four times a week, he says.
Photo: Kyrre Lien / VG
– There has been a formidable increase.
That’s what deacon Svein Arne Bergsli (61) says, who helped start up Hjerterrommet, a voluntary organization that distributes food to the needy in Nannestad.
Inside the small shed where they prepare the food boxes, potatoes, ribs and Christmas soda are packed at a feverish pace.
– Last year, an average of 35 people collected food from us. Now there are well over 120, says Bergsli.
The need is so great that they have had to limit how many people they can give out food to.
Photo: Kyrre Lien / VG
For this winter, the news reports have been increasingly clear.
Every third parent answered in a survey by Opinion for the Salvation Army that Christmas this year will be more difficult due to poorer finances.
In the report “Food aid on duty” which Fafo has produced on behalf of NAVNAVNorsk, a state agency which, among other things, handles social security payments and other social services. this autumn, the figures for the food centers have also been clear:
- Two thirds have registered an increased demand for food aid in the last six months.
- 69 per cent of food distributors state that there are more people collecting free food in 2023 than three years ago.
Photo: Kyrre Lien / VG
It was not a given that life would take the turn it did.
Melby had always been at work. As a construction worker and on to shop work. Then heavy transport and taxi, before his last job at a petrol station.
That’s when he took his back, and became disabled in 2009.
He describes it as a long and bureaucratic battle with Nav to get disability benefits.
– Every month I receive NOK 18,800 from the social security. In addition, I am paid around NOK 2,000 a month from the municipality as a leisure contact.
But there is not much left of that money. A typical month might look like this:
- Rent: NOK 10,000
- Insurance: NOK 1,986
- Costs for car: NOK 1,400
- Mobile and instalments: NOK 1,100
- Electricity/heating: NOK 2,800
- Cases that have gone to debt collection: NOK 1,200.
He is then left with just over NOK 2,000, which will cover everything else. Food for both himself and the dog, petrol and other unforeseen expenses.
He likes to get smoke donated by friends, or he indulges in buying it himself.
– We have a desire to put smoking away, but it is not that easy. There is potentially money to be saved there.
To make each month go up, he likes to pledge bottles.
– If I find some bottles in the ditch, they come home with me.
He notices in the shop that he has little money.
– I have to live by my wallet. I can’t even glance at what I can’t afford, he says.
Photo: Kyrre Lien / VG
This Christmas, he has arranged Christmas presents for free, from things that are given away.
– It takes some time to find something that fits, but then at least there is something under the Christmas tree, says Melby.
He celebrates Christmas with his family, including his two adult daughters from a previous relationship.
– I tend to say that they have more money than their father. They have fulfilled my wish that they do better than me.
Photo: Kyrre Lien / VG
– It is not fun to know that even in the world’s best country to live in, there are so many who are struggling.
He believes it is clear that the payments from Nav are too low.
– If the politicians come down to us at the grassroots level, they will see that we do not have a needle in the wall.
Although he believes there is a lot of stigma attached to being poor, he wants to run.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has says to NRK that the Norwegian people will have more to root for in 2024.
– We need to show a face that the state is unable to follow this up, now that the costs have increased as much as they have. The system hits you in the head.
Then Melby gets into the car to drive home.
Photo: Kyrre Lien / VG
The red Toyota is parked outside the home he rents in Nannestad. The wild dog Theo is rabid when Melby and his girlfriend Pia come home.
It was on Facebook that Melby and Pia Marie Moen (46) caught sight of each other.
– He had a picture where the hat and the dog matched. Then I thought “heel dance” what kind of man is this, says Moen.
But it was the two of them.
Moen himself has also become dependent on support from the state. Work assessment allowance (AAP) (AAP) Financial support from the state for people who are in the process of finding out whether they can return to work after illness or injury. and child benefit is what keeps her finances afloat.
– I feel a lot of adversity.
She worked as a healthcare worker, before her health stopped.
– My wish is to be able to become disabled, but to be able to work a few extra shifts every now and then when my health permits.
Photo: Kyrre Lien / VG
– Being able to feel useful improves the psyche, says Melby.
Therefore, they both also contribute to the second-hand shop at Hjerterrommet, where they sell mugs, furniture and clothes.
The money goes back to helping the needy in the municipality.
But that is not the only thing that brings joy to the Christmas season, because they are both involved in the Ullensaker choir association.
In the center of Jessheim, the vocal cords have begun to be fine-tuned:
PRESS THE SYMBOL AT THE BOTTOM RIGHT FOR SOUND.
It was his girlfriend who lured him into the world of choral music.
This Christmas, Jessheim shopping center and churches throughout the municipality have been places where they have sung Christmas.
– Sitting down and feeling sorry for yourself doesn’t make life any easier, says Melby.
Published:
Published: 31.12.23 at 07:46
2023-12-31 06:46:18
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