What would it take to end poverty in the UK?
Building connections, breaking chains, and making food banks history
With Emma Revie, CEO of the Trussell Trust, and Val McKie, a Trussell Trust lived experience partner.
This event took place on 1 July 2024 at Methodist Conference in Leeds. You can watch a full recording of the lecture below.
Churches play a major part in the Trussell Trust’s network of food banks across the UK. This lecture explored what it might look like for Christians to contribute to building a future without the need for food banks, together with others. In doing so, it asked what chains of injustice need to be broken, what connections and relationships need to be nurtured, and whose voices we need to hear more of.
Speaker biographies:
Emma Revie: Emma has been the chief executive of the Trussell Trust since 2018, leading the organisation through periods of enormous change as it reorientated its work supporting food banks to turn towards building a future where no one will need a food bank, and then responded to increasing hardship during the pandemic. She has always been inspired by social justice, becoming involved in the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign while a student in Glasgow, calling for the unjust and unpayable debts of the poorest countries in the world to be cancelled. Previously she was chief executive at youth charities Ambition and Landmark, and head of donor services at international aid charity Tearfund. Day to day, she engages with partner charities and government ministers to build support for the changes that will end the need for food banks, and holds meetings with staff and food banks around the UK to work through the challenges and opportunities that will bring that vision closer.
Val McKie: Val is a lived experience partner and a member of the Trussell Trust Transforming Together Team. She has spoken in the Houses of Parliament about her experiences of poverty as part of the process of building support for our Essentials Guarantee Campaign. Prior to the tragic death of her husband, Val had had a career in Management Development with a focus on conflict resolution. Following his death, Val was left homeless and destitute. It took her many years to rebuild her life and she is passionate about using her skills and experiences to help improve society so that no person has to live without enough to meet their basic needs.
Dreams and Realities art exhibition
Those attending the lecture in person were also able to view the powerful Dreams and Realities portrait exhibition which is touring the UK as part of the Let’s End Poverty campaign. Artist Stephen Martin has painted acrylic portraits of nine people living in poverty in Sheffield, including himself. Each picture shows the person, something that depicts their economic reality, and something that represents the dreams and ambitions they would pursue if they were not held back by poverty and unjust systems.