LISTEN: 11-year old Cannock boy releases Christmas single to raise money for food banks

Joseph Davis hopes his track 'Give it up for Christmas' will raise awareness of food poverty in the UK.

Joseph Davis
Author: Owen ArandsPublished 11th Dec 2020
Last updated 16th Dec 2020

The song, written and performed by Joseph himself, was inspired after thinking about his own Christmas plans. He said: "I was just thinking about what I might like to have for my Christmas lunch, I thought how horrible it must to not be able to have that food."

"So my idea was to help people in the UK, because there are so many people who struggle to have access to food."

It's thought around five million people in the UK currently live in poverty and local foodbank use is expected to rise by more than a third over the holiday season.

Joseph set up a just giving page to raise funds for the local foodbank and has already raised nearly £700, but he wants to go further.

He's been raising the profile of his Twitter and youtube channel in a bid to get more people to donate.

Having been interested in music from a very young age he said "music is a really good way for people to come together, and I think after this year that's what we want people to do"

Between April 2019 and March 2020, over 1.9 million food parcels were given out by the Trussel Trust in the UK with 186,000 of those across the West Midlands.

Caroline Wolfe is the community and business liaison officer at Stoke-on-Trent food bank. She said: "At the food bank we're always impressed when young people, in particular, get involved. We're really encouraged and we think it's amazing when people use their talents to come forward and let people know about the need for the food bank."