Looking back at Stripey’s year – 2025
It’s that time a year again when we feel it’s important to reflect on everything
It’s that time a year again when we feel it’s important to reflect on everything we’ve achieved with your support and the impact it has made. This annual blog is a collection of these highlights and thank yous – although there’s too many to mention all the amazing individuals, organisations, schools and community groups here.
* As we’re not at the end of the year quite yet, any impact numbers mentioned will be updated at the end of the year.
‘Family’ has been the running theme of Stripey Stork’s year, which is why it has been specifically chosen for our festive bauble this year. This isn’t a new word to be thrown around at Stripey Stork, in fact, it’s one of the cornerstones of our strapline: ‘Family. Support. Recycled’. It’s why we do what we do – we help families experiencing hardship in Surrey and Croydon. This year, however, we wanted to give the families we support more of a voice in our service, so that it can be shaped with them, rather than for them.
The kick start into this mindset came earlier in the year, when we signed the Good Company’s End Poverty Pledge, reaffirming our commitment to working towards a poverty-free Surrey. Although we already embed many of the pledge’s principles, an important and tangible action for us was to form our own Lived Experience Action Group (LEAG). This consists of members of our Advisory Panel, specifically those with lived experience, and some key members of staff. They meet regularly to discuss any potential changes or enhancements to our service, review the language we use, consider how information could be better accessed, and explore improved ways of gathering feedback. As a result of this group, we have already changed the structure and content of parts of our website; giving families a clearer pathway and informative experience when seeking support from us.
Although we believe that numbers are not the ultimate measure of our impact, they do provide a useful indicator of how well we are meeting demand for our service.
In 2025, we’ve helped 13,724 families (and 23,743 children) with the essential items they need. This includes referrals made on behalf of specific families, as well as items collected or delivered in bulk by other baby banks and partner organisations. These figures do not include the additional families we support with our Santa Stork Christmas campaign (more on this below).
We’ve given out approximately 68,225 items this year, including:
We’ve worked with 416 different partner organisations who refer families to us that need a helping hand. To give an indication of the growing level of need, last year we helped 11,571 families (^19%) and 18,629 children (^27%) – and we’re not done yet!
School Days is our school readiness campaign, providing preloved and new school essentials all year round so children (up to college age) can thrive in their education.
In 2025, we’ve supported 4,074 families (7,424 children) with school items, including:
Now in its third year, School Days is supporting more families than ever before – 32% more than in 2024. As the cost-of-living crisis continues to hit hard, school items are understandably not a priority for parents struggling to make ends meet when there are bills to pay, mouths to feed and homes to heat.
To manage the high amount of School Days donations, collections and deliveries, our project site at Raven House in Redhill continues to work hard for us. This year, we’ve expanded the range of school items we stock, worked more proactively with schools and increased directly delivering to them. We have supported 14 pop-up uniform shops, which are a brilliant way to reach families and give them the choice they deserve.
We are especially thankful to all the local schools and PTA’s that have organised preloved uniform collections and coat drives, enabling families to donate good quality items their children have outgrown or no longer need. It truly reflects ‘Family. Support. Recycled’ and it means so much to families like this:
“The family had children who were in school uniform that was too small for them and marked/stained. This opened them up to bullying, embarrassment and reluctance to engage. Since receiving the items, the children have felt more included and the mum feels less guilt about not being able to provide for the children. She was overwhelmed with the kindness of your charity.”
We are now in the final year of the Spreading Our Wings three-year programme (ending June 2026), funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. Below are some highlights of what we’ve been able to achieve in terms of capacity and reach:
“Fab organisation – referral system is easier now and excellent to have the Guildford hub to pick up from. Makes my life so much easier knowing I don’t have to factor a long drive to my busy diary.”
– Referral Partner Survey, 2025 –
A key element of this project has been the opening of our new workshop at 55 Albert Road North – next door to our Reigate warehouse – with the official opening event held in May. This newly renovated, additional space has been a dream come true, and we honestly don’t know how we managed without it.
The workshop provides an accessible space with designated areas to process, safety check and clean large equipment items. It has also enabled us to welcome more volunteers and benefit from the additional storage space.
We are grateful to the businesses, schools and community groups that choose to support us – through giving their time, energy and/or donations. Here are some of this year’s highlights.
At the beginning of 2024, we were delighted to be chosen as the charity partner for Unum’s Dorking office for the next two years. Following a very successful partnership – raising over £45,000 to date, joining us onsite for over 1,200 volunteering hours, supporting all of our seasonal campaigns, regularly donating preloved items, and, last but absolutely not least, covering the first year’s rent for our new workshop – we were even more delighted when they announced they would like to extend the partnership for a third year.
“Volunteering at Stripey Stork is a meaningful and practical way to make an immediate and positive difference in our community, and I cannot wait to be on site sorting our donations again soon.”
– Mark Till, Chief Executive Officer, Unum –
Another partnership highlight was being chosen by Captains David and Susie as their charity of the year, following a visit to our warehouse. Over the summer, they both took on immense personal challenges: David cycling 1,000km from St Andrews Golf Club in Scotland to his home course, while Susie playing 90 holes in 5 days across 10 different clubs. Their incredible efforts raised over £20,000, and you can read more about their challenges here.
As if we weren’t blown away enough, their Captains’ Day in September raised a further £18,000. They were then able to add this to some more funds already raised and double it by donating through our Big Give Christmas Challenge in December (more on this below). What a shining example of what can be achieved through determination and imagination, supported by a network of friends and players.
Another mutually beneficial partnership is with Reigate Squash Club, who have also extended their support into the second year. In 2025, they held a summer BBQ, ran a racket competition, took part in Run Reigate, got a team together for both of our quiz events, organised collections and supported our seasonal campaigns. A truly first-class team!
New items donated – either by small independent businesses or national corporations keen to support us with surplus or discontinued stock – are an important part of our model. MAM Baby really get this and have continued to support us with ongoing and generous donations of baby bottles, sterilisers, breast pumps and soothers, ensuring these essential stocks are kept topped up. They have also seen the impact of this support through regularly volunteering with us.
We always say at Stripey Stork that kindness starts at a young age. We love seeing children embrace this ethos and are always happy to support schools when they choose to support us through their activities; from organising donation drives to running gift collections. We’re grateful to every single school for thinking of us and it’s no surprise that we are often front of mind, as many of the schools that support us are also on the receiving end of this kindness. Two schools, in particular, deserve a special mention because of their fundraising creativity and enthusiasm.
At St Johns School in Leatherhead, a group of Year 8 students organised a 10-mile sponsored walk as part of the First Give programme to raise funds and awareness of hidden child poverty. As a powerful act of empathy, they also took part in a ‘Go Without Day’, arriving at school without bags, snacks or essentials. They went on to win the competition, securing £1,000 in additional funding on top of the money they had already raised. You can read more about their fundraising efforts here.
As part of Reigate Grammar School’s 350th birthday celebrations, they challenged themselves to donate and fill 350 secondary school bags for the local children we support. The impact was felt far and wide, with hundreds of children able to start the academic year with confidence and dignity.
“This is an opportunity to make a significant difference to the lives of children and parents who are struggling. The culture at Stripey is inclusive, friendly, encouraging and built on an ethos of high standards. So much care and effort goes into quality checking and preparing the items that are needed. I love telling people about what we do at Stripey Stork as so proud to be part of the team.”
– Volunteer Survey, 2025 –
The feeling is entirely mutual. Our volunteers are the heart and soul of what we do, and we genuinely couldn’t do it without them. We are incredibly grateful for their dedication, kindness and collaboration. It was fitting that volunteer Sam was recognised for these very qualities at the Mayor of Reigate and Banstead Volunteers Awards, scooping up an Individual Award.
Our volunteers rise to the challenge year after year so we can continue to meet growing demand, and they’ve seized opportunities along the way. This includes some of our more experienced volunteers stepping into Area Lead roles, as well as those working out in the community organising remote working teams (with particular thanks to Penny and Kate). We’ve even uncovered a few DIY enthusiasts within the group, alongside volunteers keen to be van drivers when needed.
Our Duke of Edinburgh volunteering programme continues to go from strength to strength. This year, the scheme has achieved:
As part of the Mayor of Reigate and Banstead Volunteers Awards, it was also wonderful to see the team of regular volunteers who support these students – Jo, Ann, Nicky, Sue and Sally – recognised with a Team Volunteer Award. Alongside their patience and kindness, they bring backgrounds in teaching and Scout leadership, giving us confidence that our students are in capable hands.
Also supported by Helen, our Volunteer Co-ordinator for Young People, we welcomed a small group of students from The Orpheus Centre, a local charity supporting disabled young people. They joined us weekly for 6 weeks and it was a pleasure to watch them grow in confidence and independence over that time.
It isn’t every day that you get to host a baby shower, let alone for a cartoon piglet! So, when we heard the news that Peppa Pig was welcoming a baby sister, we knew we had to jump on the opportunity. It’s a fun and playful way to highlight a serious issue: the growing number of families who need our help when welcoming a new baby. In collaboration with The Belfry Shopping Centre in Redhill, we ran children’s activities throughout May half term, with opportunities for families to donate new items for local babies and new mums in need. At Stripey Stork, we’ve always believed in responding creatively and compassionately to whatever comes our way. This baby shower might have been for a fictional pig, but the need it highlighted is very real.
This annual stripey fundraiser takes place in June, with supporters wearing stripes and shouting about it to raise vital funds for our ongoing work. This year was a record-breaker, raising £6,933, and you can read all about it in our blog. Thanks to Reigate Manor for hosting our Stripey quiz in the evening, Unum for sponsoring the event and everyone who joined us – making it a sell-out and a cracking night. It was so successful that we had requests to organise another, which we did, later in the year in aid of our Christmas campaign.
In September, we returned to Priory Park with a fantastic team of 50 runners for Run Reigate. We’re grateful to all the individuals, corporate teams and families who chose to run and fundraise for Stripey Stork. Their collective efforts are never in vain, and they raised an amazing £20,360.
A teenage boy from Ukraine, Volodymyr, truly stole the show this year. We had been supporting Volodymyr and his family since they settled in Reigate after fleeing the war in Ukraine. Wanting to give back, Volodymyr asked if he could run the 10k for us – and of course, we were honoured.
“I have never forgotten this kindness and the way it made us feel welcome and safe.”
The surprise came when Volodymyr shared his fundraising page on a local Facebook group in an attempt to reach his £200 target. Within just two days, he had raised over £1,000. He was more shocked than anyone, telling us emotionally that he had never experienced kindness from strangers like this before moving here. You can read Volodymyr’s story here.
We were delighted when Volodymyr later joined our Advisory Panel, bringing a unique perspective as a refugee and a teenage boy. In fact, one of his first tasks was researching what Christmas gifts teenage boys would enjoy.
We’ve been incredibly lucky to have some amazing people take on fantastic challenges for us this year. These include:
These are just the highlights. We are grateful to every Stripey Stork fundraiser and their family, friends and colleagues for supporting them through sponsorship and encouragement. If a challenge event is part of your plans for 2026 then we’d love to support you. More details here.
This campaign is one of the constants in our annual calendar. We – alongside our supporters and referral partners – know how important it is to show mums and female carers that they are appreciated, and what better time to do this than Mother’s Day. This year, we distributed 770 pampering gift bags, each accompanied by a special card handwritten by one of our volunteers. You can read more in our blog.
Our Christmas campaign isn’t quite over yet, but once it’s wrapped up, we’ll add the link to our results blog here.
At the time of writing, nearly 5,500 children have been referred to us. We had originally estimated this figure to be closer to 4,000, which highlights just how severe the pressures of Christmas are in the current financial climate. Once again, our project site at Raven House has been transformed into Santa’s grotto, our elves – from regular volunteers and staff to corporate groups – have been busy sorting and packing gifts, with a constant stream of present bundles being collected by referral partners or delivered directly to them.
Following the successful partnership we formed last year with Truly Giving, we joined forces once again to help fulfil those extra-special gift requests. For the popular and timeless gifts, our incredible community of supporters far and wide truly stepped up and answered every call.
To round off the year, we once again took part in The Big Give’s Christmas Challenge. Last year, our focus was on raising funds for safe and warm places to sleep. It proved to be a hugely impactful campaign: we won the Newcomer Award and by September, we had already reached our target of providing 1,000 safe places to sleep.
The demand for these items is continuous, and referral partners have come to rely on us to provide them. For this year’s Big Give campaign, we made the decision to extend our focus to include winter warmth items, such as clothing, coats, prams and cosy toes. Our target was £108,000, enabling us to supply and process these essential items throughout the upcoming winter months. We’re delighted to say we hit our target – and then some – and you can read all about it in our blog.
We’d like to give special thanks to the following foundations and businesses for having faith in us by contributing to the match funding pot: the Shanly Foundation (our Champion Funders), the Wisley Foundation, the Borrow’s Family Charitable Trust, esure, Alchemy Foundation, Unum and Celtic Contractors.
Below are some impact stories that demonstrate the need for safe sleep and winter warmth – and how, thanks to this campaign, we’re going to be able to say ‘yes’ to all requests like these:
Whilst we don’t work directly with families, we hear about the impact of our work almost every day. It’s there in the quiet words of a referral partner telling us that, without our support, a family in crisis would have had no presents on Christmas Day. It’s in the gratitude of a grandparent dropping off a cot we had gifted for their grandchild after mum had fled domestic abuse with nothing. And it’s in the meaningful donation from a mum we once supported, who is now in a better place and wanted to give something back. Each of these moments means so much in their own special way.
As we have grown, so too has our impact. Last year, we began capturing this more formally in the first quarter of the new year through an annual Impact Report. You can read our 2024 Impact Report here.
We’ll leave you with one special impact story that shows how small actions can make a big difference: From football boots to a bright future
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
– Anne Frank, 1944 –
It’s that time a year again when we feel it’s important to reflect on everything
Between 2nd and 9th December 2025, we took part in the Big Give Christmas Challenge.
The children were huddled together under towels, trying to keep warm in a bitterly cold
As the colder months approach, one item becomes especially important for every child: a warm