Our June wish list is now here, along with donation days. Please take a look at the items we need, and if they match up with items you are looking to re-home, we can pass them on to families we are supporting.

Please book a donation slot. We operate a booking system so that we can manage the flow of donations. If you cannot make one of our donation days or the slots are filled, please email donate@stripeystork.org.uk to make alternative arrangements. 

Book a slot

There are some items that we can’t accept due to safety concerns, lack of space or little demand. Please take a look of the full list of items we can and cannot accept. 

Items we can/cannot accept

• Please ensure that any clothing is freshly washed, sorted by age and gender and labelled. For cots, prams and other equipment please ensure that the item is cleaned and includes all fixings or spare parts in a labelled bag and where possible include a manual. 

Our warehouse address: 51a Albert Road North, Reigate, Surrey, RH2 9EL.

Any queries please email donate@stripeystork.org.uk.

Thank you for your continued support – we need your lovely donations to keep supporting families in our community.

JUNE 2026

Girls clothing, shoes & coats 

• 0-3 months/newborn
• 9-12 months
• 2-3 years
• 3-4 years
• 6-9 years
• 10-12 years
• Teen clothing adult sizes 12-16

Boys clothing, shoes & coats

• 0-3 months/newborn
• 18-24 months
• 2-3 years
• 3-4 years
• 6-7 years
• 7-8 years
• 8-9 years 
• 9-10 years
• Suitable teen clothing in adult sizes M, L, XL

Equipment

• Pram/Buggies
• Buggy boards (universal 
• Moses baskets & folding stands
• Cots/Cot beds/Toddler beds (less than 10 years old. No mattresses)
• Highchairs (folding type 2017 or later or IKEA type only)
• Sterilisers (microwave or cold water type only)
• Bouncy chairs
• Playmats
• Changing mats & bags
• Muslins
• Bibs

Bedding  

• Baby sleeping bags (0-6 months)
• Baby cellular blankets
• Moses basket, cot, cot bed sheets

Bathing

• Baby baths
• Reclining bath supports
• Hooded towels

Toys

• Baby toys suitable from birth
• Sorting/stacking toys
• Board and cloth books for babies
• Toddler toys (no large playsets)
• Dolls / Barbies / Action figures
• Duplo / Megabloks
• Board games and card games
• Toddler and teen books

Please make sure all toys have a CE mark on.

Toiletries

• New and unopened toiletries e.g. shampoo, body wash, toothpaste, deodorant etc.
• Nappies and wipes

School Uniform

• All non logo school uniform in all colours and all sizes including shirts, t-shirts, jumpers, cardigans, skirts, trousers, shorts, summer dresses
• PE kits items such as shorts, t-shirts in all colours and all sizes.
• New stationery items including pens, pencils, rulers, maths sets, highlighters, A4 pads.
• Our full school days wish list can be found here. 

We are well stocked with all other items, thank you!- 

Important notes when donating

• We are located in Reigate, Surrey and unfortunately cannot offer a collection service.
• Please do not bring donations at any other time and absolutely no donations to be left outside the warehouse when we are closed, thank you!
• We are operating a ‘drop-off‘ system – donors will drive into the car park and we can assist to unload donations at the warehouse doors.
• It will be a great help if you follow our usual guidelines for donating items – ensure all items are freshly laundered, pre-sorted by age/gender and in a condition which you’d be happy to donate to a friend. This means that we won’t put a strain on our already limited resources and we can re-home your items quickly. For more information on making a donation, see How to Donate.

We know you all have lots of items to offer, so we’ve prepared a page to show you where to take the items we are unable to accept at the moment – Other places to recycle and reuse in Surrey.

We also have an Amazon wish list of new items which we continually need to complement our pre-loved packs. The list is regularly updated as our stock changes and items are delivered straight to us where they are readily distributed.

Please email donate@stripeystork.org.uk if you have any queries regarding our Stripey Stork wish list donation sessions .

Thank you for your support Team Stork

The post Stripey Stork’s wish list appeared first on Stripey Stork.

For those of you who are signed up to our mailing list, you will have already heard our big news! We found out at the end of last year that we need to find a new home. There is a planning proposal in place for development of the business park where we operate, and our lease is unlikely to be renewed after August this year. We needed to take action.

The last time we had to search for new premises it took us a year to find somewhere suitable so we got straight on the case. I’m pleased to say we were luckier this time and we’ve found somewhere that fits the bill.

We have taken this as an opportunity to find somewhere that will help us achieve the ambitious longer term targets we’ve set ourselves. By the end of 2021 we want to be able to respond to 3500 requests a year from across the county and beyond, and pass back items into the community worth £1m per year.

We believe that every baby deserves the same start, and time and time again you show us that you believe this too. 

The proposed site is double the size of our current space and is still based in the same borough so is a convenient location for all our volunteers, donors and referral partners. There is so much scope to grow the service and help more families from this new base. I took the trustees and the team to see this new unit and everyone loved it.

Sonya our Referrals Coordinator loved the roller shutter doors. She could imagine being able to easily pack the cars of referral partners with items for the families they are working with.

Lydia our Donations Coordinator loved that it is on the ground floor. Any of you who have visited Stripey Stork will know that we have always had stairs to deal with – what a joy it will be to move prams and cots without having to think of the stairs!

Debby our Office Administrator loved that there is an office space big enough to accommodate the team AND organise the items we need for events and campaigns like Mum2Mum and Santa Stork.

Running these vital campaigns in a bigger space will be much easier.

I loved the fact that it will be such a fantastic location to welcome visiting groups and people who are interested to find out more about the work we do. I’m always proud to show people around our current offices but I just know that we’ll be able to do so much more from this new site.

But bigger space comes with a bigger cost.

And whilst we have never been short of ambition, we are going to need the support of our fantastic #TeamStork community to make this move possible. So often we ask you for the items your families have outgrown, or to pass on new presents for Mother’s Day or gifts for Christmas. You always overwhelm us with your responses and kindness.

Today we’re asking for a financial contribution towards our increased rental costs. 

A symbolic ‘brick’ in the wall of our new premises, and a show of support for the service that has become an integral part of our local community.

Please show us that #TeamStork are behind us as we take this next step on the Stork journey, helping us to ‘spread our wings’. Some generous funders have come on board already but we need to show them, and other potential supporters, that the community are behind us as we take this next step.

Are you with us #TeamStork?

You can make a one-off or monthly donation here (please include gift aid if you can as it makes such a difference). Making a £10 commitment per month gives us a secure base from which to grow our service.Your contribution however small will make a difference and, as we’ve demonstrated over the last 5 years, we’ll make the new space work incredibly hard for the community.

Please email me directly at info@stripeystork.org.uk if you have fundraising ideas or if your workplace, church or community group have funds or grants that we may be able to benefit from. We are always happy to chat if you’d like to know more about our plans for the future, pay us a visit or find out more about what we do.

It’s the exciting next step for #TeamStork and we’d love you to be a part of it. 

Thank you,

Founder and General Manager

The post We’re spreading our wings appeared first on Stripey Stork.

It was the end of a busy week at the office when the post arrived one Friday before Christmas 2018. We opened a Christmas card and a crisp ten pound note fell out. The handwritten message inside stopped us in our tracks:

“Dear Stripy Stork
Thank you for all the help you have given me and my baby. Last year I was in a bad place and was dreading Christmas. I had no family, no presents and tried to pretend it wasn’t happening. My support worker got me some things from you and I am so greatful (sic). I didn’t realise how important it was to give my son a gift. When he opened the Frozen snowman toy and I saw his face I felt like a proper mum for the first time ever. I started to get things sorted in January and got a new job in the summer. I made a promise that this year I would support what you do at Christmas. So here is £10. I hope it makes another mum feel like I did. Thank you for all you do.”

Wow. What an incredible thing for this mum to do. The Santa Stork gift of last year – an Olaf teddy donated by In Kind Direct – had such an impact that she was paying that kindness forward. We couldn’t be more grateful.

A year on and this family are in a better position but we know there are hundreds of parents and carers in our community feeling exactly like she did – dreading Christmas and wishing it wasn’t going to happen – because they can’t provide a few simple gifts for their children to open on Christmas morning.

That’s what Santa Stork is all about – you can read all about our annual Christmas campaign here in our blog.

“I hope it makes another mum feel like I did.”

See Santa Stork page for details of how to help this year’s campaign.

The post The kindness of Christmas appeared first on Stripey Stork.

Every year Localgiving present local charities with an opportunity to make their funds go even further with a match funding opportunity. Many of you have asked when this is going to be launched and we can now reveal details of this year’s Grow Your Tenner campaign.

There’s no question that the need for our services is on the increase, but to keep up with that ever-increasing demand we are continually looking for dependable and innovative ways to fund our work. So, when Localgiving announced that this year’s Grow Your Tenner campaign is focusing on encouraging people to become long term supporters of local charities, we got a little bit enthusiastic.

How it works

The proposition is simple, but has a high impact! From 10am on Tuesday 11th December 2018, new monthly direct debit donations will be matched by up to £10. The matching will take place after the first 6 donations, and be applied to the following 6 donations.

So, £120 can be turned into £200, as if by magic! Here’s how: If a donor gives 12 monthly donations of £10 (=£120), Localgiving will match the final 6 donations (+£60=£180). And not forgetting that all important 25% gift aid (if applicable) on your £120 contributions. Voila! £120 becomes over £200!

But remember, you must wait until after 10am on Tuesday 11th December to sign up

Terms and conditions apply (see below). 

How the funds will be used

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the increasing demand for UK baby banks and we have felt this more than. So far this year alone we have responded to over 2000 requests for help, which is already over a 20% increase on last year’s total for the whole year. You can read all about the reasoning and further statistics in our Born on the Breadline blog. But the immediate question is how will we cover the associated costs for this ever-increasing demand for our services?

We have a Funding Co-ordinator who works tirelessly on grant and funding applications, and this is continuously happening in the background. We are always extremely grateful when we have a successful application, but this funding is often ring-fenced for a particular project or appeal.

Then there are the kind donations and fundraising activities from our loyal supporters, we rely on these to do the essence of our work, from buying urgent supplies to answer an emergency request, to bulk purchasing new items needed to complement the pre-loved bundles we send out, of which we average over 50 a week.

Additionally, we have operational costs like any other organisation, we have rent to pay, a building to heat and baby clothes to wash. Our operational costs are modest in comparison to other organisations and national charities, and we work hard to keep these costs to a minimum. However, we do operate in the real world and these associated costs are existent and rising nonetheless. Your monthly contributions would also be used to cover such operational costs.

The impact of your donation

It costs us on average of £25 for each referral package we send out. This includes all of the operational costs associated with making this happen. When you think that each bundle has a value worth approximately £250, this is great value for money. So, a £200 donation would mean we can help 8 local families in need, supplying them with children’s clothes for a week, essential toiletries and toys/books.

Make it happen!

Whilst New Year’s resolutions are being considered, now would be a really good time to think about what you could forgo to make a meaningful contribution in the coming year. With the added benefit of matching part of your contribution with ‘free’ money from Localgiving, meaning your investment will go even further. Giving up one takeaway cup of coffee a week is all it would take!

Rather than donating to a variety of charities throughout the year and losing track of who and what you have supported, you could set a budget at the beginning of the year and let us do the hard work.

Thank you for considering Stripey Stork – after 10am on Tuesday 11th December you can sign up here.

Some important T&Cs

• The campaign will end whenever the match fund runs out or midday on Thursday the 10th January 2019, whichever comes first.
• There is a match funding pot of £100,000, once it’s gone it’s gone. So, the earlier people sign up the better.
• Each charity may receive up to £5,000 match funding.
• Any monthly donations set up before 10am on 11th December will not be matched.
• One-time donations will not be matched, only monthly contributions.
• It is the responsibility of the donor to cancel their direct debit mandate when they are ready.
• For full terms and conditions, click here.

The post Grow your tenner with Stripey Stork appeared first on Stripey Stork.

One of our referral sources visited us and asked for some items for a little boy and his Mum. The boy was about to celebrate his 5th Birthday and the Mum had no means to provide him with any gifts. Recently fleeing a very violent relationship, the focus up until this point had been on safety rather than celebrations.

Whilst Mum’s request was very modest, we wanted to ensure this little boy had a special day. We keep boxes of new items in our toy area. They’re often gifts donated to us by families who know how lucky their own children have been at Birthday time and want those items to be shared with others.

Quickly we’d accumulated a bag of brand new toys, stationery, a jigsaw and a lovely teddy. We also included one of the #Bags4School. It featured the Minions on the front and the referral source explained that the boy loved Minions and how happy this would make him.

And of course because we’re Stripey Stork that wasn’t enough. We found a roll of wrapping paper and some tape so that mum could wrap the gifts herself. And we added a few special treats for her too.

The post Giving a little boy a happy birthday appeared first on Stripey Stork.

“I went to visit with him last week and he showed me his room. He has nothing in it except for a little rucksack which he packs a few clothes in for his stay each week.”

This came from a request we received from a Social Worker we work with regularly. She was supporting a 10-year-old-boy from a family with a history of domestic abuse and chronic neglect. The boy is at a boarding school and loves it there. It’s calmer, he gets more rest and he is flourishing.

But he had so little in his room. Nothing to show who he is and what he is interested in, and it’s not a room to proudly let friends come and hang out.

We set to work. This case had an impact on us so we found out a little more about this boy. Thanks to our amazing supporters we quickly gathered clothes, toys, books, toiletries, Lego, a new desk lamp and bedding for his room and we even supplied a reconditioned iPad mini. The son of one of our trustees – a boy of the same age – found posters and trading cards from his own collection which featured this boy’s favourite football team and asked for them to be passed on.

Genuine kindness in action.

We caught up with the Social Worker afterwards who was able to give us an update.

“He was so thrilled with all the things he received and his bedroom at boarding school is now looking very homely.

His response when he saw the iPad was lovely but the thing that won him over the most was ‘his very own dressing gown!’ He told me that he had never had one before and that he was looking forward to having a shower that night and wearing it from the bathroom to his bedroom!

I have seen him several times since passing on the items and he is making good use of everything.”

Something so simple as a dressing gown having such an impact. Imagine.

Thank you for trusting us to find the right home for your donations #TeamStork. Operating the way we do we’re able to direct the right items to the right places, and we ensure that it’s almost always more than just the essentials.

The post The dressing gown gift appeared first on Stripey Stork.

What an incredible day. Today was the #SantaStork2017 giving day. It really does get more extraordinary every single year.

We started early and loaded up all the gifts that we’d collected thanks to your support.

Lots of cars and a van were loaded up and taken to the hall we’d booked for our giving day.

Thanks to all your help, generosity and support, we were ready to pass out gift bags filled to the brim with goodies for 874 children and 385 of their parents and carers – isn’t that fantastic!

UPDATE: including the last minute requests we were able to give out gift bags for 1040 children and 438 of their parents and carers. 

The referral sources we work with came and collected the presents they’d requested for the families they support. All the presents were brand new and, in almost all cases, were items that the family or children has specifically requested.

Goods valuing £38,000 have been distributed, and they were sent with the very best wishes from everyone involved in supporting the campaign.

We were delighted to welcome Cllr Barbara Thomson and show her the wrapping day in full flow!

It was humbling to talk to the professionals about the difference the gifts would make; professionals who are supporting vulnerable local families all year around. We heard so many stories about how the gifts being collected were literally the only things the children would receive on Christmas Day.

Without Santa Stork, and your kindness, these local children wouldn’t be receiving anything.

We had a full house of ‘wrapping elves’ today, with help from a record number of people. It was so good to see lots of regular Stripey Stork faces, as well as plenty of new ones, particularly from some of the corporate teams who’ve helped us with our collections this year.

We’re very grateful to those who took time out of their busy schedule to come and lend a hand. You can’t beat #TeamStork for team spirit and there was a wonderful atmosphere in the hall.

We were also delighted to be speaking with That’sTV Surrey today who kindly came along to see the culmination of #SantaStork2017 after they featured our launch back in October.

You can watch their feature here:

https://youtu.be/pWLJkm00jyY

We were also featured on BBC Radio Surrey this morning on this link, which if you go to 1 hour 23 minutes you’ll hear Chief Elf Lauren speaking about Nicola setting up the charity and explaining about Santa Stork.

Of course none of this was possible without the support we received from so many:

• All of our supporters who donated online, shopped from our Amazon wish list, or went out and bought a present using our suggested gifts. Your generosity is humbling – THANK YOU!
• All our wonderful referral sources who made a request and then who collected and distributed gifts
• Localgiving and their #GrowYourTenner match funding scheme. We raised an additional £580 which effectively meant new presents for an extra 50 children!
• Cllr Barbara Thomson for her Surrey County Council community grant which covered rental of the storage space we needed to run the project and the purchase of gift bags
• In Kind Direct and Disney Store UK for the 48 Olaf soft toys as part of the #GiftMagic campaign
• Andy Nash and the team at the Belfry  for helping at the giving day, including us to benefit from the Santa’s Grotto charity donations, providing gifts for Santa Stork and allowing us to promote the charity in the centre via wrapping days and being at the big Christmas light switch on with James and Ola!
• Celtic Contractors Ltd who got involved for the 4^thyear. All 40 staff purchased gifts in their now annual collection.
• Oakhyrst Grange School who collected toys at their school fair
• The parents at Holmesdale Community Infant School who collected stocking fillers
• Dunnottar School who raised over £300 to buy presents from our Amazon wishlist
• Our friends at Halliwell Marks, Walter & Mair, Pistachios Memorial Park, Redhill, TSB in The Belfry, and Let’s Explore, Horley who were so accommodating in allowing people to drop off presents at their premises
• The talented Shona Gow who produced the Santa Stork Activity Pack and Thank You Certificate available to all those who donated online or bought a gift, and our lovely Christmas card
• Caterham WI  who collected gifts and purchased stocking fillers with the proceeds of the raffle. They also provided volunteers for the wrapping weekend at The Belfry.
• Karl Hyder, AKA the man and a van! who helped bring the gifts from HQ to the wrapping location on the day
• Allianz Global Assistance UK – helped with wrapping gifts and staff raised £256.02
• Luxury beauty brand Jurlique who generously donated 300 products for mums with a value of £9660
• Redhill and Reigate Round Table no.119  who kindly made a donation of £500
• All Things Chic – proceeds from Red Barn shopping event raised enough to buy 20 items on our wish list
• Mila and Mateo who sold Halloween glowsticks after school raising £56 which we used to buy 180 packs of chocolate coins
• Milk + Poop who created a Black Friday shopping deal which meant we received a lovely box of brightly coloured cuddly toys and cellular blankets
• The ladies from Pfizer who helped sort presents on their volunteer day and who gathered their teams together at their offices in a campaign to generously donate selected age group’s gifts
• Bailhache Linton who made a donation in lieu of sending Christmas cards and helped out in the office during a CSR day
• Willis Towers Watson who came to sort through gifts during two CSR days
• Metro Bank – sorting gifts at CSR day
• IHS Markit, Coulsdon who helped prepare gift bags and who also collected lots of gifts and stocking fillers
• M&S Redhill who chose Stripey Stork as their annual charity and held an instore staff collection for Santa Stork 2017
• Horley Tangent who donated time at the wrapping days in The Belfry and held a shopping evening raising £700
• Corrine Yates and family who bought, raised money and collected so many items from Southern Housing
• That’s TV Surrey for featuring our story
• Horley Evening WI for their cheque for £160
• RBBC Town Hall who took delivery of all the Amazon parcels from the wish list and delivered them to us
• Bargains4Ever Redhill – contributing toys and allowing us to purchase items at cost price
• The Local Handyman for donating online and buying chocolate section boxes
• Emilia Hunt who donated some of her beautiful hand made fabric goods
• Redhill Confetti who donated craft packs for some of the children
• Esure who donated gifts and stocking fillers
• 3FEV who donated specific Tesla items for a young fanatic on our list!
• Tim’s Pastry Club who donated treats for the wrapping tables – yum!
• Nicola Churchill from Co-Tribe who held a collection and donated some gifts
• The communications team at Grant Thornton International who helped with campaign planning and with getting videos ready to share on our social media channels
• Tesco Community Champions who organised an in-store collection of gifts which was generously supported by Tesco Gatwick shoppers
• The team at the PNL Centre, St Joseph’s Church Hall for making us so welcome and for allowing us to use the hall as a discount rate
• And finally… our amazing Santa Stork team of volunteers – Jenny, Margarida, Nicola, Megan, Angie, Emma, Lisa, Andrea, Sarah C, Sarah S all ably led by Chief Elf Lauren.

Merry Christmas everyone xx

The post Santa Stork 2017 – our giving day appeared first on Stripey Stork.

We’ve done this with our children over the past couple of years and find it’s so good for trimming those out of control Santa lists(!) and encouraging them to think of others. We’ve used printables to great effect in the past and we had a look on Pinterest to find some of them, plus some fun looking crafts.

We love the turkey hats and thankful trees, but the one we’ve used the most is the heart printable you can then laminate once completed, making it into a place mat. We’ve found it’s provoked some great discussions, and inevitably we’ve chatted about #SantaStork and the incredible joy it brings to children who otherwise might not receive a gift at Christmas. As we’ve mentioned recently, kindness comes naturally when you start at a young age, and we find our children love to get involved. A great tradition to begin in your family?

Click to find out more information about Santa Stork, and join our mailing list below so we can keep you up to date!

The post Stripey Stork Thanksgiving ideas appeared first on Stripey Stork.

Imagine having to tell your children that they won’t be receiving any presents at Christmas. No presents at all.
Children still in Junior school who wouldn’t have stories to share about the presents they received when they went back after the holidays.

That was the reality for a local family being supported by one of our referral sources back in 2017. A family who wished that they didn’t need the support of Stripey Stork and our Santa Stork campaign but who sadly did. When talking to Mum about gift choices for the children she only mentioned two of her children:

“I’ve already told the older ones they won’t be getting anything this year” she explained sadly.

But we were able to help thanks to your support, and requests for the whole family were added to our Santa Stork list.

It’s the reality of stories like this which make us realise how necessary our annual Christmas campaign is in bringing Christmas to as many local children in need as we can – regardless of age or circumstance!

See Santa Stork page for details of how to help this year’s campaign.

The post Christmas will not be cancelled! appeared first on Stripey Stork.

At Stripey Stork we pack all the requests to order and pride ourselves with going the extra mile to find just the right items. This particular story is of a health visitor who asked us for a party dress for a 5-year-old-girl. She had started in Reception that year but Mum had admitted that she had been declining all the Birthday party invitations received as the little girl didn’t have the right clothes to wear. Mum didn’t want her to stand out and so it was easier just to decline.

Our founder Nicola Dawes’ daughter was of a similar age to this little girl, and remembers how sad she felt that she was missing out on all the fun and making new friends at such an important time.

The request was so easy for us to fulfil – we had a selection of lovely dresses, as well as sparkly shoes and even a few little bags – but the health visitor talked about how the social impact for this family would be significant.

We hope the little girl had lots of happy times in her dress, and is growing up to be the confident little girl that she should be.

The post The party dress appeared first on Stripey Stork.