A new government report shows a continued rise in children in the UK growing up trapped in poverty – this figure now sits at 4.1 million, with 70% of those coming from working households*.

During the school holidays, the detrimental effects of poverty on children’s health increases – as lack of affordable childcare, costly activities to keep them entertained and food worries are at their worst.

Families who rely on free school meals during term time face an added financial pressure to provide a main meal during school holidays. It is estimated that the loss of free school meals is between £30-£40 a week per child**. A lot of money for those already living on the breadline.

This, combined with the cost of activities to keep children entertained, means the thought of school holidays fills such families with dread, rather than excitement.

We recently had the opportunity to be involved in a project which will help alleviate some of the additional pressures brought on by school holidays for local families – we were very keen to help where we could.

Loveworks, a Reigate community charity and foodbank, started the project after they were contacted by a few local schools last summer over concerns that those children who were depending on free school lunches may go hungry in the holidays. Loveworks had also noticed a substantial increase in families, with children, accessing their foodbanks over the summer.

Following discussions with a local Children’s Centre, they decided to run a trial project to provide relief for the nearly 150 struggling families on their caseload. For the Easter holiday period, Loveworks have provided lunch boxes and some healthy lunch ingredients to help those families who may otherwise have struggled to provide food and would also benefit from being inspired by healthy lunch ideas.

The lunchboxes were filled with food such as wraps, cheese, fruit, veg and snacks, which were low in fat, salt and sugar. Recipe sheets were also included, full of easy, affordable and healthy packed lunch ideas to help fill the gap so the children don’t go hungry and their families aren’t pushed any further into food poverty and insecurity.

So, we put our heads together on how we could also help and our ‘Easter bags’ project was born. We sourced some reusable and bright drawstring bags (blue and orange of course!), and filled them with new pens, pencils, colouring paper and crafts along with books, games, puzzles and small toys we already had in stock. We ensured the contents were suitable for children in preschool, nursery and reception.

We were also able to donate some branded water bottles to complement Loveworks’ lunchboxes.

These goodies will give the children plenty of opportunities to play, with some downtime and educational activities to match. Whenever they utter those dreaded words “I’m bored!”, then they’ll be reminded of their bag full of entertainment. The fact that the items fit into a child-sized handy bag means that they can bring them whilst out and about, for example to any of the great, local parks in our area.

The bags were dropped off today (Friday 5th April 2019), in time to be distributed to the children just before the school bell rung.

A very special thanks to Elaine and Nancy, two of our dedicated volunteers, who have done a brilliant job in coordinating this project and were on-hand to deliver the bags today.

Loveworks were also in the playground handing out the packs and showing the children how to fold the wraps, and discuss ideas of what they could put in them.

Here’s some feedback from the Children’s Centre involved in the project:

“The Easter holiday project has been a fantastic way, we as a Children’s Centre, along with local charities can help to support families with the additional costs they face over the Easter holidays. Many children receive free school meals which means parents have higher food costs during school holidays and the additional pressures of finding things to keep children entertained can put additional strain on families financially. Approximately 150 bags have been given out, the parents and children have been thrilled to receive them.”

Thank you to Caitlyn, a very kind young lady who asked friends and family for donations of colouring pens and pencils to Stripey Stork, instead of Birthday presents this year. Thanks to this act of kindness, we were able to use them in the Easter bags.

A shout-out also to Phoebe, who asked for donations to Stripey Stork for her recent Birthday. It’s because of funds like this that we are able to support special projects like the Easter bags. We are so proud of these special young ladies in being grateful for everything they already have and showing such empathy to others.

Thank you to Loveworks and everyone involved in making this project happen. It highlights how different organisations can work together to address a real need in the community. Each having its own strengths and resources, but together doing even more amazing things.

* https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-199495-to-201718
** The All Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-39697216

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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.

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Reflecting on 2018

No post about looking forward would be complete without starting from where we’ve come. 2018 was a big year for us. The ambitious target we set ourselves to respond to 2018 requests for help was exceeded; we were able to respond to a massive 2276 requests from our referral partners, which were made on behalf of the local families they support.

We estimate that the total value of these new and pre-loved items which have been passed onto the local community this year is over £600k.

Targets for 2019

We KNOW that the demand for our services has been rising since we started in 2013. And this is now truer than ever, with the introduction of Universal Credit and the issues it brings, benefits being frozen, and living costs and unemployment increasing. See our blog for further evidence.

Contrary to misconception, this is happening right on our doorstep, with 10% (22640) of children in Surrey living in poverty and two thirds of these being from working households (source: www.cfsurrey.org.uk).

The target we have set ourselves this year is to respond to 2500 referral requests and we are currently gearing up for the challenge. The area we primarily serve is East Surrey – this is where we are located, where we have fantastic support from the local community and where we have built a reputation with the referral sources who have come to depend on our services.

But, we can do more!

We have a great opportunity to ‘expand our village’ even further to other parts of Surrey. Such areas have been identified as being in desperate need and are drastically under-served at present. Establishing and building partnerships with referral sources in these areas is a key focus for 2019, and the groundwork for this has already been laid in 2018.

A number of projects are also underway which are looking at our operational processes and infrastructure, to ensure that we can meet the promise of expanding the area we cover.

How to get involved

As well as the usual but crucial volunteering and donating items from our monthly wish list, we also have a list of many, sometimes less obvious, other ways you can help.

We have a calendar of events planned for this year, so here’s our quarterly campaign dates for your diary:

#Mum2Mum – 31st March is Mother’s Day

We want to let all the Mums that we support know what a fantastic job they are doing, under what is sometimes the most difficult of circumstances. We are aiming to provide gift packs and cards for 300 Mums who would otherwise be unrecognised.

There are numerous ways to get involved and you can read all about how in our recent Mum2Mum blog. From donating just £5 via Localgiving towards a mini pamper pack, to organising a collection of gifts amongst your friends or colleagues.

#Stripes4Stripey – 20th June

This is the day of the stripes, where we ask everyone far and wide, or local and small, to make a statement and dress in their favourite stripey attire in return for a donation to our ‘new socks, underwear and nightwear’ fund. Stripey people will be encouraged to share their photos on social media using #Stripes4Stripey2019 to help spread the fun and create awareness. Inspire your friends, work colleagues or children’s school to get involved. The more the stripier, the more the merrier is what we say!

Run Reigate 2019 – 15th September

If you’re setting your personal goals for 2019, then why not go for the ultimate and start with taking part in Run Reigate this year? You’ve probably heard about all the fuss so now it’s time to find out for yourself. There’s plenty of races to choose from; 5km, 10km, the award winning 1/2 marathon, or even the kid’s race for the little people in your life.

Whatever your ability, we’d love to have you on #TeamStork. You can run as an individual, team or family. Either way you won’t be on your own. We’ll be with you every step of the way; providing lots of moral support, working with you on fundraising, covering your adult race fee and supplying you with our branded running kit. It’s a great community event and our biggest fundraiser of the year, so pencil us in!

#SantaStork2019 – 2nd December

Our popular Christmas campaign provides brand new (and often specially requested) presents for those most in need in our local area. In 2018, 1517 children and 828 parent/carer presents were distributed in the run up to Christmas, estimated to be a huge £50k in value. There are lots of ways to help with our biggest seasonal campaign; donate online, buy from our special Amazon wish list or take your children shopping for an item from our suggested gift list – more information when the campaign is launched mid-October. All presents are collected by 2nd December, ready for our Santa Stork Giving Day in mid-December.

If you think your work may like to get involved, then we can arrange for a bespoke Amazon wish list or company gift list. We will support you with posters, graphics and any other marketing materials which you may need, and we always give a shout-out of thanks on social media to our corporate partners.

New for 2019

Virtual Challenge

If the Run Reigate date or the idea of an organised race doesn’t work for you, then hot off the press is Stripey Stork’s virtual challenge. This is ideal for those who prefer to challenge themselves at their own pace and in their own time – your race, you way! More details coming soon, but we are very excited about giving you the opportunity to #EarnYourStripes with us and thus a bespoke Stripey Stork medal, all for a little fundraising for your favourite local charity – us!

Reigate Manor Hotel Quiz & Curry Night

Another date for your diary is Thursday 21st March at 7:30pm – with all profits from this event going to Stripey Stork. So, start thinking about your ‘dream team’ as we’d love to see as many of you there as possible to show everyone that when we get behind an event, we mean business! You can download a poster to display at work or on any community noticeboards you are associated with. Tickets can be purchased here.

And Not Forgetting…

Match Funding

If we are lucky enough to have you fundraising for us for a particular event or challenge you are undertaking, then please enquire with your employer on whether they have a match funding scheme; where they match, up to a certain amount, the funds you raise. This is often a missed opportunity so it’s always worth asking the question. A prerequisite will be that the charity you are supporting is UK registered, which we are: charity number 1161613.

Gift Aid

If you are kindly donating money to us via one of our online appeals, always add gift aid if you are a UK tax payer. This will ensure an extra 25% is added to your donation, at no extra cost to you.

Have an Idea?

Keep your ears to the ground and eyes wide open for any potential opportunities or partnerships for us to be involved with. It doesn’t always have to be about parting with your own hard-earned cash, but more about thinking ‘outside the box’ and seizing opportunities as they arise. If you have an idea, or any questions about the above, then our door is always open – please email partnerships@stripeystork.org.uk.

And finally, all that’s left to say is a huge thank you for your continued support. We couldn’t do what we do without our supporters, volunteers and partners. It’s because of you that we are entering into 2019 with a ‘can do’ attitude and the capability to achieve our goals – keep up the smashing work #TeamStork!

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Here are some of the shocking facts and statistics revealed:

• There are now 109 UK baby banks, and counting. Nearly all of which have been setup since the first austerity budget in 2010, that’s a tenfold increase in the last 8 years. See this up to date map of UK baby banks.
• Referrals have increased by over 500% in the last 5 years.
• So far this year alone: over 35,000 families have been referred to baby banks; one in every hundred families with young children have turned to baby banks; 300,000 items have been distributed, with a value of between £1.8 and £3 million.
• The majority of referrals come from publicly-funded agencies – which are identifying the need, but are unable to meet it.
• The most sought-after items are for the most basic needs – nappies and clothes.

Stripey Stork was established in 2013,  A group of determined mum’s in the East Surrey area wanted to pass on their preloved baby items to families who really needed them.

On speaking with the health professionals working with such families on the front line, it was confirmed that there was indeed a real and increasing need for such support. The health professionals, such as social services and children’s centres didn’t have the manpower or storage to manage such an operation, so Stripey Stork was born.

Little did we know how much our service would grow. In our first year of operation we were able to respond to 356 requests for help. Fast forward to this year and we are on track to respond to 2018 requests, that’s £500k worth of items given out free of charge in one year alone.

Since opening in 2013 we have responded to over 5600 requests, that’s over £1.9m worth of items put back into our community and saved from landfill.

We have found ourselves in a good position to pass on our best practices and experience to other UK baby banks looking to set up. In fact, Little Village in London, one of the featured baby banks in the programme, were one of the organisations we had the pleasure of mentoring in the early days.

But, why are we seeing this ‘baby bank boom’ and why is the demand for our services increasing at such an exponential rate?

The sector has boomed since austerity. This is down to a wide range of circumstances, but each of which is affected by poverty. The introduction of Universal Credit and the issues it brings, at the same time benefits are being frozen, and living costs and unemployment is increasing. It is therefore no surprise that more and more families are struggling and living on the breadline. By the time rent, bills and food has been paid, there is little or nothing left for the essentials needed to provide for their children. So, people are forced to be reliant on charities like ours.

Here in ‘affluent’ Surrey, 10% (22640) of children live in poverty, of which two thirds of these are from working households. In 17 local neighbourhoods of Surrey, 30% or over of children aged 0-16 live in poverty (source: www.cfsurrey.org.uk).

Many of the families referred to Stripey Stork are in this position because of a change of circumstance, a run of bad luck or a situation which they have had to escape. One thing’s for sure, they would prefer not to be in this position and are doing everything they can to get back on their feet. They don’t want to have to rely on organisations such as ours to provide the essentials needed for their baby, they just need a helping hand. In fact, they often feel devastated and ashamed when they realise they have to use a baby bank, but what they quickly learn is that people want to help and it is this kindness which gives them hope.

Meet Keith who was featured on the programme, one of Little Village’s recipients. A self-employed father of two who had a car accident months before his 3rd child was born. His injuries left him out of work for a while, where their savings depleted and by Christmas they had nothing. They were referred to their local baby bank via the hospital and are eternally grateful to have been given everything they needed for their new baby, from a cot to nappies and sterilizers. Little Village continues to support them with the essentials needed for their children, one of which is autistic. Keith is now trying to rebuild the financial security he’s lost, but the work is limited since his accident and his salary is low. Shockingly he tries to budget his food shopping to £10 a week. He is obviously a proud man and this has been an adjustment he’s found difficult, as he emotionally told Dispatches – “I’ve always helped support charities in my life, but now having to take, receive stuff from charities is hard”. In the meantime, Keith and his wife have been volunteering at Little Village, this is a way for them to giveback and help those who find themselves in similar desperation.

Then there’s Bianca, a working mum of two boys living in London. With a baby on the way in two months (at the time of filming), Bianca will have to leave her full-time job as a special needs teacher. She’s already on a wage which leaves her with next to nothing at the end of the month after paying her private rent and bills. Stressed about how she is going to provide for number three, her midwife gave her a flyer for Little Village. They provided a lifeline, but Bianca is still frustrated – “I’m a working parent, and I work hard, but I can’t even afford the basics for my baby… it makes me angry because I shouldn’t have to struggle”. Little Village revealed that one in five families who rely on them are working families, often from low wage jobs such as working in nurseries and hospitals – people which keep the city going but can’t afford to live in it.

As Sophia Parker from Little Village concluded – “We believe that the welfare state should be a safety net… Yes we’re helping people immediately, but are we just allowing these wider issues around inequality to keep going”. She refers to the baby banks not being a long term solution and a ‘sticking plaster’ by covering over the issue and in effect letting this happen.

There is clearly a wider issue of inequality here and one that we can only hope is addressed sooner rather than later. Optimistic that programmes like this which shine a light on child poverty will help bring the problem further up the agenda. But for now, we do what we do best and answer this immediate call, with the hope that one day change will come.

You can read the full Born on the Breadline Report here.

If you’ve been shocked and moved by these recent findings, there are many ways you can help:

• Donate to our Christmas campaign Santa Stork, where we are hoping to give 1500 new and wished-for gifts to local children in need this Christmas.
• Donate preloved items in need from our monthly wishlist (this list changes monthly so see Latest News for updates).
• Donate your time and volunteer, there are always items to check, sort and package up into bundles for the families we support. Contact volunteer@stripeystork.org.uk for more information.
• Make a one-off or monthly monetary contribution to our Local Giving fund – this enables us to buy the new items necessary to complement our preloved bundles, such as nappies, wipes, pants/socks, and new mattresses for Moses baskets and cots.
• Other ways to help.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support.

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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.

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“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.

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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.

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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.

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“When I approached Stripey Stork, the situation was urgent. One of my families were already being put through huge amounts of stress, and now needed to find a pushchair they would never be able to afford…”

Thankfully, a near-new condition Bugaboo Donkey pram system had been dropped off with Stripey Stork just days before. It had the basket already set-up, positioned alongside the cot, perfectly suited for carrying all the necessary medical equipment the family would need. Safety-checked, tested, and sent with love – the Stripey Stork volunteers could gift it to the CHAH team the same day!

“I was able to deliver the incredible pram the very next morning. The mum was so grateful, and amazed that another mum would give so generously to another family in need. On receipt of the pushchair, she turned to me and asked: what time will you collect it tomorrow? I then had the privilege of telling her, this as-new Bugaboo was hers to keep! It was a moment that will stay with me forever. It brought tears to my eyes, and hers.”

At Stripey Stork, confidentiality is of huge importance to the way we work. Which means often the families who donate will never get to know what happened to their once-loved baby and children’s things. In this case, we could update the donor on the new-life her pushchair was now having:

“Thank you so much for your lovely email update. It has moved me deeply. We really hope this lovely little baby gets better quickly and I am so happy to see the pram was of use to this family at a difficult time. Knowing where the pram has gone, truly puts things in perspective and adds another dimension to a simple action of passing items our family no longer need to your team. You are an amazing charity and we will always support you when we can.  Always!”

The kindness of donors will never go unnoticed, whether they get to hear the complete story of their donations or not. Donations of quality items are hugely valuable and assist babies and children with additional needs. A kind-hearted community of givers are changing the lives of local families with the simple act of recycling.

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I was supporting a family who were struggling with disability, ill health and debt. Mum felt burdened by her circumstances and resigned that life would always be difficult. A referral was made to Stripey Stork for all basic items which were promptly supplied along with some extra items for mum.

When I next visited I noticed that although the family had no storage that the clothing had been carefully folded and that several items had been washed and were hanging up to dry. Most importantly in a cold house the baby was warm and well-wrapped.

A year later and there has been a significant change in this family’s circumstances. Mum decided to leave the abusive relationship she was in, has started a part time job and is paying off her debts. Above all she smiles when I visit and her baby is happy and sociable. She lives in simple accommodation which she has made homely and her baby is meeting all developmental milestones.

It’s hard to say exactly what enabled this mum to turn her life round but I think the deliveries from Stripey Stork had a far bigger impact than just meeting a practical need.

“…for every family that Stripey Stork help there is an impact, even if it is just to ensure that the children are adequately clothed. I cannot tell you how humbling it is to be able to meet the needs of those for whom life has not been so fortunate. Stripey Stork are the most amazing charity who are making a real difference to people’s lives.”

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