A school clothing bank from West Lothian recently received extra funding to support marginalised children during the school holidays.
The School Bank West Lothian provide free school uniforms to families who are experiencing financial hardship but during the Covid-19 pandemic they extended their service to offer casual clothing and playtime packs.
Project worker, Meg Wishart, explained: “The project aimed to further help kid’s wellbeing and to tackle clothing poverty over the summer holidays.
“When the project was first launched, the government had announced that children would be returning to school two days a week. Due to this, we also felt that there would be a greater need for casual clothing.
“This project operated on a referral basis – people in the local community who work with families and children placed a referral on behalf of the child.
“Included in the packs were brand-new trainers, t-shirts, hoodies and joggers or jeans. The play equipment ranged from arts and crafts, to jumbo chalks, to skipping ropes, to water guns.
“We hope this initiative helped children in West Lothian to stay active, fit, and happy during difficult times, and ensured their parents/guardians had one less thing to worry about.”
On the day the new service was launched they received 140 referrals and whilst the project was open they helped over 300 children.
For now the school clothing bank are focussing on their mainstay annual campaign; 'Sponsor a child'.
Here sponsors are asked to go out and buy a child their uniform but due to the global health crisis they had to change things this year.
Interested parties are asked to go onto their Facebook page and make a donation, rather than going to the shops and purchasing the goods, as normally requested.
For example, a donation of £5 would provide a full PE kit, or £20 would buy a brand-new bag and shoes for a child.
The School Bank have not had the same amount of donations as they would normally get by this time in the year and they are appealing for the public’s help.
Meg continued: “We have struggled to drum up the same support this year – many people have found themselves unable to donate, or miss the old “Sponsor a Child” where they could pick the items themselves.
“We anticipate that due to the pandemic, and the concomitant redundancies, this initiative will be more needed than ever before. We sincerely appreciate anything people could do to support families in our community.”
To donate: https://www.facebook.com/theschoolbankwestlothian/
