Hackney Community Closet, a children’s clothing, equipment and toy bank, has supported 193 families and many more individual children since it began in December. The initiative helps address inequality in the borough by matching people in need with donations.
“I saw that there was a surge of food banks and hygiene banks, [but] nobody seems to really think about clothing,” said Krista Brown, who runs the project with the help of a small group of volunteers.
She kicked off in December with a “100 Gifts for 100 Kids” campaign. “We ended up giving out 211 gifts to 72 families,” Brown said.
Families in need can be referred to Hackney Community Closet, who then call out for donations of essentials such as baby milk or a cot. Companies have also donated to the project, including Sainsbury’s, Take A Break magazine and B&Q.
“I can have the ideas but without the donations and without the need, it would never work,” Brown said. “I am so grateful to everyone that donates because without them donating all this stuff we could never get it out into the community.”
The project is supported by Volunteer Centre Hackney, and grassroots initiative Our Place has provided a storage unit free of charge for Brown to store the donations. As lockdown restrictions ease, she plans to open it up each Friday so that people can bring along anything they have spare.
During March, Hackney Community Closet held a “Mum of the Year Awards”, putting together Mother’s Day hampers for “ordinary women in the community that have just been a bit amazing”, said Brown.
The first set of winners, announced 18 March, included Victoria, an 81-year-old mother who has survived both cancer and child bereavement, and Natalie, a volunteer who completed an MA degree during lockdown.
“When we give stuff to people, in all honesty, it’s such an emotional experience that I burst into tears,” Brown said.
Next month, Brown plans to gather school uniforms as well as toys and books to support children heading back to school after online learning.
As well as benefiting the local community, Hackney Community Closet is also a sustainable venture, since items that may have ended up in landfill have a second lease of life. The February campaign, “Boxes for Bambinos”, saw over 200 bin bags worth of stuff donated in just two weeks.
“Those 200 black bags would have been dumped. They weren’t wanted, they were just blocking up people’s houses, sheds and garages,” Brown said. “If everybody across the world did little things like this, it would make a big sustainable difference.
“Nobody can change the world. Maybe [climate change campaigner] Greta Thunberg can but nobody else can change the world by themselves. If everybody did a little something, the world would be a much nicer place.”
