A Perth couple who filled their house, shed and garage with items to help young mothers get started have celebrated a whole year of the baby bank charity having proper premises – helping over 1000 families in the first five months of 2023.
On June 22, Buttons and Bows Baby Bank was celebrating its first anniversary of being based at 28-30 Market Street.
Supporters were also marking 18 months since it formally became a Scottish registered charity.
Founded by Caroline Moore and her husband Alan, the baby bank started out in 2020 offering support to families on low incomes, giving them free baby essentials such as clothes, equipment and toys.
There were 356 visits to Market Street in May and Caroline judges this to equate to 226 families.
“That’s quite a lot considering there were only six opportunities to come in the centre, we’re open twice a week, Tuesdays 10am to 12pm and Wednesday 9.30am-11.30am.
“Lots of families revisit multiple times. Between January 2023 and the end of May, 1026 families accessed Buttons and Bows,” she explained.
Originally operating from Caroline and Alan’s home, they soon found the house, garden sheds and garage packed with donations from people all over Perth and Perthshire willing to help.
As the need for help expanded, so too did people’s response with donations.
The group took space at TullochNET and later at the Perth Business Centre. Then a year ago, they made a big step forward and moved into their Market Street premises.
While Caroline took the lead, her husband Alan was “an integral part” as Caroline doesn’t drive and Alan took on uplift and delivery of the baby items.
“He has saved the charity a great deal by carrying out the maintenance and doing decorating work to make 28-30 Market Street nicer to visit.
Alan also gave her some of his own personal savings so that Caroline had money to get her project going.
Caroline said: “We found there was a need for families with young children to have support because babies grow so quickly and families on low incomes were struggling to keep up.
“Our current premises enable us to not only provide items for children aged 0-4 but is also a base for services such as Tiny Treasures Playgroup, where parents come to meet others in similar situations, let the children play while they share parenting experiences and enjoy peer support.
“Here we have room to store, clean, sort and distribute the clothes and other essentials as well as offer space for other relevant organisations to support families too.
“We are pleased with our continuing expansion. It’s enabling us to support more families, especially in these challenging times and we now have six trustees and 11 regular volunteers who make all the work possible.”
Bailie Alasdair Bailey visited the Buttons and Bows Baby Bank’s celebration on behalf of Perth and Kinross Council, one of the Perth charity’s main supporters along with, among others, the Gannochy Trust, The Robertson Trust, The National Lottery, Simon Howie and a number of local businesses and business organisations.
Bailie Alasdair Bailey came to cut the birthday cake and helped Caroline share her gratitude to the volunteers and individuals who keep the Baby Bank running.
Bailie Bailey said: “The essentials families need for their newest arrivals can be expensive to buy brand new, so being able to share and reuse good quality pre-loved items for free, particularly during the current cost of living crisis, can be a tremendous help.
“The efforts put into establishing Buttons and Bows by Caroline and Alan, and the fantastic support they receive from volunteers, has made it possible for the organisation to grow.”
You can find out more at perthbabybank.org
