A young couple with a newborn want to tackle Trafford’s child poverty rate, and they started from their own front room. Catherine and Olie D’Albertanson were shocked to hear that one in 10 children in the borough are currently living in absolute poverty and a third of Greater Manchester’s children are living below the breadline.
Now, with the cost of living crisis biting, they’ve taken it upon themselves to do what they can to help. The couple have set up the Little Green Sock Project, an initiative to provide second-hand clothing, for free, to children who need it most.
The project has already received a massive 270kg of clothing donations and is busy sorting through them.
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Catherine said: “We provide that link for those that have excess and those in need. Families referred to our project will be able to return as seasons change and their children grow to get a continual supply of clothing throughout their child’s life. The thought of a parent having to choose between food, heating or clothing their children really struck a chord with us. Clothing is a basic human need and we have an abundance of outgrown great quality clothes in our community, and a lot of families who just want to help.
“We are also able to provide emergency clothing bundles for children being placed in emergency foster care, families escaping domestic abuse or refugees fleeing conflict with just the clothes on their back.
“However, to enable us to help as many families as possible and to future proof our project we need financial support. We would welcome any business support for fundraising/sponsorship, or offers of volunteer time to help us on our mission.”
The team now wants to improve a new premises they’re renting to get a power supply so volunteers can enjoy a well deserved cuppa and have more space to sort through donations.
They’re working towards getting the project registered as a charity in the coming weeks and plan to hold a full launch event next month.
The project is unable to accept items such as knickers, pants and socks.
The couple are asking for donations to their GoFundMe page to enable them to pay for on going storage facilities and welcome donations of children’s clothes aged 0-12.
If you’d like to donate to the project or help further, you can do so here.
