– Bethel Baby Bank Trustee Annual Report and Accounts. 10 February 2024.
Bethel Baby Bank since 2021. This Charity was formed to help children in the community of Dudley Borough with parents or guardians who are facing financial difficulties and hardships. A long-term impact of the pandemic on some parents and guardians in Dudley led to an increased risk of experiencing violence, debts and hardships which causes mental health problems. Most of which affect children.
We ask parents and guardians to reach out if they are experiencing hardships with the cost of living rising. Some children in our community may need basic essential items. This is where we come in to satisfy those basic needs to our children in need. It is our mission to provide preloved clothes, toys, bedding, toiletries, and books to children for them to have a better future. We aim to uplift, support, and transform lives for good.
We do this by asking for donations of preloved unwanted clothing, bedding, toys, books, and toiletries. We collect these items if doners call our number to donate. And we also receive calls from parents and referrals from various charities of families who needs emergency packages for children. We provide them with donated items tailored to their needs and the ages groups of children.
Most of our preloved children’s clothing and bedding are washed and folded and stored in storage boxes ready for those who needs them. One of the challenges we are facing is we need a premise. We would like a place of our own so that we are able to carry out our duties to our children in the community easily for us as well as easy of access for drop off points and drop in points, as well as walk ins. Having a property will help us carry our duties further and improve services to our community. We are community focused; we are very much here to help if we have donations from the wider public. With the donations we have so far from the generous and kind people, we have managed to help hundreds of people with emergency essential packages including those referred to us by other charities. All the items were delivered individually to everyone who reached out for help.
The other challenge we are facing is we need a van. The success of this noble venture often hinges on an aspect that is seldom talked about, for us to be able to deliver packages around the community and pick some donations as most of the people call and ask us to come and collect children’s items, it makes a significant difference in our outreach efforts. This is where a van becomes a game changer for us.
So far, we are proud to have helped hundreds of families in need. We aim to help as many people as we can in the future and have a premise and a small van to enable our noble work to achieve its best. In the past we have not had any monetary donations from the public, however we wish to have these donations to help us carry out our work effectively.