Day 6 Challenge Poverty Week: We Can #TurnTheTide
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Bairnecessities was founded by local mum and community nursery nurse, Helen Feeney. In a similar concept to a food bank, our aim is to tackle child poverty and promote re-use by donating baby essentials to families who are struggling. We take in pre-loved items from local families and distribute them to those in need via a network of referral partners. Referral partners include Health Visitors, Midwives, Social Workers and partner charities. All referrals come directly from the referral partners allowing families to remain anonymous, which can help remove some of the stigma attached to receiving charity.
Bairnecessities is 100% volunteer-run, we rely on the generosity of families and local businesses donating items, money and time to ensure local families can rely on this valuable service.
Save The Children state, at least 20% of children in our area live in poverty. We provide essential items to free up finances for other necessary household bills, for example food and heating. It has also been shown that children who grow up in poverty in Aberdeenshire, are far less likely to do well at school than their better off classmates, seriously harming their future life chances. By providing free, good quality pre-loved clothes, toys, books and equipment, children in our area may have the same chance as other children in more well-off homes.
As well as aiding the difficult transition of having a new family and providing an improved living environment, these measures reduce the financial burden on families. This can help lead to an improvement in their mental well-being, lower anxiety about caring for their child, an increased ability to focus on other aspects of homelife and the confidence to make positive choices for the whole family.
Since starting in November 2016 we have helped support over 400 families and with the cost of living rising and Winter approaching, we anticipate referrals to increase significantly. We have recently started a “Warm and Dry” campaign to offer coats and shoes/boots to children up to the age of 11 to support families further.
“I cannot express how grateful I am to Bairnecessities who recently supported a young mother and her children who were fleeing domestic violence. This lady and her young children left with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. Within hours of contacting the charity I was met with an overwhelming amount of donations including a pram, nappies, clothes, warm blankets and the list goes on. This local charity is invaluable to our community and I am forever grateful for their continued support.” Local Health Visitor.
A recent donation that went out to a local family
Who are we?
Gordon Rural Action (GRA) was established over 40 years ago as an advice and information service to assist the people of the then Gordon area. Over the years it has adapted and developed along with economic changes but has always aimed to serve the needs of its community. In 2019 we changed our approach and focused on support for the community not just advice, this has enabled us to reach more people and offer a wider scope of support, helping people reduce their outgoings on clothing and essentials allowing them to spend on food and heating. In 2022 the Advice and Support hub is facing one of its biggest challenges with the cost-of-living crisis and how we can best help the increasing number of people this is impacting.
What we do?
GRA Advice and Support Hub is a one stop shop offering a holistic approach to meeting support needs:
Advice – a team of dedicated advisors offering appointments in person, by email or telephone. They can offer advice on:
- Benefits entitlement
- Income maximisation
- Housing
- Universal Credit
- Assistance with applications
- Money advice
- Fuel debt
- Budgeting
Support – volunteers run many of these projects and help put back into the community they come from.
- Baby Bank
- A free recycling service open to all. Providing good quality new and used baby items including prams, cots, clothing and nappies
- Uniform Exchange
- A free recycling service open to all. Providing good quality used and new items of school uniform for primary and secondary schools including bags, jackets, shoes and jumpers as well as some club uniforms
- Supported Digital Access
- Access to digital equipment such as laptops, printers and scanners
- Phone a Friend
- Service aimed at connecting people in our community through a friendly 30-minute chat every week
- Warm Boxes
- Boxes to help with the colder weather containing a blanket, hot water bottle, and thermal socks
- Employability
- Volunteering opportunities
- Work placements
- Modern apprenticeships
- Food Bank referrals
- Emergency boxes
- Referrals for food parcels
The Advice and Support Hub is also home to other agencies and our space is regularly used by other charities and organisations including:
- Barnardos
- Home Start Deveron
- Breast feeding Buddies
- The Gordon Schools
- AVA
- North Aberdeenshire Food Bank
- Enable
This maximises the availability of help for people in the Huntly area without having to travel and rely on poor transport links to access services.
How to get in touch
If you’d like to access our services, find out more about what we do or volunteer with us please get in touch
Email: Advice@gordonrural.org.uk
Telephone: 01466 793676
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GordonRuralAction
Website: https://gordonruralaction.org.uk/
Forms are available on the website of Baby Bank and Uniform Exchange