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Anna & Scott Baker raised £3,210 from 46 supporters
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Closed 13/08/2018
Iʼve raised £3,210 to launch Packed with Smiles, providing school uniform parcels in Southend, where 12,000+ children are classed as living in poverty.
- Southend-on-Sea, UK
- Funded on Monday, 13th August 2018
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Story
Background
In late 2015, we were working in Southend in a voluntary group, sending clothing donations to vulnerable families abroad. The group was approached by a local school PTA member, who needed a winter coat and some basic clothing for a pupil whose parent was struggling. The group leader provided these and more but the group was only temporary.
We wondered if a permanent existing service was out there to help in this sort of situation, but through research we learned that there wasn’t. We learned that over 12,000 children in Southend are classed as living in poverty*, despite pockets of the town being extremely affluent. We know that children in poverty face many problems and we can’t solve them all, but we have an idea for this one.......
What is Packed with Smiles? Where’s the money going?
We’ve set up our own voluntary group, which will become a registered charity in due course, called Packed with Smiles (PWS). We will deliver parcels of uniform to children via their school.
We’re piloting the idea by giving ten parcels to one school in August, that will be passed on by the school ready for the new school year in September 2018.
Each parcel costs £120 (hence our target of £1,200 for ten parcels). We’ve donated the first £500, so we’re really looking for £700 from you lovely lot.
The parcels contain;
Day to day uniform (2 jumpers, 2 shirts, 2 skirts or trousers, a weeks worth of socks or tights, a £30 voucher for a good quality properly fitted pair of shoes, a coat and a school backpack). They also include a full PE kit, trainers, wellington boots and all important personalised name labels, so things don’t get lost!
What’s next?
We hope the parcels deliver practical help and, a sense of self-worth. We know that feeling ‘dressed for success’ matters and feeling unequal to your peers can be a distraction from getting the most from school. We hope that receiving a brand new full set of uniform packed especially for them, will help children feel great and better able to focus on school. Our pilot school has already told us the parcels are going to help hugely.
If the pilot makes a measurable difference, we will continue with setting up Packed with Smiles as a charity, fundraise more and expand the offer to more schools in the future.
If you can contribute anything at all to this endeavour, we would be so very grateful. Much love, from Anna & Scott xx.
* See http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/poverty-in-your-area-2018/ for the figures on child poverty in Southend on Sea.
Updates
9
- 6 years ago
Anna & Scott Baker
6 years agoOur fundraising page closed on Monday. In the month it was open we raised £3,210 thanks to you, wow! The funds are already having an impact; we delivered parcels to our pilot school on Monday and families have now collected them. We’ve heard from the school team that people are “over the moon”. We hope you take a moment to cherish that...there are children opening parcels this week that you funded! So thank you once again Founding Funders. We’ll keep in touch with progress, but for now we just wanted to say, we are forever grateful, A&S xxxx
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- 6 years ago
Anna & Scott Baker
6 years agoAnd we’re packed!! Uniform parcels are ready to deliver 👍 We wish we could include photos of the lovely parcel contents, but to ensure privacy our pilot school (and us) want to keep the school and the recipients anonymous. Mug shots of us instead, sorry 🙈 Thank you again to all of our ‘Founding Funders’ for your support; you have made this batch of parcels possible xx
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- 6 years ago
Anna & Scott Baker
6 years agoCollecting the logo uniform from Paul’s uniform shop in Southend, so exciting!! Really grateful to the team at Paul’s who picked and packed the nearly 60 items we ordered, and gave us a 10% discount. Thank you to everyone that’s donated; you’ve made this possible xxxx
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Anna & Scott Baker started crowdfunding
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Supporters
46
dan coole - surgical holdings
Aug 13, 2018
Scott, what a lovely idea and great that it’s having a direct impact on the local area!
£120.00
Karen Pearson
Aug 13, 2018
Hey hope I'm not 2 late! I'm so so proud of your guys for getting this going so needed! Lots of love Karen, Matt & Freda xxxx
£50.00
Anonymous
Aug 13, 2018
X
£25.00
Tanya Browning
Aug 12, 2018
Brilliant, inspiring, amazing! :-)
£30.00
Sarah Nice
Aug 12, 2018
A brilliant idea, brimming with kindness. You both rock- Love The Steeds xx
£25.00
Ed Pentelow
Aug 12, 2018
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
£30.00
Glenn Sherer
Aug 12, 2018
What a great idea, cause and effort from you both, amazing work, fromSherer Family x
£250.00
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About CrowdfundingAbout the fundraiser
Anna & Scott Baker
Southend-on-Sea, UK
We are local parents that love kids and learning! We know we can't solve all the issues children face, but we feel strongly that getting the most out of school is a great place to start. We've decided to pilot Packed with Smiles to see if we can make a difference.