Clothe and Feed started out in life being inspired by an empty food collection point in a major supermarket in Newcastle. Surely there was a better, cleverer way to improve levels of donated food relevant for Foodbank use.

There was. Perhaps the supermarket could present shoppers with baskets of food ingredients for meals upon arrival at the entrance to the store which could be purchased for say £5.

Well hats off to Morrisons Cowgate , whose manager saw the merit in such an idea and trialled the pilot for a week. To everyone’s surprise the pilot was an amazing success in selling £1,200 of baskets resulting in a bumper delivery to the local Foodbank.

Charged with the success , a visit was arranged to the local Foodbank which coincided with the day Shelter Newcastle were holding their Foodbank client helpdesk and it was that meeting which revealed the urgent need to support young mums and vulnerable children in other complimentary ways such as baby equipment, clothes, toiletries, school uniforms and refurbished white goods.

Clothe and Feed now had a mission. It was to relieve clothing and food poverty for vulnerable people and dependents in local communities .

Since March 2018, Clothe and Feed has facilitated the distribution of thousands of free items of baby equipment, clothing and toiletries . It has also facilitated the creation of a free pre worn school clothing hub and gives away hundreds of items a week to struggling mums.

The food basket concept has now being taken up by local stores in the convenience arena and several matched funded schemes now exist in the supermarket sector where the baskets just take up too much valuable retail space.

CORONAVIRUS

The coronavirus outbreak has had a major impact on all of our lives, but particularly for young and old vulnerable people around the country, as well as the homeless and survivors of domestic violence.

In addition, those with underlying health conditions and the over 70s are being asked to stay at home for 12 weeks, which we know will worsen the UK’s loneliness epidemic.

Our children’s  programme support families living in severe financial, health and social difficulties, and provides items that meet children’s most basic needs. Items covered include baby eqipment ,beds, kitchen appliances, clothing and any other items and services that are critical to children’s wellbeing.

We are also dedicated to relieving clothing , food and essential item poverty to homeless people with essential toiletries, food parcels, emergency sanitary products and shopping for disabled and people suffering domestic abuse.