AberNecessities SCIO
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Mission Statement
We believe every child deserves the best start possible so AberNecessities is dedicated to ensuring families have the essentials they need #No Child Should Go Without
About This Cause
AberNecessities is a local, non-profit charity with the aim of supporting underprivileged families in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. AberNecessities provides families with the essential items they need to care for their babies and children, helping alleviate the pressure of bringing up a young family with extremely limited resources. We believe every child deserves the best start possible and we are dedicated to ensuring they have the essentials necessary like nappies, clothes, shoes and beds. We collect nearly new clothes from our generous community (up to age 12) along with shoes, toys and baby equipment. We also collect donations of formula milk, nappies, toiletries and maternity clothes and distribute these to families in need of some extra support. The families are identified to us through social workers, midwifes, health visitors, family support workers, community nurses and other charities who submit an application on behalf of the family. We aim to provide emergency help within 24 hours (baby formula and nappies) and all other help within 2 weeks of the application, however many families receive the items even quicker. The families we support are given a selection of outfits for their babies/children along with underwear, nightwear, shoes and jackets. We purchase new underwear and socks for children over the age of 2 and we also provide school uniforms when required. They are also given toiletries for the babies and children along with other items they might have requested. When we can, we give out toys and books along with the filled bags of clothes and have heard several stories from the professionals we work with about children who do not have any toys or books at all. We provide specially filled bags for new Mums with everything they need for the hospital stay whilst having their baby. Working with the Midwifes at ARI, who identified the need of many ‘Mums to be’ going into hospital without even the basics, we provide a selection of clothes including slippers, bath robe and nightwear along with a wash bag filled with everything they will need. We have plans to make up school bags and special bags for children going in to care. We have been told that many children leaving their family home have their possessions stuffed into a plastic carrier bag and this makes us determined to help in this very small way. We are also delighted to have our own AberNecessities knitting group who meet once a week at the central library and knit a tremendous amount of beautiful blankets, cardigans, hats etc for the babies and young children we support. Feedback from the group is extremely positive with older, more experienced knitters teaching and sharing their skills with younger novice members. Several of our knitting group cannot make it along so they knit at home and many family members tell us how delighted their ‘Granny’ is that she has somebody to knit for. Working in partnership with Sainsbury & Sons we have been providing beds for children who have nowhere to sleep in their home. We know of children sleeping on mattresses on the floor with no bedding, sleeping on a sofa or sharing a bed with parents and in one particularly awful case a little one sleeping in the dog bed. Through the generosity of Sainsbury’s and the community we have been able to provide new beds, mattresses, duvets, pillows and fun character bedding for these children. We also provide new mattresses along with each donated cot, crib and mosses basket. In Aberdeen, an estimated 18% of children are living in poverty. The applications are processed on an ongoing basis and we respond as quickly as is practical to provide the items and either deliver them to the organisations or arrange for them to be collected for distribution to the family. We recently received a van courtesy of Apex Tubulars which has been an absolute ‘God send’ in enabling us to deliver items and collect donations from our drop off points located throughout the city. All items are stored and distributed from our secure offices in Dyce which are donated to us completely free of charge. The support and generosity of the people of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire has been tremendous to date and has allowed us to provide immediate and practical help directly to over 250 local children living in poverty, since our launch at the end of March 2019. Our list of partners is increasing weekly with local businesses offering their help, the community taking our bags of washing (all the donated clothes are washed before distribution), individuals volunteering at our office and people choosing to support us by fundraising. We have a huge array of volunteering opportunities and are always looking out for more help. Abernecessities is working in partnership with local people to provide the very basics needed for disadvantaged families struggling on low income, many of the families we support are referred to as ‘working poor’. The quantity of donated good quality nearly new clothes, shoes, baby equipment etc has been quite incredible and heart-warming. However, it is also totally heart-breaking that there is such a huge need for this kind of support in our city, and to hear the stories of families living locally who are really struggling to provide for their families.