This month, a group of staff members from City, University of London travelled to Brent to help provide children's clothes, toys, books and more to families.
By Katie Hoggan (Communications Officer (Corporate)), Published
“Life has been really tough, but someone from Little Village called me and then a package arrived .”
“My kids were so happy playing with toys, they had warm clothes to wear.”
“I felt loved, I felt happy, I felt emotional. It made me believe that we weren’t alone."
These are the words of mums helped by Little Village, a charity that runs a network of baby banks supporting families living in poverty across London. This month, a group of staff members from City, University of London travelled to Brent to help provide children's clothes, toys, books and more to families.
Five staff members from across professional services volunteered with Little Village employees and volunteers to make a difference in the local community, using volunteer days that the University offers its staff each year.
Freya Thompson, Community Volunteering Officer at City, said:
“Little Village is a brilliant charity partner of ours. The charity’s team has enabled several of our students to volunteer at baby banks and made it possible to take this group of City staff for a taster session by updating its volunteer opportunity.”
“I would highly recommend taking a volunteering day to all City staff. You really feel like you can dig deeper and see how your contribution supports something so incredibly important in today's climate.”
Among the volunteers who helped make a difference to families was Joelle Osei, MA Journalism Course Officer, who said the opportunity at Little Village was a wonderful way to spend the day.
“It really helped me to feel more settled in as part of staff at City,” she said.
“It was a brilliant way to meet other friendly members of staff from across different departments who also care about supporting the local community of London.
“As a charity, Little Village helps families who are struggling to know that there is help for them at the time when they need it most and it was an honour to be able to contribute to something like that. I would definitely recommend it as a charity and encourage staff to take the opportunity to volunteer.”
Staff who volunteered on the day helped sort baby clothes into sizes and packed boxes for families referred to the centre. They also met with other volunteers at Little Village and got to know them better, with some having worked there for more than five years.
Helen Speedy, Volunteer Recruitment and Partnerships Manager at Little Village said many of the items sorted and packaged by staff volunteers had already been dispatched to families.
“Without volunteers, families would not receive the support they do. Our “one-off” days are designed without commitment, as we want to offer flexibility to those who want to volunteer but have busy lives.”
More about Little Village:
Little Village has new evening and weekend shifts starting soon for regular volunteering at its hub in Camden and evening sessions are available in Brent and Tooting.
Little Village was founded by volunteers and without volunteers, families would not receive the support they do. If you’d like to help out and regular volunteering isn’t possible for you, regularly check the charity’s “one-off volunteering” sign-up form for new dates.
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