Kim and I (and our families) have been friends for quite a few years. We met at church, then their family moved in down the road where they lived for 3 years before moving to Yaldhurst where we base Clothed in Love.
At the end of 2020, a mutual friend of ours shared a post on Facebook from a preschool that resonated with me asking for shoes and jackets for children who come with none. Euan (my husband) asked how this could be happening and commented ‘surely there must be something that could be done’ - an idea began.
I, like so many Mums, know the value of hand me down clothes as our kids grow. I also know that often we find ourselves with no where to send them afterwards except to the clothing bins. What if we could take what others want to hand on and find families that just need a little support at this time of their lives? Imagine...
I approached Kim with the idea about how to use a soon to be empty space on her property. Her reply shortly afterwards was “Scott and I can give you a 20ft container to use but I am unsure that I will have the time to help”. Famous last words - since then she has been in with her whole heart and this dream became ours.
Clothed in Love – Christchurch officially began at the start of December 2020. In all decisions we carried the purpose of being excellent so started with a specially designed logo. We were deliberate in our planning and strategy to make this vision sustainable, practical and most importantly filled with love at every stage.
From December onwards, we collected donations of clothing and shoes from the community utilising the power of social media for good. We began to build our volunteer team, knowing that this would only be successful with a group of people.
Since then we have grown unbelievably and in one year we…
Gifted packs for 710 children
Built a volunteer team of over 60 people and counting
Liaised with incredible people from well over 30 organisations plus schools and preschools
Got registered as an official charity
Outgrew our 20ft container and are now housed in that, a 40ft container and a shed
Learnt, grew, refined, worked and continued to dream
Our philosophy has always been “If everyone can do a little then we can achieve a lot” meaning that this could grow into something amazing. And it has.
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