Charity is giving away 33% more bedding and clothes as pandemic hits incomes hard
“I’ve been trying to make my baby daughter’s vests bigger by stretching them while wet,” Carly Smith, a 26-year-old single mother of three, explains. “I can’t afford new clothes, so she’s just been wearing a nappy in the pram.” Her 11-year-old son had to return to school in home clothes, having grown out of his uniform, and is now wearing his grandfather’s T-shirts. “I’ll be honest, it’s embarrassing,” she says.
Before Covid, Smith (not her real name) had been given credit to buy clothing when she needed it by a kind shopkeeper, but the shop closed down during the pandemic. What’s more, Smith – a domestic violence victim – was forced to move home and leave her support network (and hand-me-downs supply) when her abusive ex-partner was released early from prison.
