Welsh Churches Set Up Projects To Make School Uniforms Affordable
By Church News
With the start of the school year about to begin and the cost-of-living crisis putting pressure on families’ finances, churches and communities in the Diocese of Llandaff have set up projects to make school uniforms affordable for all.
Neath Community Shop, supported by trustees in the area including St David’s Neath Parish Church, is selling all donated school uniform items for £1.
The items in the shop are donated, sorted and washed ready to be sold and any clothing not suitable for resale is collected by a company for which the shop also receives money. Many clothes are brand new and still in sealed packets.
Kathryn Wood, a volunteer and trustee at Neath Community Shop told Press she welcomes the idea :
She said, “It would be a massive help. My two young children fortunately are in a school that doesn’t push the fact that they have to have a logo’d uniform. But it can make it a little bit difficult for some of the children as well, because obviously as they’re growing up, it will get pointed out that some of them have got the logo’d uniform, some haven’t. But it I think it would make a massive difference.”
Fr Richard Green is vicar of St Fagan’s Church and part of the Cynon Valley School Uniform Exchange project. It sees uniforms donated to schools meaning useable clothes don’t end up in landfill and reduces the demand for the manufacture of the new uniform.
He says it’s not only families in financial need who have used the Exchange this year and that many have been inspired by the ecological aspect of reusing and recycling.
“The Exchange is a small way in which we can try and do something about this. We believe in trying to protect God’s creation, so the environmental benefits of the scheme are part of this.
“We feel it is important for the church to be involved in this kind of project because we believe in the value of community, of people coming together to help each other. This is the essence of the command to ‘love your neighbour. We also believe in working for a fairer, more just society, where people don’t go without simply because of their economic status.”
Diocesan Senior Outreach Officer, Christoph Auckland, believes churches play a vital role in helping school children get a good start to their education.