A Nottingham charity sending clothes to survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire says it will be the ‘go-to’ supply line of vital resources in the event of further disasters.
The Arnold-based Sharewear Clothing Scheme will drive a van to London on the morning of Friday, June 30, with coats, shoes, and school uniforms.
The clothes have been folded and sorted into cardboard boxes for men and women of different sizes – and families will have access to them ‘within days’.
The clothes will be matched to survivors by the Human Aid charity.
Louise Cooke, chief executive of the organisation, has been in regular contact with a man called Emdad from Human Aid, who told her many people have donated clothes in bin liners.
Human Aid is working with 20 families and Louise says Emdad does not like taking the bin bags to them – because “it’s not really pleasant getting clothes from a bin liner”.
Human Aid has been sorting donations from all over the country to find ‘gaps’ of clothes which are needed from Nottingham – such as underwear, children’s clothes and nightwear.
And Louise says when the clothes are delivered to the Human Aid warehouse, she hopes families will be able to pick the clothes they need themselves.
Louise said: “Emdad has told me he’s not liked taking bin liners of clothes to the families where they’ve been dispersed to.
“It’s not really pleasant getting clothes from a bin liner. I explained to him the stock we’re sending down is in huge cardboard boxes that have already been sorted for size.
“They are already folded neatly like they are in a shop. Even though they are not new, they look new and feel like new.
“It may even be when he sees the way they’re presented, families will go to the Human Aid warehouse and get them from there because they’re going to be in large cardboard boxes.”
Louise says Emdad hopes next week’s delivery will lead to a ‘long-term relationship’ between Sharewear and Human Aid – as the Nottingham charity will make further deliveries of bedding once families have been rehoused.
Louise said: “Emdad said he sees this as the beginning of a relationship with Sharewear and when Human Aid respond to [disasters in the future] we will be their go-to supply.
“And when these families are eventually rehoused permanently they will need bedding and duvets so we will be supplying them with them. It’s long term support we can give.”
Notts TV reported on Monday (June 19) that Sharewear called on people to donate ‘suitable’ clothing to survivors, like underwear and nightwear, as it was ‘inundated’ with clothes donated over the course of three years for Nottinghamshire families in financial difficulty.
People can donate new packets of underwear to the charity’s warehouse, in Birchfield Road, until 4pm on Wednesday, June 28, before the clothes are sorted into a lorry.
Louise added: “It is a credit to our clothes donor network because we’re only able to respond in this way because we’ve got so many high-quality clothes.
“The stuff that will be going [to London] that we don’t need people to bring are coats, shoes, general all types of children’s clothes and uniforms and general clothing for people including old men and women because there were a lot of three generation families living in the tower.
“We will also be sending Asian-appropriate clothing. We haven’t got a lot of Asian clothing but we have got clothing that is long-sleeved and long in length.”
The North Kensington blaze killed at least 79 people but the full death toll is still not known.
The tragedy is already one of the biggest fire disasters in British history.
