Ten Dunamis students travelled to Pelican Parcels in Hove, East Sussex on Wednesday 17 September for our community volunteering day.
One of the students works for Pelican Parcels as a volunteer co-ordinator so they gave us a tour of its new warehouse and explained how the charity works.
It was founded in 2018 by Shelley and James Bennett. They wanted to gift some of their cherished, but no longer used, baby items to a family in need. After realising that such a service did not exist locally they decided to start Pelican Parcels.
As the charity states on its website:
“We take pre-loved and new item donations for babies and children up to age 12, and redistribute them to families facing financial hardship via various existing family services in Brighton & Hove in Sussex. We work closely with local
council services and other charities and agencies.”
End Child Poverty says that 28.4% of all those aged 16 and under in Brighton & Hove are living in poverty. The city has high rates of children in need, in care and with child protection plans and/or who have been referred to children’s social care services.
Pelican Parcels aims to provide all essentials from beds and clothes, uniform and shoes, toys and books, prams and play mats, nappies and toiletries for families from birth up to the age of 12.
We split into two groups. One sorted through donated clothes, following detailed guidance as to the required quality of clothing. One criterion is that:
“We want [our families] to see their packages as a gift, sorted and packed with love.”
That means checking for cleanliness, stains, signs of wear, bobbles, poppers and buttons that work. Pelican also does not regift clothing with references to family members (“Best Brother”, “Mummy Loves You” etc) as they might be upsetting for some. Once an item of clothing has passed the quality test, it is sorted into age categories, from premature babies, newborn, 0-3 months, up to age 12. The other group arranged and bagged up nappies according to size and brand. They also cleaned and sorted shoes into keep/recycle piles.
We were working with several other volunteers and members of staff in a busy, well-organised warehouse. They do invaluable work and it was great to be able to help.
