School children in West Yorkshire will be able to wrap up warm this winter thanks to a donation of coats and warm winter clothes from staff at a Huddersfield firm and their colleagues across the UK.
Staff at Lubrizol, in Huddersfield, have collected coats, hats, gloves, scarves and school uniforms for the charity Uniform Exchange, which recycles clothing free of charge to families across Kirklees.
The company urged colleagues at its sister sites in Barnsley, Manchester and Derbyshire to help them support the charity after hearing they had a shortage of children’s coats.
It is the first-time staff at the four sites have collaborated on a fundraising project and nine volunteers from the firm spent a day at the Lockwood-based charity, sorting through the donations.
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The group joined Kate France, the founder of Uniform Exchange, to check the clothing for tears and rips and to prepare them for their new owners.
Chris Hart-Jones, from Lubrizol’s Huddersfield site said: “This is the first time all four sites have worked together on a fundraising project, but it won’t be the last because this has been such a successful project.
“Uniform Exchange relies on donations and when we discovered there was a shortage of coats, we thought this was the perfect way all four sites could combine.
“Children grow out of clothes so quickly that it makes sense to recycle, especially when you know some families just can’t afford to buy new school uniform every year.”
The charity was founded six years ago by project director Kate France after she saw the 2011 BBC documentary, Poor Kids, which showed the reality of widespread poverty in the UK.
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Since its inception, the charity has prevented more than five tonnes of clothing going into landfill. Last year around 850 children were provided with free school uniform and more than 8,500 items of good uniform were recycled.
The charity needs primary and secondary logo uniform and items such as shoes, coats, trainers, football boots, bags, vests, tights and socks.
Donations can be dropped off at KAL sports centres, Kirklees libraries and other recycling bin drop-off points.
Items can be in any condition, as poor quality or worn-out clothing is sold for rags.
ENDS
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