The Clothing Project

The Clothing Project is a charity based on helping the most vulnerable members in our community; the children. We take a holistic approach in providing at risk and in need children with clothing. For our team of volunteers, it has always been much more than simply providing clothing; it is about letting these children and whanau know that they are loved and valued and people in our community care about them.

What our charity sets out to achieve is to make certain children Eastern Bay of Plenty have access to suitable clothing from the youngest (newborns including small/premature babies) to 12 years of age. We achieve this by receiving wonderful donations of pre-loved clothing from the community. This clothing is carefully sorted, washed and packaged into our distinctive bags by our dedicated volunteers. Through the organisations we work with the bags of clothing and other donated items such as bedding and wraps are distributed out to families facing financial hardship. Often these families struggle to purchase clothing from the op shops. The heart of our project comes in many forms - it is about connecting with our community on all levels. This includes encouraging donations of pre-loved clothing from the community to pass onto families in need. Those in our community who donate are not asking for anything in return but with the knowledge that the items are received by many children in need of clothing.

When the bags of clothing are gifted to the families, our aim is to share with them that they are a valued and loved part of our community. We hope that by sharing the kindness from the community and our volunteers, the recipient families will then pass along the clothes when no longer needed, creating a community that cares.

At the core of what we do when packaging up a gift bag for a family, is that we ensure that only the best clothes are passed onto families. We train our small group of volunteers how to carefully sort through the clothing and ensure that each item of clothing must be in a gift condition. By maintaining a high level presentation of the clothing, we hope to let the families know that they are worthy of the best because they are a loved and cared for part of our community.