VOLUNTEER outfitters who kit out schoolchildren from deprived backgrounds will launch as a registered charity this month.
The School Bank West Lothian was set up as part of a grassroots drive to stop poverty keeping the country’s poorest children out of the classroom.
Created by Yes campaigners in the wake of the independence referendum, the informal Back to School Bank network extends all around the nation and provides new school uniform items and equipment to primary and secondary pupils.
Activists collect shirts, bags, shoes, coats, stationary and others essentials to distribute throughout the school year to those in need. Now organisers have taken the idea one step further and the project will become an official charity.
Launching on Friday June 24, the organisation has moved out of the founders’ homes and into premises thanks to funding boosts from the Greggs Foundation and Almond Housing Association.
Founder and secretary Dr Moira Shemilt said: “We have premises which are full of school uniforms that we want to get to children and families who need them. Right now, this is our most immediate goal.
“We do have a longer term strategy – we are a member of the West Lothian
Anti-Poverty Strategy Group and are thinking about sustainability, business planning and the longer- term future.
“Right now though, in the run-up to the start of the school year in August 2016, we want to make sure that we can help as many struggling families in West Lothian as we can.”
The team, led by Shemilt and daughter Kirstin Shemilt, received their first referral from Citizens
Advice in Livingston within days of setting up last summer and have since handled a “flurry” of cases, thanks to donations from the public.
Now an £8,000 sum from Almond Housing Association has allowed them to rent premises in the Almondbank Centre to sort and store stock which had previously been kept in lofts and garages.
More details about the service and the launch, which will be attended by Communities Secretary Angela Constance MSP, can be found at school bank-westlothian.org.
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