A MOTHER sanctioned for missing a benefits meeting while suffering a miscarriage is among the cases helped by a city clothing bank this year.
Togs for Tots to Teens was set up by former arts worker Jordan Butler to tackle growing levels of poverty in the Dundee area.
The community interest company began providing clothing, toys and essentials to families in April and has since helped 449 youngsters.
Butler originally handled about 50 cases per month, but demand peaked at 87 children this month.
Now the mother-of-two, who works full-time on the project, expects referrals to increase further in the new year as more agencies learn about her service.
She told The National: “The referrals will grow as we get more networking done. All we have done so far is based on Facebook and word of mouth, but as soon as people know about us they use us for more and more families.
“This month a lot of the referrals were for warm clothes. Benefits sanctions are a quite common reason for being referred – a lot of people can be between benefits and a job. We also get referrals for people moving from homelessness into accommodation, but the most common reason is just low income – 24 per cent.
“They are either working poor or on benefits and unfortunately the cost of living is not going down. When you’re on a very low income, there is no safety net for anything.
“It is very expensive to be poor.”
Cases include a woman with a handful of loose change who could not find an affordable girl’s jumper in local charity shops, and a woman struggling to care for her children after missing a benefits appointment because she was in hospital losing one of her unborn twins.
The decision was overturned after she presented a doctor’s letter, but delays in reinstating the funds left her unable to buy a winter coat for her daughter, which in turn led to complaints from the child’s school.
Butler said: “We gave the kids decent clothing and school supplies, but these are just some of the heartbreaking stories we hear.
“It is going to take off even more next year.”
Togs for Tots to Teens is based at Elim Pentecostal Church in the city’s Coldside ward, but Butler hopes to establish a low-cost charity shop and to move to a new social enterprise space in the coming months.
The service offers activity sessions for families as well as providing personalised aid packs of nappies, mattresses, games and other items.
Many of the items are second hand, while others, like underwear or buggies, are provided new through a wish list on the Amazon website.
She said: “Our ethos is ‘creating kindness’ and our hope is that no child in the Dundee area and beyond goes without something they need.”
Dundee has pockets of high deprivation, including the Coldside ward, and earlier this month the Trussell Trust food bank said it was preparing for a significant demand for its services.
Poverty in the city was also linked to above-average rates of mental illness in a report last month.
In May the Child Poverty Action Group revealed one in three children in some parts of the city lives below the breadline, with levels of need in Dundee second only to Glasgow.
The charity’s John Dickie described the situation as “scandalous” and demanded help to ensure families receive all their entitlements and to convince more employers to provide the Living Wage.
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