Little things that make a big difference

It’s all systems go at Little Village in Balham. Situated in St Mark’s Church, just off Rowfant Road, a team of volunteers are busily putting up tables and moving boxes of baby clothes around a maze of cots and buggies.

It’s a drizzly Wednesday morning and the team are preparing for a group of 25 to 30 families to arrive, all in need of essential clothes, toys, and toiletries for their children.

Mum Vicky Jones first came to Little Village over a year ago. She had just split with her partner, and had a young child. She felt like she had nowhere to go. “I used to work in a nursery, but when I had [my daughter] I got quite bad depression and anxiety and found going back to work quite scary,” she said. “They said I was not who I used to be.”

Fortunately Vicky was invited to Little Village to pick up some essentials for her daughter, as well as for some much-needed social interaction.

“It was a completely different experience to what I was expecting. I felt like a family member coming into the family home. They made me feel like I could be a good mum,” she said.

Now Vicky is a volunteer with the charity, and helps to run a morning crèche as well as sort out the buggies for other parents in her position.

Rebecca Wilson, programmes manager at Little Village, says she has seen many mums like Vicky, who move from being guests to volunteers.

“We invite them to be part of the Little Village community,” she said.

The charity now has more than 150 volunteers in Wandsworth and encourages parents who have used the service to take part in running it to build confidence and local networks.

Now they are hoping to expand with the help of some funding the charity has received from Wandsworth Council to pay for a part-time centre manager for a new “satellite unit” at at Eastwood Children’s Centre, in Roehampton, which is due to open in May.

Rebecca is keen to emphasise the importance of charities like Little Village in helping families, going beyond just providing a few extra clothes.

“It looks as if you just give out baby kit, but it isn’t just a buggy, it’s the ability for a mum to leave the front door and access a doctor’s appointment,” she explained.

The charity also encourages parents to volunteer to boost their confidence and build on their employability skills.

“Certainly for the mums we see, childcare is prohibitive. It actively excludes women from getting out of the house and getting back into employment and from using their skills,” said

Rebecca. “That is both economically damaging for us as a society, but also personally and emotionally damaging for those women who go from feeling like they had a fulfilling job, whatever that was, to suddenly not being able to access that anymore. It can be really isolating. Our main objective was to make it really easy for families to connect with one another and to ensure that no child is without the essential items they need to thrive.”

The process works like a food bank, but for baby equipment, clothes and toys. Professional partners such as midwives and health visitors may notice a family is struggling and refer them to Little Village to pick up some essentials.

After briefly queuing outside, the guest is welcomed in and encouraged to sit with a volunteer to go through a “shopping list” of the things she needs.

This allows her to choose what she wants, in an effort to make the experience as dignified as possible.

While choosing, her children are free to play at the tables in the centre of the room, giving the space a friendly playgroup feel.

Rebecca explains that as many as 50 to 60 per cent of families are referred back to Little Village for more items because they are dealing with multiple and ongoing needs, such as domestic violence and mental health problems, as well as issues with housing and money.

Their children also quickly grow out of the clothes they have been given.

However, the centre encourages parents not to come back less than every three months and when they do they are encouraged to bring back the clothes their children have grown out of so they can be reused.

They are also picky about the clothes they accept.

“Families deserve good quality and safe kit,” Rebecca said. “We always say we want the items that you would give to a really good, rather picky friend.”

Little Village has seen a big downturn in its donations in the last week, which volunteers think is due to people staying at home due to coronavirus. However, families are still in need and do not have the resources to stockpile.

If you would like to donate to Little Village, please visit its website littlevillagehq.org.