Mum’s top class idea on school uniforms
AMUM is helping set up a scheme to provide free second hand school uniforms to help parents with soaring costs.
Sacha Trigg, 25, of Cheadle Hulme, has created the School Uniform Project on Facebook in time for the start of the new academic year in September.
And while donations are steadily coming in demand is also high as the first week has seen around five people a day ask for second hand items.
Part of the reason, says Sacha, is that the cost of uniforms is rising, particularly if schools insist on it having a branding or logo on it.
She estimates that a single outfit of trousers, shirt or polo shirt and jumper will cost £40 to £50.
And a family with two children of school age will spend £300-£400 annually, an amount that can be a struggle to find.
Sacha said: “I take in school uniform donations from people and then from that I distribute the uniforms to people who find it difficult to make ends meet.
“I’m actually really struggling with the amount of people coming forward because they need help. When my first child went to school I struggled but I had family to help me out.
“Some people don’t and with people having more children, schools demanding logoed uniforms and people feeling the pinch anyway some need a bit of extra assistance.”
Sacha, of Turves Road, has three children, one of whom goes to Bradshaw Hall Primary, in Cheadle Hulme, and two others not yet school age.
She decided to set up the project for all schools in Stockport and Manchester after seeing a similar one in Liverpool and realising there was no equivalent here.
Donations can be dropped off at her house at 109 Turves Road, Gascoigne Halman estate agents in Bramhall and Poynton, and Karisma, a salon in Bramhall.
Once the uniforms are received Sacha works on the items to make them look as new as possible.
She said: “It is often easier to ask for help from people you don’t know as it is less embarrassing.
“A lot of people I speak to are in a difficult position because of a situation beyond their control such as family break up. If it is that easy to struggle I think it’ll be worthwhile if I even help one or two.”
For more information visit The School Uniform Project - Stockport/Manchester on Facebook.