SHE’S best known for jostling with tricky politicians on Good Morning Britain, but today it’s a stubborn bit of mud on a pram tyre that’s getting under Charlotte Hawkins’ skin.
“It needs a bit more elbow grease!” The 48-year-old TV presenter jokes, while vigorously scrubbing away with a blue cloth. “I know the standards are high here so I don’t want to get told off.”
Charlotte has donned her pinny and spent a busy couple of hours cleaning, packing up children’s clothes and sorting toys at Stripey Stork, a baby bank in Reigate, Surrey, close to her home, for our Baby, Bank On Us campaign.
“I’ve found it really emotional coming here,” she says. “Having a child is such a wonderful thing and I know, from being a mother, how you want to buy them lovely things, decorate their room, make sure they have a safe place to sleep… it must be heartbreaking for those families who want to do that for their children but can’t for financial reasons.”
Her enthusiasm to help others came from her father Frank, a vicar who died of motor neurone disease a month before her daughter Ella-Rose was born in 2015, and she’s forthright in her belief everyone should do their bit.
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“I saw my dad, day after day, doing what he could to help people in the local community as they needed it,” she says. “It was about the community pulling together, and that’s what you did, you helped each other.
“You worry in a society where a lot of people are stuck on their phones, not necessarily looking out at the world. But we need to remember that we each have a role and responsibility to others. We need to engage and do what we can. We should keep asking ourselves, ‘Am I doing enough’?”
Growing up in Chichester, Charlotte says her own family wasn’t well off - “being a vicar isn’t a massively well paid job and my mum did nights as a care assistant” - but her parents protected her from any money worries.
“I’d have a wishlist for Christmas but I definitely wasn’t going to get everything on it!” she recalls. “I don’t look back and think I didn’t have a happy childhood because of that. I was very lucky.”
Tears come to her eyes as she chats with volunteers about the poverty some local families face. “Hearing about the mother who couldn’t leave the hospital because she had nothing, absolutely nothing, for her baby breaks my heart. Also, that this is happening in Surrey, shows how the cost of living crisis is touching so many people at the moment.”
Surrey, the UK’s second most affluent county, is mired in stereotypes of footballers living in giant country piles, loaded families with a garden full of ponies and mums whizzing about in their new sports cars.
While these assumptions may be true for many residents, they couldn’t be further from reality for many struggling families in the area as Nicola Dawes, the CEO and founder of Stripey Stork, and her team knows only too well.
“I think people will be surprised at the deprivation in Surrey,” says Nicola. “People don’t think it’s happening here but we’ve started to open people’s eyes and quietly change perceptions. People who didn’t need help before are starting to because of the cost-of-living crisis. Suddenly people aren’t working and they need help for the first time.”
Nicola, a former banker who launched Stripey Stork from her garage in 2013, says “being poor in an affluent area is even harder”. She adds: ”It might just be one or two families on a street but that’s even harder because it stands out. It’s more marked.”
Hearing about the mother who couldn’t leave the hospital because she had nothing for her baby breaks my heart
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Nicola, a mum-of-two, originally planned to help 40 local mums but on launch day ended up donating items to 100. The bank is now in a warehouse - a bustling hive of activity she jokes is “fuelled by cups of tea” - and she has a team of 14 part-time staff and 148 regular volunteers who come weekly.
Stripey Stork doesn’t have direct contact with families, instead it works with referral partners such as social workers and health professionals to help those in need. Unlike many baby banks, it caters for children up to the age of 16.
Nicola says: “We don’t meet the mums but we feel connected to them. When we get a package saying a six-year-old boy in a family with domestic violence likes Peppa Pig, we get invested in finding Peppa Pig pyjamas, books and toys we know will make him smile.”
Nicola and her team are “very strict about safety and quality standards” - something Charlotte has witnessed firsthand. Great care is taken into the packs the team sends out to 200 families a week.
Any clothing with camouflage is removed in case it is triggering for refugees, as well as items with slogans such as ‘I love daddy’ in case of family issues. Noisy toys are also given a great deal of consideration in case the child has sensory issues.
“Not all mums like loud, noisy toys,” jokes Charlotte. “I Imagine they’re the first ones to be donated.”
Charlotte spends time packing a bundle of clothes for a young girl. It includes a mix of T-shirts, long-sleeve tops, leggings, dresses and cardigans. She finishes it by putting a ‘made by Charlotte’ sticker on the front so the recipient knows it has been made with care.
Nicola adds: “People should feel like they’re receiving a gift, not a handout. Everything is offered with kindness, with no judgement or expectation that it will be returned. A lot of families do donate things back to help others.”
While Charlotte sorts clothes, she chats to Hollie Rowson, 35, from Surrey, who was helped with a school uniform by Stripey Stork for her daughter when money became tight.
She is now on the bank’s advisory panel and helps them improve the service they provide for parents in need. She says people should never feel afraid to ask for help.
“I get how embarrassing it is to ask for help. It’s the shame,” she says. “But it’s a good thing, you can’t do everything yourself sometimes. It’s OK not to be OK. I know that now.”
We need to engage and do what we can. We should keep asking ourselves, ‘Am I doing enough?’
Charlotte Hawkins
Since the centre opened, Nicola says demand has increased but so has their capacity to help. “We responded to 10,000 requests last year but we’ve moved from doing it in my garage to a big warehouse.” She’s noticed referral partners now ask for more items and has noticed points of pressure, like school trips and birthdays.
“We’ve known families who have two children but only one pair of shoes between them. Undoubtedly, the requests have gone up. Health professionals say there are families they’ve worked with for years, maybe because their child has developmental issues, who now need financial support.”
Charlotte says: “It’s particularly hard for some families at the moment, one thing happens, the boiler breaks, and it piles on a huge financial pressure. This is why you have to get involved in this campaign. If you can ease the pressure for one family, bring joy to a child having new clothes, toys or books, it’s a special thing to do - and you must do it.”
Nicola adds “it’s an honour to help these families who trust us, we never take that for granted. We hear really difficult stories about people in difficult situations, but that is balanced with the care and kindness of the community. Ultimately, there’s nothing more satisfying than packing up a car, sending it to a family and knowing you are helping relieve some pressure off them.”
Fabulous' Baby, Bank On Us campaign, in partnership with Save The Children, Little Village and more than 200 baby banks nationwide, has received the backing of The Princess of Wales, and a host of famous faces including Christine Lampard, Arlene Phillips, Leona Lewis, Aston Merrygold and Peter Andre.
The campaign has raised more than £70,000 so far and has been supported by brands including Tesco, Ocado and The Entertainer.
