New charity ‘Clothe Me – Thank You’ provides access to clothing

A new charity has been established in London, designed to bridge the gap between clothing stock in charity shops and people that cannot afford to clothe themselves and their families. Clothe Me – Thank You provides a monetary value voucher redeemable in partner charity stores, enabling people in need to choose their own clothes with dignity without having to rely on hand-outs.

The vouchers are offered to people in crisis and help increase footfall to partner charity shops in Britain’s struggling high streets. When they are spent, a secondary benefit occurs by raising funding for the stores own charitable cause, with Clothe Me – Thank You returning the cash value of the voucher back to them.

Clothe Me – Thank You initially launched with partner charity shop Geranium across their 12 shops around Greater London and funding support from Richmond Parish Lands Charity (RPLC). Partnerships since grew including Royal Trinity Hospice in Fulham and Richmond charity branches of Vineyard Community, Fara and Fara Kids.

How does it work?

• Money raised through donations and online retail partnerships
• Donations converted into vouchers
• Vouchers distributed to people identified through a network of food banks and charities
• Vouchers can be spent in any of our partner charity shops
• Charity shops exchange the voucher for money for their own cause

Why is it needed?  

There are daily studies on the increase of rough sleeping, homelessness and households in poverty, with recent examples showing an increase of nearly a third in rough sleepers in London over the past year², and pockets in large cities with two-thirds of children living in poverty-hit families³. Reports show that more than one in five of the UK population (22%) is in poverty¹, and whilst food banks have appeared across the UK to provide support, there are less options for finding clothing⁴.

Antony Wroe, Founder, Clothe Me – Thank You, said: “It’s noticeable in our communities how individuals and their families are increasingly struggling to afford the basic needs of housing, food and clothing. Whilst food banks provide support, there isn’t an obvious choice for people that can’t afford clothing. We believe that people should be able to choose their own clothes rather than having to take what limited choices may be available to them. The Clothe Me – Thank You model enables this, and at the same time our charity shop partners benefit from the extra money spent in their stores.”

Fundraising

Donations can be made directly for either one off or regular amounts at clothemethankyou.com

Clothe Me – Thank You also partners with a number of online shopping portals, enabling shoppers with Amazon and John Lewis among other retailers to make their regular purchases with theses retailers, with a portion being donated to the charity.