Duchess of Cambridge backing allows Baby Basics Northampton to support more mums in crisis

Baby Basics Northampton has said they can now save their 'precious funds' to help more new mums as they rest assured that extra toiletries, bedding and clothing will be donated from big name high street brands such as Sainsbury's.

It comes as Kate Middleton has thrown her weight behind three UK baby banks that include Baby Basics UK, Little Village and AberNecessities who will each benefit from the initiative.

Baby Basics Northampton donates useful items - in Moses basket starter packs - to people in need, which restores dignity to women who are victims of domestic abuse, facing poverty or displacement.

The collaboration follows on from The Duchess’ previous visits to Baby Basics in West Norfolk where she packed up Moses baskets with supplies and spoke to families who had received support from the charity.

In the UK, the charity is powered primarily by volunteers and typically runs on professional referrals from health visitors, midwives and social workers.

Micki Carey-Slater, from Baby Basics Northampton, said: "We are so excited to be part of this new initiative and to have the recognition and support of the Duchess of Cambridge, as well as an understanding of the difficulties our families face.

"These donations will allow us to bless the families we work with with many brand new products that we don’t normally get the opportunity to give and reduce the numbers of costly items we have to buy from our fundraising.

"This support will also enable us to continue to meet our referrals for starter packs and the increase that we are seeing as a result of the Covid-19 crisis."

Over the past four months, the charity has sent out 120 starter packs and created a further 20 packs. The staff believe this level of need will continue to grow as the financial implications of the pandemic continue to hit families in Northamptonshire.

Micki added: "We have met and will continue to fulfil every referral we receive.

"We have faced shortages and increasing prices over this time and this support will enable us to use precious funds to meet other costs and to serve vulnerable families.

"We will, of course, be continuing to fundraise and we will always need the support of our community. Financial donations and those of new and preloved items will always be the backbone of our project."

Recently the charity, which was previously based in a shared space in Grange Park, has relocated to ‘The Keep House’ at Scott Bader’s head office in Wollaston.