It began to distribute furniture, food, clothing, gumboots, nappies and countless other mother/baby supplies to flood affected families across the Northern Rivers in 2022, but what remained were boxes and boxes of perfectly good pre-loved baby clothing.
The baby and children’s clothing kept being donated for redistribution so the Pregnancy Birth and Byron (PBB) media team decided to keep this part of the outreach program going with a free weekly baby clothes swap in Mullum every Friday (except school holidays) from 10am to midday at Mullumbimby CWA.
Supporting young families
The Mullumbimby CWA branch were on board. CWA President Sue Constable and Secretary Jenny Barlow immediately recognised the relevance of supporting young families from the hall, which is located on the corner of Tincogan and Gordon Streets.
‘I used to bring my kids here for their early childhood checks,’ said Jenny. ‘It just makes sense.’
The project has inspired two more clothes swaps at Evans Head, Lennox Head. A fourth, in Lismore will be launching from their library on, August 9.
‘All these clothes swaps have started with initial boxes of donations from our clothes swap here at Mullum,’ said Sally Cusack, who now runs the clothing hub.
Volunteers needed
However, in spite of the community support, the clothes swap is running very low on volunteers.
‘The housing shortage here has recently led to three more of our volunteers having to leave the area completely,’ said Sally.
The Outreach Hub relies solely on volunteers, but they all value the contact with the families so much. ‘I just love it,’ said Kat Cooper, pregnancy massage therapist and the longest serving volunteer with the hub.
‘It’s so nice to create this space for families to come together, make new friends and head home with some really useful items for their kids.’
If you feel called to help out at the hub and have one spare Friday morning per month, the team would love to hear from you. No experience needed, just a love of mums and bubs (and folding tiny clothes).
Email [email protected] to find out more.
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