Leading Newham charities have joined Lyn Brown, MP for West Ham, in Parliament to kick off this year’s Kit For Kids campaign.

Kit For Kids is an exciting new initiative to help Newham parents recycle their kids old school clothes at the end of the school year.  Events will be held in schools across Newham where parents will be able to take along their children’s school clothes that they’ve grown out of or just don’t need and swap them with other parents.

It’s not just school uniforms either.  Parents will also be able to swap PE kits, bags, coats and shoes.  This will be a great way to kit kids out for the new school year in an eco-friendly and cost-effective way.

Kit For Kids is being co-organised by End Child Poverty, Newham Voluntary Sector Consortium, Community Links, Save The Children, Community Food Enterprise and Aston Mansfield.  Lyn Brown MP is fully supporting the campaign.

Lyn Brown MP said:

“We had a really productive first meeting and I’m delighted that we’re getting Kit for Kids off the ground.  It’s a great idea and there’s a brilliant team behind the initiative.  I’m confident that it will be an enormous success.

School uniforms are often just thrown away when children are finished with them.  This creates a great deal of unnecessary waste and can seem like throwing money down the drain.  But by recycling these uniforms, Newham parents will be able to kit their kids out for school in an eco-friendly way and save money at the same time.

Kit for Kids will be writing to all schools in Newham inviting them to take part.  Why not ask your school if they are going to get involved?  Or could your organisation offer resources or time?  There will be more updates in the Recorder and on my website about how you can get involved as the campaign progresses.”