Everton’s Blue Family campaign has received a generous donation of essential baby items from global retailer Mothercare plc which have been used to support more than 1,000 families and individuals in need during the coronavirus pandemic.
The heartwarming donation included a vast array of essential items for both expectant and new mums including prams, moses baskets, high-chairs, bedding, pregnancy pillows and travel slings as well as maternity and baby clothes.
Upon learning about how Everton Football Club and its official charity has been supporting those in times of hardship during the current pandemic through its Blue Family campaign, Mothercare – one of the leading global brands for parents and young children – wanted to lend its support and reached out to Everton in the Community with the offer of three-lorry loads of goods to aid and assist disadvantaged communities in this time of crisis.
The past few weeks has seen Everton in the Community staff distribute the items to low-income families and/or individuals who have been hit hard during these trying times as well as being shared with participants in need from the charity’s programmes. An allocation of the goods have also been assigned to local community centres, schools, fellow charities and refuges to support both expectant and new mums.
And in a further gesture of goodwill and a fine example of local and national businesses coming together to support others in times of need, construction and engineering firm and Everton in the Community partner Laing O’Rourke generously provided three staff members and the use of its vehicles to travel to the Mothercare warehouse in Watford to collect the donations on behalf of the charity and transport it back to Liverpool where local firm Character Mailing housed it in their Aintree warehouse ahead of distribution after also volunteering their services and support to the Blue Family campaign.
Everton in the Community CEO, Richard Kenyon, said: “This is a wonderful gesture from Mothercare that has made a huge difference to many families in need across Liverpool. These essential items will provide much comfort for many new and expectant mums and will help relieve some of the stresses and worries they might have been facing due to financial issues. I would like to express our sincere thanks to Mothercare for their kindness and generosity and also to Laing O’Rourke and Character Mailing for their support and help in making this happen.”
Mothercare Senior Executive Assistant Minnal Ladva said: “Mothercare are delighted to be able to support Everton in the Community with this donation of product, in the knowledge that it will help many families in need. The health and wellbeing of babies, young children and their families are at the heart of the Mothercare ethos and brand, and even more so in these challenging and uncertain times.”
Sefton Women’s and Children’s Aid (SWACA) are just one of the local organisations who benefitted from Mothercare’s generous donation and reflecting on the donation, SWACA Chief Executive Neil Frackleton said:“I would like to say a huge thank you to Everton in the Community and Mothercare for the fantastic donation of baby items for our women service users, many of whom are facing multiple challenges, trauma and poverty as a result of domestic abuse. Everton in the Community staff kindly delivered the items to us and were very helpful and supportive during the whole process. We are very appreciative to everyone for thinking of us at this time and the items donated will make a genuine difference.”
Mothercare and Everton Football Club are both proud members of the Employers Initiative on Domestic Abuse (EIDA) and played a leading role in bringing Mothercare and Everton in the Community together, showing the value of cross business collaboration with EIDA CEO Lorraine O’Brien commenting, “We are delighted to play our part in working with our valued member, Everton Football Club, to contribute to this important initiative.”
