Growbaby at the Hub
Please be aware that Growbaby closes for Christmas from Friday 19th December until Friday 7th January 2012.
Our aim is to provide good quality, new and second-hand, baby clothes and equipment (up to 5 years), completely free of charge, to anyone who needs it, regardless of their income, background, or faith. We will accept baby clothes and equipment from anyone who chooses to donate; we simply ask that potential donors ensure that they are in good condition.
The Hub is a perfect centre out of which we can work. Mothers can bring their children; leave them to play upstairs in the crèche and hand pick what they want from the Growbaby store downstairs. Previously, parents have had little say in the type of clothing and equipment they receive from Growbaby as we had no accessible storage. With the opening of The Hub comes the new and exciting prospect of meeting parents on neutral territory where they get the freedom to decide what they want or need. As always, this service is free of charge with no strings attached. We will always be on hand to answer queries about parenthood or just generally have a chit chat. We are hoping that this centre will provide refuge to families in the community. We have already started a toddler group and have a number of families visiting us.
Our referrals have always come from many different sources, social services, health services, GP’s, the police, the various Kingston Hostels, the midwives and health visitors and of course families have contacted us directly. We do not mind where the referral comes from and we do not ask lots of intrusive questions about your situation. Whilst Growbaby is project of Kingston Vineyard church we do not need people to have a specific faith (or even any faith) our aim has always been to serve the community in any way that we practically can.
In the time that we have been going we have been able to support many families in and around the Borough of Kingston, some of whom we see on a regular basis and some of whom have needed occasional help. It may have been providing a stairgate for a family with a toddler to providing everything for a new mum. We have many more families who we have been helping over the whole period of time. One of our mums is even on her fourth child. We estimate that we are currently serving around 600 families each year. As you can imagine this is a huge job for the Growbaby team and many miles have been clocked up in the time we have been going. Often a call will come in for a family who have left their home with literally nothing and Growbaby can help. Sometimes the calls are urgent, sometimes less so. Because we do not have a referral system to Growbaby and anybody can contact us, our calls come from far and wide. It has been our privilege and joy to serve this community.
For the last few years Growbaby has also linked with the children and staff at Epsom College who have held a Christmas toy service. In 2010 this allowed us to provide 650 presents for families in the Borough of Kingston.
How do I access Growbaby?
At present you can access Growbaby on Wednesdays at the Hub between 09.30 and 14.30. Simply drop in and we hope we might be able to help you. There will be more days soon when Growbaby is open so keep an eye out for the website as that is where we will post any changes.
As part of Growbaby’s role in the community we have also longed for the opportunity to support families in other ways, this is why we have started the Little Spokes group on a Wednesday and why we will be starting parenting classes in March 2012.
If you wish to speak to Noni about Growbaby the number is 07900 212567 or 020 8339 0372 or the website is www.growbaby.co.uk or you can contact her via noni@kingstonvineyard.co.uk