Steph Capewell, founder and chief executive of Sunderland children's charity Love, Amelia

Transcript

00:00So Steph, we're down here at Love Amelia. Can you talk us through the service that

00:04you provide and why it's so needed in the community?

00:06Yes, so Love Amelia is a children's charity. We've come to be referred to as a baby bank but we support

00:11children from birth up to 16 years with the items and equipment they need.

00:15So Love Amelia supports families for a whole host of reasons but it is family

00:20who are otherwise gone without for reasons relating to poverty or other

00:24kinds of hardships and we are here to provide non-judgmental and dignified

00:29support. We'll provide things like toys that we're here now, provide things like

00:34clothes, a place for the child to sleep, toiletries, anything that child would

00:39need let's say from being a newborn up to their teenage years. Child

00:44poverty is very very high in the city. We are in Hendon at the moment which is

00:48such a high area of deprivation but in the region we are second highest region

00:53in the country for child poverty which means far too many children are gone

00:56without. On an average classroom of around 30 children, around 11 of those are

01:01living in poverty and are gone without the basics they need. So by working with

01:05our community, by accepting donations of pre-loved and new items we can give

01:09families the star that they deserve and make sure every child has a chance to

01:14just be happy and be the kid that they deserve to be and have items that

01:17they need to thrive.