WHEN 10-year-old Hannah Weir told her mother she wanted to do something special with her Christmas money, you would be forgiven for thinking she might want the latest smart phone or tablet.

However, Hannah had other ideas and little did she know her £120 would go on to help more than 1,000 children in Moray after it was put towards setting up a school clothing bank.

Three years later, the demand for the clothing bank has never been greater, particularly through the pandemic. Latest figures show one in four children, 230,000, in Scotland are in poverty as are one in five youngsters in Moray, that’s 4,004 in all, according to Child Poverty Action Group Scotland.

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Moray School Bank founder Debi Weir, Hannah’s mother, has been running the charity since 2017 and while it has been a local lifeline for many in the community, she longs for the day when there is no longer a need for it.

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With employment and wages affected by this year’s uncertainty, Moray School Bank is seeing more and more working parents seek help because they are struggling to make ends meet.

“We started out helping a few hundred children in the first year,” said Mrs Weir. “And as people got to know about us demand grew and also because there was a real need for it.

“We are in an area where much of the employment is dependent on tourism, retail and some manufacturing and some of these areas have been badly affected by the pandemic.

“It has hit families hard and within three years we have helped more than 1,000 children. Already this year we have helped more than 400 and we still have a long way to go.”

Moray School Bank works on a different principle from simply handing out the same packs to either girls or boys. Organbisers get personally involved.

“For us it is not just about handing out a school uniform and shoes and expecting the child to wear it,” added Mrs Weir. “We speak to every family individually and treat everyone as an individual. We ask what the children are interested in and if it is princesses then they will have a princess school bag. We want them to feel they matter and have a choice.”

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The school bank sees referrals from families with children of all ages, including pre-school and from families with parents claiming benefits and in employment.

Mrs Weir, who has a background in youth work and homelessness, added: “It is not about us sourcing items, we urge them to pick what they will wear. We have referrals for young children at nursery. It is important for them to have good fitting shoes at that stage, so we make sure they can go to a local shop to have their feet measured.”

While the work of the school bank has been of vital importance in the community, Mrs Weir hopes to be able to offer families they help a way out by being able to offer a life skills programme. She hopes by helping people to change their lives, they might be able to break free from the poverty cycle.

It is why she has set up R-evolution for Good, a community owned society based in Moray that offers training and development to business and uses the profit to support families out of poverty.

It is looking to raise £40,000 from a community share offer, supported by Community Shares Scotland, which will help support families in Moray who need support to break out of the poverty cycle.

Mrs Weir said: “The money raised from the community share offer will be used to deliver a range of training and development courses to businesses, including food safety, manual handling and customer services.

“100% of the profits from these courses will go towards providing one-to-one support to local families through progression coaching, which helps people identify the root cause of their problems and start to tackle them so they can get out of poverty.”

She hopes the organisation can make a difference in supporting families facing massive struggles.

Mrs Weir added: “Counselling has been a massive need during these tough months and that’s why we have set up this service as well. We are all so passionate and determined to make a difference to all the children affected in our communities.”

Among those to receive help was one mother, Joanne, whose personal circumstances changed for the worse and found herself looking to Moray School Bank for help.

Joanne, whose name has been changed for the purposes of the article, said: “I didn’t want to be a burden to people, but they don’t make you feel that way. They ask the children what they would like and it makes it all the more personal which I think makes a big difference. They’ve been an absolute lifeline, I can’t thank them enough. During lockdown, they gave us shopping vouchers so I could get food shopping as I couldn’t afford to buy food for the children.

“I think if it was a large organisation you might be handed the same things, but it is great that here they put the children first.”

Joanne is very grateful for the help she has been given, but for her and her family’s future she wants to make a change for the better and is inspired by the idea of coaching and courses.

“I am really keen to start the life coaching programme with R-evolution for Good, it will give me the help I need to move forward, get a plan together and start a better, more secure and positive life for myself and the children. R-evolution for Good will help me with budgeting and planning so I can get us as a family out of the poverty cycle we are in and that gives me so much hope for the future.”