Little Village, a Balham-based charity, said today that the number of Wandsworth families it has supported has reached 1,000.

Little Village is like a foodbank, but for clothes, toys and equipment for babies and children up to the age of 5. It provides support and vital supplies for some of the borough’s most vulnerable families.

The organisation collects donations of high quality baby and children’s items from local parents who are looking to pass them on. Families who urgently need essential equipment or clothing are referred to Little Village by professionals like health visitors or midwives. They are then invited to attend weekly drop-in sessions where they can choose the items they need. These sessions not only provide material goods, but many families benefit emotionally, receiving support from staff, volunteers and like-minded parents.

Since being set up in 2016, Little Village Wandsworth has gifted on items worth over £612k, including:

• 340 safe places to sleep (cots, cotbeds, Moses baskets and travel cots)
• 366 buggies
• Enough high chairs to reach the height of the Wembley Arch
• Enough baby grows to require a washing line three football pitches long

Little Village’s Founder and CEO, Sophia Parker, is a Tooting-based mum of three. She said:

“Supporting 1000 families is a fantastic milestone and makes me incredibly proud of our dedicated team of volunteers and staff, but sadly it also indicates a dire level of need in our local communities. Child poverty is rising for the first time in 20 years and we are certainly seeing the impact of that at Little Village.

“Every week we meet parents raising their kids in desperate circumstances. We see mums unable to pay for nappies and food; babies sleeping on towels and broken beds; newborns living in rat infested properties. It’s heart-breaking.

“My ultimate dream is for the need for organisations like ours to decline, but sadly we are seeing quite the opposite.”

The organisation said that the level of demand for its services is indicative of rising child poverty levels, with over 5,000 children growing up below the breadline in Wandsworth alone.

Little Village’s figures show that:

• Over 1 in 3 of the families supported are homeless or in temporary accommodation.
• 1 in 5 families have no recourse to public funds.
• Just under half are single parent households and 15% are refugees and asylum seekers.
• Many are dealing with domestic violence and substance misuse.

The organisation already has branches in Wandsworth and Camden and said its third, in Southwark, is set to open in a matter of weeks.