Social Flock Donation From Cross Tay link Road Team
Following a clothing drive amongst the team and sub-contractors working on the Cross Tay Link Road Project, Innes Mackintosh, Stakeholder and Communications Manager for BAM UK & Ireland, handed over a sizeable donation of preloved garments to Rachael Esdale, Founder and Chair of the Board of Social Flock, the community clothing initiative based in High Street, Perth.
Receiving the parcels, Rachael commented, “Thank you to the team for their wonderful donations of clothing. We will use these to provide emergency clothing packs for the community of Perthshire.”
Rachael describes social flock as “your friend who has a child 18 months older than yours. You’re simply making use of all of the great garments they’ve outgrown.”
She continued, “As long as you live in Perthshire and wear clothes, you can apply for our services. There are some kids we've been clothing since birth, and because it's that balance of poverty and climate, people are giving us back their stuff that their kids have grown out of then taking the next size up; creating a cyclical economy.”
The CTLR project has also announced that it will support the charity over the whole of 2024 by offering volunteers to assist in key operational matters. This will include supplying staff and vehicles to carry out collections from supermarket donation points, and to deliver to local people using the service.
Employees will also be permitted to use their volunteering time to assist the charity in the sorting and allocating of donations for future packs.
Rachael continued, “We're a small group and we have to be very responsive and nimble to meet our aims of reducing poverty, and making sure people have access to high quality, pre-loved clothing. Volunteer hours, therefore, are our most vital resource. The more volunteers we have, the more awareness raising we can do, and the more people we can help.
"We received over 500 applications to our Winter Warmer Pack for children over the festive period and the demand for free, high-quality clothing continues to increase as the cost-of-living crisis deepens. With more people volunteering their time we will be able to meet the demand the community has for our services and make sure everyone in Perthshire is kept cosy and confident."
Innes Mackintosh commented, “The team rallied behind our clothing drive, and we were pleased to be handing over such a great selection of good-quality garments. Longer term, we are committed to assisting Rachael and the Social Flock charity by providing hands-on help through volunteer hours.”
Jillian Fergusson, Roads Infrastructure Manager for PKC commented, “The Community Benefits and Social Value Strategy for the Cross Tay Link Road project clearly sets out the Council’s intentions for the life of this build.
“We are determined to help and support the most vulnerable members of our communities through charitable work and donations, and to build upon this ethos by aiding projects focused on improving lives. By its nature, the reach and impact of Social Flock is wide and inclusive, and we are delighted to be supporting such a fantastic local project.”