Buxton Advertiser fundraiser to stop babies and young children going hungry in the High Peak tops £1,900

The fundraiser set up last month after it was highlighted that parents were struggling so much to buy formula for their babies that some were turning to drastic measures and using calpol or antihistamines to make their children sleep through the night longer.

Since then the donations have been coming in and now more than £1,900 has been raised – almost half the total of £4,000 which is the charity’s annual running costs.

Kirsty Jackson, founder of the baby bank said: “This is amazing and will help so many families.

“This will allow us to support more and more people in a time of need.

“It will mean there won’t be a wait as we try and scrabble around to sort funds out the money will just be there.”

Kirsty says the charity now operates seven days a week as there is always someone who needs help every day.

“Recently we have seen another jump in requests for baby formula and summer clothes, sun hats and sun protection.”

The charity says the demand for services is never ending.

Kirsty said: “We feel we are constantly fighting fires, as soon as we help one family there is another family struggling.

“And there is always a sense of urgency people never plan to use a service like ours but a family came to us last week and the boiler broke so they had no hot water and their child had also broken their shoes and they just didn’t have enough money to go around.

“It’s times like that where we step up and help people and provide the shoes for the family and lighten their load.”

Kirsty said there are children in poverty across the High Peak who need that helping hand.

She said: “Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, and thank you to the people who have come into see us at the Community Church on London Road because of this campaign and asked how they can get involved.

“Together we can help support families who are struggling.”

She says there is a lady who takes all the donations of clothes home and washes them so they are clean for the next family and it those little acts of kindness which go a long way to supporting a small community based charity.

The campaign was picked up by social media influencer Simon Harris from Man Behaving Dadly who shared the fundraiser with his followers.

He said: “We have had a lot of breast is best and if you can’t feed don’t breed comments but there are innocent babies going hungry.

"My wife was in hospital when our son was little so I had to bottle feed him.

"The reasons why people are feeding their child with formula shouldn’t matter, what matters is people are struggling and that’s not right.

"I haven’t raised the money I just shared it with my followers and it’s them who have donated so thank you to them.”

To donate to the campaign visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/stop-babies-and-young-children-going-hungry-high-peak