Glasgow’s Pre-Loved Uniforms
Glasgow’s Pre-Loved Uniforms was formally constituted as an SCIO in March 2020, but the work started in 2017 when Donna Henderson, member at Tron St Mary’s Church of Scotland, set up a uniform bank in Balornock, Glasgow.
Donna wanted desperately to make a difference in her community and with her own three boys attending the local primary school, helping support nearby families became a priority.
She said: “I kept thinking of different things I could do as part of my volunteer work and nothing I came up with seemed right.
“I then thought about a uniform bank and how that could work.”
She added: “I spoke to the headteacher at Balornock Primary School about the idea and she said she would support me in anyway she could.”
Partnering with local schools, the organisation provides rails of uniform and donation bins. It works by allowing families to have access in a totally anonymous setting, providing school uniforms to all who need it.
Donna explained, “There is still such a stigma for people who can’t afford to go out and buy a new school uniform. That is the reason why I have the rails in the school. The uniform bank ensures that children and young people can wear warm school uniforms, shoes and jackets regardless of their families financial situation.”
Another benefit of the project is that it encourages people to think about being more environmentally friendly, by encouraging people to donate and/or reuse clothes instead of buying new.
Donna added, “I am trying to focus on the recycling aspect because if uniforms are donated, you don’t have as much clothes to put in landfill sites.”
The service quickly expanded - it grew initially across the North East of Glasgow, and earlier this year it became Glasgow’s Pre-Loved Uniforms in recognition of the increase in requests and demand across the city.
Like many charities though, the work at GPLU has dramatically changed since the outbreak of Covid-19. With restrictions in place and schools back in August, they started a delivery system thanks to a new vehicle - affectionately called the Orange Mean Machine.
Over the summer months they received over 200 requests from families and services looking for school uniform, and the new van allowed them to deliver over 150 packages to home addresses.
