Baby charity calling for donations as it struggles to meet demand

Soaring living costs have driven a "humongous" increase in demand for baby supplies at a Christchurch charity.

It Takes A Village Hub has put together more than 500 bundles for babies and toddlers in the past six months. At this rate, the charity is on the way to hitting the 800 mark “easily” by December.

Each baby and toddler bundle contains essentials - for a newborn child up to five-years-old - including clothing, bedding, toiletries, toys and books.

However, the included items depend on donations.

The charity is struggling to meet the demand for consumable items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, nappies and wipes, as they are one-off use items that are not donated a lot.

But charity co-director Danielle Petterd said requests for these items make up to 90 per cent of applications.

"An unexpected bill could put families behind for weeks.

"A bag of nappies could cost up to $18 per week.

"So to be able to put that money onto power bills or pay off debts are huge things for our families."

The charity put together more than 600 bundles last year. Before the Covid pandemic, they used to do 20 bundles a month.

“(The) number of families in need has hugely increased since Covid-19 and living costs increased," Petterd said.

"It has just been absolutely insane to see a huge number of families in need out there."

The latest figures from a new ASB report show household weekly living costs are expected to increase by $110 over the next 12 months, with two-thirds of the costs from either non-tradable goods/services or debt servicing.

Petterd is urging people to donate their baby clothing so the charity can continue to help struggling families.

"Without donations like these, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do for the families."

The charity recently cleared a waitlist of 10 families in need of newborn clothing.

But Petterd said people are still coming through the door asking for help.

The demand for baby supplies also outgrew her and co-director Jess Roberts’ garages.

Last year, with help from Christchurch City Council, they managed to secure commercial premises in New Brighton.

Petterd said in hindsight it was funny to see how they were able to fit all of the items in their houses for so long.

The charity was started in 2017 as a way to share baby supplies and resources to families needing “a little extra help”.

• For more information visit www.itav.org.nz/home