First Days takes donated clothes, toys, equipment and school uniform for children from 0-7 years and redistributes them to children whose parents cannot afford basic necessities for their families. Children are referred to us by professionals working with families (eg. social workers). We currently help around 1500 children each year. Over a third of the families we help have at least one parent in full time work but all struggle for a number of reasons, including rising living costs, physical or mental ill health, family breakdown, employment problems or changes to the benefits system.

Whilst most of the items that we provide are secondhand, there are things that need to be provided new, such as mattresses, nappies, toiletries and the like. We also have to pay for storage for our stock and to run our referral service. With no statutory or local government funding, we rely on fundraisers like our half marathon team to enable us to reach the children we support.