Businesswoman, Karen Williams OBE, wanted her work to make a difference has helped provide more than 40,000 children entering emergency care after fleeing violent homes with ‘Buddy Bags’ filled with welcoming items and essentials.
Awarded an OBE for her services to the victims of domestic abuse, mum-of-three Karen Williams, 60, created the Buddy Bag Foundation in 2015, providing rucksacks filled with home comforts and necessities for children arriving at refuges, hotels and B&Bs.
And with Office for National Statistics figures showing a 65 per cent increase in calls to the National Domestic Abuse Helpline between April and June 2020, compared to the first three months of the year, the service particularly came into its own last year after months in lockdown.
Karen, of Shenstone, Staffordshire, whose partner Sean, 62, works for the NHS, said: “The statistics surrounding domestic violence in this country are shocking.
“People often forget that domestic violence is a family issue and a lot of the time, children are casualties in it too, even if they are not directly abused.
“It shatters families and can ruin children’s lives. They often flee with nothing, arriving at a strange place with just the clothes on their back.”
The Buddy Bag Foundation charity has provided bags to over 40,000 children in the UK.
Karen Williams, OBE
Karen says the ‘Buddy Bags,’ which contain toiletries, pyjamas, underwear and items like a teddy bear and a book, provide some comfort to children arriving at emergency centres like women’s refuges.
She said: “I’ve had some lovely feedback from the women, thanking me and saying that the bags show we care.
“It makes it all worthwhile.”
Karen, a grandmother-of-four, whose own children, Airbnb host Daisy, 33, restaurant owner George, 31, and travel insurance company co-owner Harry, 27, flew the nest some years ago, started the Buddy Bag Foundation following a spell working in network marketing, after selling her family run business which sold fabric inspection machinery in 2005.
Cash-rich, but time-poor, since leaving her firm, she had been looking for a new challenge, saying: “When I sold my family run business just over 16 years ago, I got involved in a network marketing business called Utility Warehouse, because I was looking for a new challenge.
“Working there gave me a lot of financial freedom, but about six and a half years ago, I felt like I was at a crossroads.”
Making money and being successful were no longer fulfilling for Karen who, instead, wanted to give back in some way.
She said: “I wanted to make a difference, so I started looking for ways that I could give back somehow, but I was at a loss.
“I couldn’t find the place where my time and resources would be best spent.”
But in 2015, when she visited her son George where he lives in Australia, she read an article about a charity that changed her life.
She said: “The charity was called Alannah and Madeline Foundation.
“They were providing bags of love for children who had been victims of domestic violence. It really sparked my interest and I wondered if we had anything similar in the UK.“
48,000 children every year in the UK require emergency care
Returning home, Karen discovered there was a growing need for supplies to distribute to children in women’s refuges and realised it was the perfect opportunity for her to step in.
She said: “I did the research and found out that sadly there are more than 48,000 children in the UK who require emergency care due to domestic violence at home every single year.
“It just shocked me and I wanted to do something.”
Using her business connections, Karen pitched her vision for launching a Buddy backpack charity to provide children with essential items when they arrive at shelters.
She said: “I had an overwhelming response and a lot of my colleagues were even keen to find out how they could help themselves.
“I always say that the best way you can support us is with your time. Donate two hours of your time to come and help us pack some of our Buddy Bags.”
She added: “A lot of companies nowadays give their staff volunteer days and people often don’t know what to do with them, but we have a purpose built opportunity for them to come and donate some time.
“It’s a humbling experience because you see what goes into the buddy bags. You’ve packed them and you know that the next time that bag is going to be opened will be by one of these children who, sadly, will have been taken from the family home and often relocated to another part of the country having left everything and everybody they know behind.
“It’s quite a sobering thought that our bags of love make a huge difference to not only the child but to the mum when they are in a women’s refuge.”
What’s in a Buddy Bag?
She added: “The bags contain 12 essential items. We do five age groups and we do boys and girls. Everything is brand new.
“They contain pyjama pants and vests, basic toiletries, an activity, a reading book and one of our cuddly toys, often knitted by volunteers.”
Last week, the Buddy Bag Foundation marked a big milestone, packing their 40,000th bag.
Karen said: “It’s such a huge achievement for such a small volunteer-based charity.
“They are important to mums, too, as the more you can do for her to show that she is loved and simply that you are thinking about her, the less likely she is to go back to the perpetrator.
“All these little things that you can do to make the transition period of such a traumatic time easier gives people a small sense of security.”
She added: “And, for some children, they may not have ever even had a brand-new pair of pyjamas or a reading book before. Sadly, that’s a reality.”
The team, who are all volunteers, have a database of UK-based women’s refuge centres. They can apply for Buddy Bags, which are sent out in boxes of 30.
The bags are then placed on the children’s beds, ready for their arrival.
Karen said: “It’s really special for the mums to see their children receive the bags of love.
“It’s a very traumatic time for them, so to see their children excited and happy with their bags means a lot.”
Since setting up the charity, Karen was awarded a Points of Light award, which is given to volunteers who make a difference, by the then Prime Minister Theresa May in 2017, going on to get an OBE earlier this year.
She said: “I never set the charity up to be recognised, but it’s really lovely for our team effort.
“I can’t do it on my own. I’ve got a board of trustees, ambassadors and around 20 current volunteers, although we have had over 3,500 volunteers throughout the last six years.
“I can’t take the credit for all the work we’ve achieved as a group, but the recognition does give us credibility and, hopefully, will encourage more centres to reach out to us to apply for their Buddy Bags.”
New pyjama launch in 2022
In the New Year, Karen is launching a range of pyjamas which will be included in the backpacks, as well as being available for the public to buy, which funds the pairs they give away.
She said: “We currently use pyjamas bought from supermarkets, which we get no discount on, so the plan is to launch our own range to use instead.
“People will also be able to buy a pair and for every pair bought another pair will be given to a child in need.”
She added: “The pyjamas will have words of affirmation written across them, things like ‘I am loved’ and ‘I am awesome’
“Something for the children to read before they go to bed and know that someone is thinking of them.”
Thank you to Rikki Loftus, PA Real Life for publishing the original article here.
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