In this podcast episode with Ruby Illing from The Givey Community podcast, Ruby visits The Buddy Bag Foundation during a local Buddy Bag pack event. Together with Karen Williams OBE, CEO and Founder of The Buddy Bag Foundation, along with this month’s BBF Volunteer of the month, Jane Probert, they walk through all the items that are included in The Buddy Bag Foundation’s ‘bags of love’.
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This is the transcript taken directly from The Givey Community Podcast published on 2nd June 2022, available to listen to in the above podcast.
Ruby Illing 00:12
Hello, and welcome to The Givey Community, the sonic space of empathy and hopefulness. I’m your host, Ruby Illing, and this week, we’re visiting The Buddy Bag Foundation.
Karen Williams 00:31
My name is Karen Williams, I am the co-founder of The Buddy Bag Foundation. We deliver our Buddy Bags to Women’s Refuge, we’ve got over 250 on our database and what tends to happen is children leave home having left everything they own, and having left everybody they love behind, they’re often relocated to another part of the country, and they literally arrive in Women’s Refuge in the clothes that they’re standing in. So when they arrive, and there’s a ‘bag of love’, which is left on their bed for them, it makes a real difference to that child, it gives them a sense of security, and they can own something of their own.
Ruby Illing 01:20
Karen, and volunteers, Linda and Jane, talk to us through what goes into the bags. Do you mind taking me on a bit of a pack?
Jane Probert 01:29
Yes. Basically, the contents are you have the backpack which they can then use for school which they’re very pleased with because they’re not singled out by not having a bag. And then we’ve printed our own pyjamas with a positive message on that varies slightly, depending on the age. These are [age] three to five, this is underwear, ‘I am happy’, ‘I am loved’, ‘I am brave’ “roar”, here’s a picture of a lion.
Karen Williams 01:59
So we love to have a positive affirmation on the pyjamas so that the mom can reinforce how brave that child is especially during you know, circumstances that vary.
Jane Probert 02:11
And then we’ve got other essentials, which is a toiletry bag, which can in this particular instance, for this age group, it’s got four items and it’s, I’m doing [age] 6 to 8 girls. So I’ve got a hairbrush and toothpaste and toothbrush and a sponge. But the contents do vary depending on the age of the child because we do seven different age groups, ranging from 0 to 16.
Karen Williams 02:37
And we’ve got pencil cases,
Jane Probert 02:40
crayons, felt tip pens. And then we’ve got this
Karen Williams 02:45
lovely learn to write and draw the alphabet,
Jane Probert 02:50
which they can use those things with. So it gives them something to focus on if they’re feeling a bit lost. And then we’ve got the reading book for mum to use at night when they go to bed.
Karen Williams 02:59
And a lot of children may not have even had a reading book. And my long term legacy is, is that every child should well, every child deserves to be loved, but also in the hope that at some point in the future, in adulthood, that child may remember that somebody has given them a bag of love, and that they will want to gift that time themselves. So the little bookmark just says, “This buddy bag has been packed with love”. And it says, “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving”, by Mother Teresa.
Jane Probert 03:38
And then knitted toys. We’ve got an army of ladies across the country who send us knitted toys of various types.
Linda 03:46
Some amazing ones absolutely amazing ones. Some of them with little ease, haven’t actually but some of them I’ve got dungarees on, and little dresses and pants, knitted pants, I mean, who knew, that’s just amazing.
Jane Probert 04:02
And then we tied, tie around the neck, this positive message as well, which says, “I am special, can’t you see there is only one of me. I want to come and live with you, I think that you are special too”. So it’s things like that, that are nice for the child. So we put that on top of the bag, and then a letter of affirmation, which is just a positive message for mom really and that goes on the top.
Jane Probert 04:28
And the organisational side of it. We count everything out onto the tables at the beginning so that you know that if you if you’ve got something left or something short, you have to check all the bags to make sure that something somebody hasn’t either got to have something called they’ve got something missing. So that’s how you know.
Ruby Illing 04:49
Who’s made the toiletry bag?
Jane Probert 04:51
Yes, well, again, it’s an army of ladies across the country who make toiletry bags and again, they have different sizes because the 16-year-old girls have got extra content. So they’ve got bigger bags. And some, a lot of them are beautifully designed and beautifully made. It’s amazing the time they must spend, and the material, they seek out to actually make some of these. They’re absolutely beautiful.
Ruby Illing 05:16
So they are quite individual.
Jane Probert 05:18
Yes, they are. Yes. And it’s similarly, the pencil cases, lots of people made pencil cases, which, when you appreciate the time that goes into them, they’ve each got to have a zip inset into them. And the contents added, which are all homemade. And again, it’s people purchasing the material, they all send them in a donation. Every single person that works for The Buddy Bag Foundation is not paid, they, it’s 100% of effort and donations go to the actual charity. Yeah, so that’s, that was another thing that I liked as well about it.
Karen Williams 05:52
You know, what I love about what we do, is we engage with so many volunteers on so many different levels. And we know that when the child receives a Buddy Bag, it genuinely makes a real difference to them.
Jane Probert 06:05
Shall I start at the beginning, picked up a Sainsbury’s magazine, a free magazine, and there was an article about the Buddy Bag Foundation in there. And I thought, what a good idea, because I just thought so lovely for the children, if they’re feeling they’ve gone into emergency care with absolutely nothing. And then they get one of these left on their beds for them when they arrive. And it’s just been, that was February last year and I’ve been involved ever since so…
Linda 06:34
I knit and I knitted some baby things. And I used to send them to the hospital, but they don’t want them anymore. So I went on the website looking for somewhere to send them and I found this place. And although they don’t take baby clothes really, I rang one of the volunteers and she said well drop them off, you know, we can probably use them. So I did. And to put a little note into where I lived. And she contacted me and said, I see you local. Would you like to help? So I said yes, I’d love to because I’m retired. So that’s how I got involved. It’s a nice feeling and nice team. So yes, I’ve only this is probably my third or fourth time. So I’ve not been doing it long. But yeah, a bit. Yes, quite rewarding, isn’t it?
If you would like to become one of our knitting or sewing volunteers, you can download our BBF Cratfter’s Pack
Jane Probert 07:20
They cost approximately £25, I believe to produce. So yeah, so that it’s quite a considerable amount to keep up with. But I don’t know exactly where all the donations come from. But some of them are companies and companies will sometimes sponsor a whole bag pack. Generally speaking, there are about 144 bags packed at each session like this. And sometimes a company will sponsor a whole bag pack as part of their charitable efforts. So that’s excellent when they do that. And some of the donations come in through the website. And I don’t know what really what else, I presume there are lots of fundraising activities. But I don’t really get involved in that side if
Ruby Illing 08:03
you’re on the outbound and packing. Yes, absolutely.
Karen Williams 08:10
Just get everybody together for me, could you just grab Jane for me please? So first of all, can I just say thank you all for helping today. We’ve packed another 180 Buddy Bags, which is really exciting. So thank you. And on behalf of The Buddy Bag Foundation, we always award a volunteer of the month. And I’m delighted to say that Jane, you are our volunteer of the month.
Jane Probert 08:36
Thank you very much.
Karen Williams 08:39
Jane joined us, well, just over a year ago. And yeah, you do lots of admin, you organised all the resource bags, and you’re always eager and willing to help us pack the Buddy Bags. And you’ve really helped me out in the last couple of weeks. So you really really deserve that. So thank you very much.
Jane Probert 09:01
Thank you. It’s an honour. So if I was, had broken a leg, for instance, and I couldn’t come I think I would get knitting so that I could still contribute to the cause or sewing, one or the other. Because I mean, I have done a little bit of sewing and a little bit of knitting but I think my sort of strengths lie elsewhere.
Karen Williams 09:33
So it was just over seven years ago that I went to visit my son in Australia. It was a long flight, and I read an article about a charity based in Australia called the Alani and Madeline Foundation. And what they did was to supply rucksacks to children that had been victims of domestic abuse. And if I’m honest, I was at a bit of a crossroads of my life. I’ve got a very successful business, but I was looking for a bigger purpose if you like, and I wanted to make a difference, but I didn’t know what that looked like. I came back to the UK, did my due diligence and soon realised that there was no provider in the UK supplying these ‘bags of love’ to children, had a mad idea of setting a goal and setting up the Buddy Bag Foundation. So the first 12 months if I’m honest, was challenging having to set up a charity. I’d never done that before. But what I had done through my main business, which is Utility Warehouse, I’d built a big network. And by sharing our vision with our colleagues, we attracted some amazing individuals and corporates who decided to donate their time and services to Thye Buddy Bag Foundation because as a charity, you know, we have to have an accountant, a solicitor and today we’ve had over £80,000 worth of services donated, which has meant we haven’t spent a penny on those basic day-to-day items that you know, all organisations need. And it’s meant that we’ve been able to spend every penny on the Buddy Bags, which is really exciting.
Ruby Illing 11:22
I asked Karen at the end of the interview if there was anything she’d like to add.
Karen Williams 11:28
I tell you what I could do, I’ve got some postcards that we received from the children that I could read out.
Karen Williams 11:36
“So what I love about my Buddy Bag is, it’s absolutely fantastic. Really appreciated the toothbrush and shampoo, things you don’t think of grabbing when you need to get out quickly. My 23-month-old daughter loves the bag and the book and she’s wearing the pyjamas now, a really lovely thing to receive in a time when you need some cheering up. Thank you so much. It’s great.“
Karen Williams 12:08
And you know, children are really honest, they tell you what you think. So there’s a lovely one here. “What I love about my Buddy Bag is I liked everything except the Liverpool briefs“.
Karen Williams 12:23
So note to self, we don’t put Liverpool briefs in our Buddy Bags anymore. You know one of my favourites is just very, very simple and it says, “Thank you, you really make us feel like we matter“. And that’s what we try to do at The Buddy Bag Foundation and make a difference to all those children.
Ruby Illing 13:07
It was an absolute joy to visit The Buddy Bag Foundation, which makes this all the more exciting to announce that today on the 2nd June 2022, The Buddy Bag Foundation has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. They have engaged with over 3500 volunteers.
Karen Williams 13:27
So for me, you know the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is in recognition and appreciation and you know having gratitude for all the volunteers that have supported us along the way. Genuinely, without them, you know we couldn’t have delivered over 44,000 Buddy Bags.
Ruby Illing 13:47
If you’d like to donate to The Buddy Bag Foundation, click the link below. You’ve just listened to the first episode of The Givey Community. To dive deeper into the sonic world of The Buddy Bag Foundation, listen to the last episode of Givey Connect Plus, the previous name of this podcast, where I talked to Laura Brown about her My Emotions Activity Book, which is also distributed to Women’s Refuge centres by The Buddy Bag Foundation. She also designed the lovely pyjamas that go into the bag.
If you would like to get involved with The Buddy Bag Foundation there are lots of ways you can Get Involved.
