New data released shows Hartlepool Baby Bank supported more than 500 families in 2023

Hartlepool Baby Bank, in Avenue Road, Hartlepool, helped 541 families and 1,090 children in 2023 according to new data released by the Baby Bank Alliance.

The Baby Bank Alliance helps baby banks across the UK get access to the funding, goods, volunteers and practical support they need to help families.

In 2023 alone, Hartlepool Baby Bank donated 8,369 items amounting to £341,042 to families in need across the town.

Hartlepool Baby Bank, which was founded in 2019 by three mothers, helps families save money, cut down on waste and provides a place for parents to get help and support.

Emilie de Brujin, founder of Hartlepool Baby Bank, said: “It shocked us when we saw the figures in print.

"It's hard to keep track day on day of just how many items are going out, so to see it all collected like that was rather mind blowing.

"We knew we'd helped a lot of people with items but it gave us a sheer sense of the scale of our work.

“Most of this was done with only volunteers as we didn't have paid staff until the last four months of 2023.”

In 2023, Hartlepool Baby Bank was awarded the King’s Award for Voluntary Service with Emilie also meeting the Princess of Wales to discuss the alliance’s work.

Emilie said: “The 514 families helped in 2023 are families helped once or for the first time only.

"In reality, with repeat referrals, we helped families on 4,813 separate occasions.”

She added: “Poverty is sadly only growing but we're still here willing to help.”

Emilie is looking forward to 2024 and what the new year will bring.

She said: “We've used this data to better understand how we need to work.

"We took on some more paid staff, we've changed some policies to enable us to work better and quicker as demand is growing, and we're only needing to help more families not less.

"We expect next year's figures to be significantly larger.”

For more information and to access support, see https://hartlepoolbabybank.co.uk/.