A project that provides free clothes for patients receiving mental health inpatient care at Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) has secured £20,000 in National Lottery funding so it can help more people.
The Community Clothes Cycle started in January 2024, with staff, family and friends donating clothes for patients in need at the Linden Centre and Crystal Centre in Chelmsford.
The project has recently expanded to The Lakes in Colchester and Basildon Mental Health Unit, and is looking to roll out to other EPUT wards.
Charlotte Spooner started the Community Clothes Cycle when she joined the Trust as a peer worker. She and colleague Amanda Crossley then formed the Roots of Hope Community Interest Company, a non-profit organisation, to run the project.
They have recently secured £20,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund, which will help their team of volunteers to distribute clothes to more patients over the next two years.
Charlotte said: “We were working on the peer support pilot at EPUT and we noticed there was a real need for some patients who didn’t have many clothes.
“Maybe they had lost weight through grief and trauma situations in their personal life.
“Or maybe they had put on weight because of medication, or they didn’t have support from family and friends to bring them clothes, or financially they couldn’t afford it. All these different reasons.”
Staff were buying clothes out of their own money for patients in need.
Charlotte and her friends had been holding clothes swaps for fun and decided to bring in some of their preloved clothes for patients. They then started holding swaps for the general public to donate items, as well as selling clothes online to raise money to buy new ones for patients.
Amanda said: “We’ve seen the emotional impact of actually having new clothes is really amazing.
“We all know when we go to a clothes shop and we get something really nice and we go out how that benefits our own mental health.
“So to see the impact and how it’s affecting everyone else on the ward is amazing.”
The lottery funding will enable them to do even more.
Charlotte said: “We are so grateful! We have money now to pay for storage and office rent, washing powder and other equipment likes an electric clothes dryer, boxes and rails.
“This will also fund hall hire and refreshments for eight big community clothes cycle events in the community too.”
Charlotte and Amanda are now Lived Experience Ambassadors with EPUT and have a team of volunteers supporting them with the clothes cycle project. Lived Experience Ambassadors are volunteers who have personal experience as service users or caregivers.
They are in urgent need of men’s clothes, as well as new underwear for men and women, and clothes in large and extra large sizes.
To find out more, search for ‘Roots of Hope CIC’ on Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok. A fundraising page has also been set up for anyone who would like to make a donation.
Charlotte and Amanda explain how the Community Clothes Cycle works in the video below.