Why are we now charging a small amount for some items?

Grassboots began late in 2020 as we, a church charity began to respond to the needs of the city during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. Delivering emergency food parcels during the first lockdown, we came across a family in the Byker Wall where the children had no shoes. The mother had just come out of hospital, they were really struggling, and she told us that it was a choice between putting food on the table or shoes and clothes for her children.

At the same time, our founder, Geoff had a 13 year old son, a keen footballer who was growing up fast. With school and sports clubs on hold, he was going through trainers, kit,  football boots and school shoes that had hardly been worn and Geoff wondered what could be done with these items and how they could benefit somebody else who was struggling financially.

Also recognising the cost of club fees and hearing whispers of parents struggling to pay these fees, it lead Geoff to do some research, explore things further and eventually begin to set-up the Grassboots project.

From the very beginning our heart was to offer a service of dignity in the same way that we have ran our other compassion projects over the years. It would be discreet, and the shoes would be clean and well presented, labelled and preferably in a box.

Many football and other sports clubs have had their own boot or kit exchange service, but we were finding out that despite the need this wasn’t always working, and it was mainly down to a lack of resources, volunteers or people not wanting to be seen wearing someone else’s boots or kit that they knew.

Our passion is to see every child and adult in the North-East have access to sport and outdoor activities without the financial pressures or barriers that many must face so that no-one misses out on the opportunities available to them.

You only have to hear the story of Marcus Rashford and the support he and his family received while living in poverty that enabled him to progress with his career to realise how important this is.

So, in 2020 we started small, asking our church, community groups,  partners and friends to have a look at home, collect unwanted items and bring them to us. With a team of volunteers, we began to sort out clean and organise from a basement building in Gosforth, put out a few donation points and then we quietly let people know about the service we were offering.

By also providing a wider service that includes other clothes and baby items it has a great benefit to families allowing them to prioritise their spending.

In our first full year of 2021 we provided 215 pairs of footwear and 130 items of clothing, kit and baby items.

 In 2022 we saw that grow to 438 pairs of footwear and almost 1500 items of clothing, kit and baby items.

Our service is basically for anyone who needs it. We take self-referrals as well as working with referrals from the NHS, action for children, social workers, schools, sports clubs, refugee, and asylum charities and many others.

We have provided items right across Newcastle, Gateshead, South Tyneside, North Tyneside and Northumberland as well as sending some items further afield.

Our tagline is ‘helping people find their feet’ because it’s so much more than a pair of shoes or football boots. For many, it is the start of a journey, an opportunity and the invitation to belong and be a part of something that they may have felt they were unable to access.

A new partnership with the Northumberland FA is very exciting for us. It provides us with access to some great resources, has helped us increase our staff team and also gives us opportunities to reach new referrals and develop donation points in the area North of the Tyne.

We’re really looking forward to seeing how this relationship develops and the links that we can make and support through the various partners involved. Partnership can only make us stronger and I’m delighted that Dean and the team chose to work with us.

Our plans are to make Grassboots a sustainable and long-term project going forward. This will include growing the project with a bigger staff and volunteer team, access to more funding , resources and developing this website that feels like any online shop where you can self-refer and have access to low-cost items that can then be selected and collected from a range of local pick-up points across the region.

Geoff’s long-term dream is to have a shop that looks and feels like a good clothes and shoe shop on a local high street in a deprived community where people can become a member and have access to a range of footwear and clothing that they are able to try on in store.

We hope that you’ll all get on board with this in some way and we look forward to taking things to the next stage and seeing the impact on young people and families in our region.