“A lot of families are just getting by paying their bills and getting food on the table, when something else comes into the mix, even something many of take for granted, it becomes just impossible.”
An interview with Michelle Herd, Co-founder of AberNecessities
In March 2019, Danielle Flecher-Horn and her mother, Michelle Herd, founded AberNecessities with the aim of providing families in need with essential items to allow for the care of babies and children…
Just as the organisation celebrated their first anniversary, the country entered a period of unprecedented challenge as the Covid-19 pandemic brought life to a standstill and with it the risk of families, who were already struggling financially, being unable to provide basic essentials for their children.
Throughout this period, AberNecessities has offered vital lifelines of support to disadvantaged families in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire and, with the help of public donations and support from volunteers, has continued to expand their operation to meet the growing demand.
“Shortly after Dani had her first child, she saw an appeal for nappies and toiletries for babies in city. As a new mother herself, she was moved by the thought that others were struggling to afford the basic items necessary to look after their children” said Michelle Herd, Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer of AberNecessities, when visiting their HQ at Howe Moss Road in Dyce, Aberdeen.
Michelle, agreed that something more needed to be done. “Our initial thoughts were that it would have been awful to find yourself in a situation where you were on your last nappy, your baby needed changing and you had no idea where you would get another one from”.
In March 2019, Danielle Flecher-Horn and her mother, Michelle Herd, founded AberNecessities with the aim of providing families in need with essential items to allow for the care of babies and children…
Just as the organisation celebrated their first anniversary, the country entered a period of unprecedented challenge as the Covid-19 pandemic brought life to a standstill and with it the risk of families, who were already struggling financially, being unable to provide basic essentials for their children.
Throughout this period, AberNecessities has offered vital lifelines of support to disadvantaged families in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire and, with the help of public donations and support from volunteers, has continued to expand their operation to meet the growing demand.
“Shortly after Dani had her first child, she saw an appeal for nappies and toiletries for babies in city. As a new mother herself, she was moved by the thought that others were struggling to afford the basic items necessary to look after their children” said Michelle Herd, Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer of AberNecessities, when visiting their HQ at Howe Moss Road in Dyce, Aberdeen.
Michelle, agreed that something more needed to be done. “Our initial thoughts were that it would have been awful to find yourself in a situation where you were on your last nappy, your baby needed changing and you had no idea where you would get another one from”.
“It was when we started filling our garages at home, and found we were quickly running out of space, that Dani said it was really time for us to start our own charity.”
“So, we started collecting nappies and toiletries and also did fundraising. It went incredibly well and the following year we did something around Christmas time and started to receive donations of other things like clothes and bedding which we accepted as we knew we could give them to people in need. It was when we started filling our garages at home, and found we were quickly running out of space, that Dani said it was really time for us to start our own charity.”
The facility on Howe Moss Road serves as an illustration of how far AberNecessities has come in the relatively short time they have been in operation. The former office building is a hive of activity with volunteers working to make sure the thousands of donations received by the organisation can get to those who need them urgently…
Earlier in the year a new premises worth £400,000, was gifted to the charity by a mystery donor which will allow them to further increase the number of families they can support.
“I never imagined for a minute that this is where we would end up and I’m continually amazed when I see the amount of donations we receive” continued Michelle. “When you look at the extent of the donations we have here in our HQ it illustrates the huge need in the city – things are coming in and going out on a continuous basis and not just sitting here in storage.
“We are so lucky that the amazing volunteers we have organise everything so well, we really rely on their help. For example, for a large family it can take almost a full day to get all the bags ready and without the support of our volunteers we wouldn’t be able to get these items out quickly to people who really need them.
“We do ask for all the nearly new and pre-loved items we receive to be freshly washed but as donations come in we do check everything. All items have to be in the best condition before we put it out and sometimes our volunteers will wash items for us – the whole operation takes a lot of time but we wouldn’t have it any other way. We are always thinking about respect, dignity and kindness towards families and like to imagine the excitement of a child as they open the bags we send out, that’s why it’s essential that we distribute high quality items that have been cared for with love previously and when they come through our distribution centre.
“A part of our ethos is also sustainability and in redistributing these items to people that can use and cherish them we are also helping to cut down on waste.
Michelle Herd with grandson, Freddie.
The facility on Howe Moss Road serves as an illustration of how far AberNecessities has come in the relatively short time they have been in operation. The former office building is a hive of activity with volunteers working to make sure the thousands of donations received by the organisation can get to those who need them urgently
Michelle Herd with grandson, Freddie.
Earlier in the year a new premises worth £400,000, was gifted to the charity by a mystery donor which will allow them to further increase the number of families they can support.
“I never imagined for a minute that this is where we would end up and I’m continually amazed when I see the amount of donations we receive” continued Michelle. “When you look at the extent of the donations we have here in our HQ it illustrates the huge need in the city – things are coming in and going out on a continuous basis and not just sitting here in storage.
“We are so lucky that the amazing volunteers we have organise everything so well, we really rely on their help. For example, for a large family it can take almost a full day to get all the bags ready and without the support of our volunteers we wouldn’t be able to get these items out quickly to people who really need them.
“We do ask for all the nearly new and pre-loved items we receive to be freshly washed but as donations come in we do check everything. All items have to be in the best condition before we put it out and sometimes our volunteers will wash items for us – the whole operation takes a lot of time but we wouldn’t have it any other way. We are always thinking about respect, dignity and kindness towards families and like to imagine the excitement of a child as they open the bags we send out, that’s why it’s essential that we distribute high quality items that have been cared for with love previously and when they come through our distribution centre.
“A part of our ethos is also sustainability and in redistributing these items to people that can use and cherish them we are also helping to cut down on waste.
“But it’s not only our volunteers we are thankful for. As I mentioned, we depend on donations from the public and the North East community are incredible in lending their support.”
It takes your breath away to be quite honest when we run emergency appeals, the kindness shown is just overwhelming which is of course fantastic as there is a huge need for it – we currently support over 300 families a month and this number is growing all the time.”
When walking around AberNecessities’ HQ you get an impression of the amount of thought that has gone in to ensuring that the supported children of the families are given the opportunity to have a happy and comfortable home life. Alongside essentials and clothes for all ages, AberNecessities also distribute beds and cots, prams, toys, school uniforms and so much more, to make sure no child is disadvantaged or goes without.
“We also distribute birthday packs” Michelle pointed out as we walked around the vast ground floor of the building. “When we first started, some of the professionals we worked with mentioned the child they were supporting would be going without a birthday present. We quickly realised that a lot of children in the region would be facing the same and learned that in some instances the child may not have ever had a birthday present or party.
“Our birthday packs not only enable us to give them a gift but we also buy a cake and give them snacks, juice, cups, plates and napkins, candles – everything needed for them to have a party at home.
“A lot of families are just getting by paying their bills and getting food on the table so when something else comes into the mix, even something many of take for granted like being able to afford a birthday party a child, it becomes just impossible. All the little extra things needed to celebrate their child’s birthday are out of their reach. It’s lovely to think that with the kindness of the public and the help of our volunteers that a child can have a happy time on their birthday.”
“There is also a huge need for school uniforms so children are not disadvantaged when they go to school. It’s always busy for us during the school holidays when we are preparing boxes with everything the children need; as well as uniforms we also have nice new school bags, school shoes, trainers, pens and pencils – the whole package to ensure children can attend school and learn.”
When asked about how the pandemic has impacted their work, Michelle noted that it had presented challenges and that it is looking like things are not going to get easier in the immediate future…
“During the pandemic there was quite a lot of funding available and we were able to distribute boxes of items to people in crisis who needed them. Now though, we are settling in to the aftermath with people losing their jobs and not able to manage the situation they have found themselves in. Many people were paid off during the pandemic and with the rising cost in living we are starting to see more referrals come in.
“A lot of people have no where to turn to and have never had to ask for help before, it’s so sad to see the amount of additional people now needing support. We had a 900% increase in applications after the start of the pandemic last year and also saw 170% increase in domestic abuse cases which is heart breaking.
“We are in position though where we are able to react and with domestic abuse cases, we aim to get homewares, clothes and essential items to those affected the same or next day if they have had to leave their homes for their own safety.”
Although AberNecessities works on a referral basis, with families helped through partnerships with health and social care, they do often receive direct messages from people looking for support…
“When we receive messages through Facebook it’s often from parents who are embarrassed to ask for help. We always reassure people that we are here to assist and emphasise how important it is that they have reached out. No family should go without and through starting these dialogues we can start the process of helping to access support.”
“I’m often blown away when I think about how far we have come as an organisation in such a short time and we have been so pleased to be able to facilitate help for families in the region who need it most.
“AberNecessities was established after seeing that people wanted to donate physical items to those in need but were unsure on how to do so. The fact that we can facilitate that process has meant that we have been able to change the lives of people who are struggling to afford clothes and essential items for their children which in turn has eased pressure and enabled children to have happier family lives”.
AberNecessities believes that everybody, no matter their background and their lifestyle, experiences their own problems and difficulties, and for parents, providing basics for their child should never be one of them.
They rely on public donations and help in order to run operations. They often have drives at certain points of the year for items that are urgently required. Find out more at abernecessities.co.uk and follow their Facebook page at facebook.com/AberNecessities to keep up to date with the latest from the organisation.
