Baby bank's urgent appeal as demand for help grows

**Baby bank issues urgent appeal as demand for support rises**

Chantal Nogbou founded Leeds Baby Bank in 2017, and the charity will mark its first decade in January.

The founder of a charity that supplies essentials such as Moses baskets, prams, nappies and clothing to struggling families across Leeds has said it urgently needs more donations to keep pace with demand.

Nogbou said there had been a "massive increase" in the number of people referred to Leeds Baby Bank by health and social care professionals in recent months.

She said staff had supported an "unprecedented" 550 families in Leeds since the beginning of June, and expected that figure to climb as winter approached.

"We get even more people needing help then because they want to put the heating on, but they still need to buy nappies and feed and clothe their child," she said.

Nogbou set up Leeds Baby Bank in 2017 when she was a single parent of four children, including twins, and realised how many other families were struggling.

The charity says more families than ever have been referred for help since the start of June.

It will turn 10 in January, and Nogbou said staff had seen the profile of the families needing support change over time.

"When we started, pre-Covid, maybe one in five children in Leeds lived in relative poverty," she explained.

"Now, you're looking at one in two children in some parts, and that's just a shocking number that really shouldn't be happening."

Nogbou said around 70% of the children they helped had a parent in work, and many were "not managing to manage the bills with energy and fuel prices going up".

Government figures show that 27% of children in the Yorkshire and Humber region lived in relative low income families - the joint highest proportion in the country, alongside the West Midlands.

A relative low income family is one living on less than 60% of the median national household income for that year.

Nogbou said people did not realise how much difference even a small financial donation could make.

She said the increase in referrals had brought extra financial pressure for the charity, particularly after it moved from a city centre office to a larger and more accessible building in Armley that can now offer more services.

"All that has cost money and obviously bills for us have also gone up when it comes to the utilities, so it's definitely a scary thing as a charity," she said.

She added that donations of goods and money from the community had kept the charity going.

"It's the people that, instead of buying a coffee every day, set up a direct debit and send £5 to Leeds Baby Bank every month," she said.

"That £5 can buy something like a brand new mattress for a Moses basket."