The Bundaberg Church of the Nazarene has hosted The Clothes Basket Open Day thanks to funding from the Bundaberg Regional Council Community Grants Program.
Aligning with Council’s Community Development Strategy aimed at addressing the housing and cost-of-living crisis in the region, the initiative provided free clothing to community members in need.
The Clothes Basket holds open days monthly, with this one allowing shoppers to fill two bags each for free while enjoying a morning tea and the chance to chat with other community members.
Bundaberg Church of the Nazarene Pastor Kelvin Rowland shares an insight into the initiative which helps those in need:
Why did you decided to apply for the community grant funding?
Through our church and its local mission outreach, The Clothes Basket applied for community grant funding to help promote the offer of free clothing with no questions and no cost, to the broader community of Bundaberg.
In general, the application process was straight forward and was made easier to work through with the help of the guidelines and suggestions provided by the Council.
Representatives of Council were very happy to answer any questions or concerns we had.
The application also exampled the language we should use and where our focus should be when explaining how the program affects and includes the community.
Would you recommend the process to other community organisations?
A definite yes!
It has helped us to upgrade our fittings and overall setup for the benefit of those who come in.
What has the success of the program been since it launched in 2022?
When I think about the creation of The Clothes Basket, it literally came about from an overload of donations that had come into the church for us to distribute to the homeless.
We were struggling to know what to do with it all but, I was reminded that, in all my life I had never sold something that was given to me and The Clothes Basket was established.
It was originally focused on the homelessness and financial crisis that we were in but we have since brought in the idea of ‘recycling by changing up your own wardrobe,’ effectively swapping out your clothes for ours and Bundy has taken to this like a duck to water.
Since then, we have held 18 open days with the numbers constantly trending up, not only did the numbers go up but so did the amount of donations.
We always pause to remember that without the generosity of the people of Bundaberg and surrounds The Clothes Basket is nothing, we also acknowledge that in the 18 months of operation we have been blessed to the back teeth from many businesses and members of the public who have gone over and above to guarantee that those attending get the best of quality when they donate.
Our staff (all volunteers) are constantly overawed with the generosity.
How can community members support the initiative?
People can bring their donations of all things clothes and linen to the Bundaberg Church of the Nazarene at 62 Svensson Street, Monday to Friday between the hours of 8 am and 5 pm.
There is also the option to volunteer some time to our crew that so ably look after sorting and packing as well as participating in the set-up, running and pack-down of our open day.
Open days are held on the fourth Saturday of each month, from 8 am till noon.
