About Pelican Parcels
What We Do
Our vision is a community in which families and carers all have the essentials for their children.
We take pre-loved and new item donations for babies and children up to age 12, and redistribute them to families facing financial hardship via various existing family services in Brighton & Hove in Sussex.
End Child Poverty estimate that up to 32% of Brighton & Hove’s children are living in poverty. Brighton & Hove as a city has high rates of children in need, in care and with child protection plans and/or who have been referred to children’s social care services.
Pelican Parcels aims to provide all essentials from beds and clothes, uniform and shoes, toys and books, prams and play mats, nappies and toiletries for families from birth up to the age of 12. Full list of items you can donate.
All donations go directly to the families at no cost to them.
How We Help
We support children and parents in Sussex experiencing hardship by working in partnership with local council services such as health visitors, social workers, women’s shelters and other charities and agencies.
We do not support individuals or families directly. If you need help, please ask your health visitor, children’s centre or social worker to contact us and make a referral on your behalf.
If you are a health professional or work for a social service agency, please email PelicanParcels@outlook.com..
Our service is provided free of charge with no assessment criteria. All items need to be collected from our offices by the agency making the referral.
Who We Are
Pelican Parcels is a charity designed to support disadvantaged families in Brighton & Hove.
The charity was founded by Shelley and James Bennett in 2018. The idea came about when they wanted to gift some of their cherished, but no longer used, baby items to a family in need. After realising that such a service did not exist locally they decided to start Pelican Parcels with the aim to provide and recycle children’s items to disadvantaged families.
We have four Trustees:
- Shelley has three gorgeous children and is a Trustee for Amaze charity supporting families with disabled children in Sussex.
- James is a dad to the same three children and works in financial services as a Chief Compliance Officer
- Vic Shead is an experienced marketer, having worked with many top arts organisations and various charities.
- Carla Pannett is mum to two amazing girls and runs multi-million pound fundraising campaigns.
- Sinéad Thornley is a chartered accountant and works in financial regulation, she is our Treasurer.
- Lucy Stone is an award-winning fundraiser working with multiples arts organisations and charities
Charity Status
Pelican Parcels is a registered charity in England and Wales (1179866). We operate on a not-for-profit basis, supporting disadvantaged families and carers in Brighton & Hove, Sussex.
Donations
Thank you so much for considering donating. It’s through generous donations of items that your children have loved or made good use of, that we will be able to help so many local families in need.
Please clean and check any items you bring to us as we want the families to feel like they are receiving a special gift that will put a smile on their face.
We are only able to accept limited donations by appointment. Please see our Facebook page for posts on items we can currently accept for rehoming.
Occasionally, we may be unable to re-home donated items. If this is the case, we reserve the right to sell such items and use the funds to help us to support local families in need.
You can also check our Facebook page for updates or Contact us with any queries.
Pelican Parcels office is based at Unit 9, Industrial House, Conway Street in Hove easily accessible by train, bus or car. Click here for a map.
HOW TO FIND US:
Directions if driving: Turn into the Industrial House car park from either Ellen Street or Fonthill Road. There is a loading bay with yellow hatchings (this is inbetween Logo Sports and Hire4All ,however please be considerate and don’t park in their spaces) and next to the big blue door is our buzzer, we will come down to take donations. Please be patient as we’re on the second floor and if the lift is in use this can take a few minutes.
As a small charity we are not able to offer a collection service but you can stop right outside our premises and we’re more than happy to help you unload your car. Alternatively we’re very close to major bus routes and only 5 minutes from Hove train station.
If you are not local, please see this map of other baby banks in the UK as there may be another charity in your area as there are several around the UK including the amazing Stripey Stork in Surrey and the international inspiration that is St Kilda Mums in Australia (thanks to them and everyone involved so far in getting us underway).
If you have items for babies and children that you no longer use and would like to donate them, do please bring them along to our office so that we can pass them on to a family who really need them.
Here’s what you need to do before you bring your items to us:
- Please check the list of baby and children’s items we can rehome.
- If the items you have match what we can rehome, please either email us with a list of your items, or check our ‘How to donate’ tab to find out where and when to take your items.
- Please note we cannot offer a collection service.
- If you have a cot, pram, pushchair or highchair, these items have mandatory safety standards please check our safety checklist to ensure they meet mandatory safety standards. We would be hugely appreciative if you can take a few minutes to read these standards. If you are unsure whether your donation is safe please email us.
- Please ensure that your donations nice and clean when you bring them to us as then we can process and distribute them more quickly.
What we do NOT re-home
We do not rehome used car seats, mattresses, electrical items, potties/toilet seats, door bouncers, Bumbo seats, used electric breast pumps or maternity or adult clothing. Please review this list of what we can rehome and if in doubt please contact us.
We need volunteers to to help sort through donations, package up parcels and undertake admin tasks. If you can offer a minimum of half a day a week, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us an email.
As a new charity any financial help you can offer would be very gratefully received. Although we are aiming to cover our core costs such as the building rent and utility bills from grants, we still need to raise funds to buy things like mattresses and high request items such as baby formula, nappies and wipes. You can donate money online or get in touch if you’d like to discuss making a donation. We also have an Amazon wishlist if you’d like to purchase items for us directly.
Want to do a sponsored event? Having a raffle or tombola? Running a race? Maybe you could you help run a fundraising event for Pelican Parcels? Please do get in touch if you’d like to discuss fundraising for us.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I drop off items?
You can drop items to us on our donation days at our Industrial House office. Check our How to Donate section for details of upcoming opening hours.
Do you have a list of what you accept?
Yes, please see this list of items we can rehome.
Why do you need money when you’re just recycling items?
There are big running costs to having our wonderful building where we can receive, store and sort all the donations. Also in addition to the rent and utilities, Pelican Parcels also pays for other items such as new mattresses for cots and cotbed, or for formula and nappies and a range of other items. It all adds up!
Where are you?
Our office address is Unit 9, Industrial House, Conway Street, Hove, BN3 3LW. Click here for a map.
Do you collect items?
As we are run by volunteers we are unable to offer a collection service. However, our offices in central Brighton are very accessible by bus, train and car.
Should I clean my pram or highchair before donating it to you?
Yes please! We are a small team and if donated things arrive clean and ready to go then that speeds up the process of helping families.
What about safety standards?
There are some mandatory safety standards for particular items such as: prams/buggies, cots/cotbeds and highchairs.
You may like to check this product safety checklist to ensure your donation meets current safety standards
I have a other furniture (sofas, table and chairs etc) I would like to donate...
We can recommend that for these items you contact Emmaus – a charity that helps the homeless.
Testimonials
“As the manager of Brighton & Hove’s City Council’s Family Information Service (FIS), my team has noticed an increase in the number of families facing financial hardship and contacting our service for support. Welfare reform, the insecurity and high cost of housing along with a high instance of mental and physical health issues in the city have all impacted on the ability of families to cope with day to day living costs and the expense of additional items needed at various stages in a family’s life.
At the Family Information Service, we offer advice and support to families and make referrals to foodbanks, the Local Discretionary Fund and apply to charitable trusts for grants. However, there is a real gap when sourcing items in emergencies locally, or when the criteria are not met for assistance…We fully support the work Pelican Parcels is trying to do.”
“I really want to thank you for all the items that was given to me. It was more than ever thought I would receive from baby vests to a whole buggy, moses basket etc. I don’t know what I would have done without all the donations. I’m a young mum and I’m not working so I was stressing so much, plus my baby came 2 months early so I really not prepared it. I had nothing for the baby! So again I just want to say a huge Thank you again for your generosity it has really helped me and my baby more than you would imagine. <3 I plan to donate once my baby has grown out of his clothes.”
“The mum who received the clothes and shoes for her 2 children was so overwhelmed by the generosity of the two big bags she cried. She rang me the other day to say to pass on a Huge Thank you to you all and had been going through all the clothes her two had grown out of and wanted to give back to you if she could so I said I would find out if you were taking donations?”
“The service I work for has used yours for many of our families and you are making a huge impact. This kind of support is life changing for many families, not just because of the practical things they receive but because of the message it carries. They know someone cares, and that there is hope – and most of all that there is kindness in this world.”
Supporters
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