I’ve wanted to interview JoJo, founder of Ten Little Toes Baby Bank since I became their ambassador. I always admire women that have faced setbacks and trauma, but they’ve pulled through, with a mission to help others facing similar struggles. This was the first time JoJo has been interviewed, so it was even more significant to learn about her compelling and moving story.
What is behind Ten Little Toes Baby Bank?
When I was 23, I found myself in a hostel for the homeless with my four-month-old daughter. My relationship with her father had broken down and we had nowhere else to go. Times were tough, to say the least. I recall one night feeling so desperate because I had no baby formula to feed my daughter. Thankfully, a kind woman, Angie in the next room gave me enough to feed my daughter that night. Fast forward a few months and I met and fell in love with my now, husband. Later that same year, we had a roof over our heads, but we struggling to make ends meet was our everyday normal.
We had three more children in quick succession and so were used to sourcing clothes and gifts at car boot sales and charity shops,(years before internet access and marketplace were a common thing). Our home was happy, filled with love but the early years were tough, financially. We also went through an IVA which marked another harrowing time. Then, in October 2017, I was scrolling through social media and discovered a baby bank in South Yorkshire. I was sufficiently intrigued to find out more. I knew from my own experience that West Sussex also needed a baby bank. I took to social media and built a page and Ten Little Toes Baby Bank was born! There was no planning, no big lofty ambitions. It just felt like the right thing to do after what I had gone through. I knew I was not the only parent that had struggled, and I could see the service in South Yorkshire was long overdue in Sussex.
And where are you today?
Ten Little Toes is my heart and my life outside of my family. I have this unrelenting focus and passion to support families that find themselves, often through no fault of their own, in challenging situations where money is thin on the ground, but they want to do the right thing for their children. Most days you’ll find me working at our base in Crawley or at my home. 12-hour days are the norm, and I often work long hours into the evenings and weekends.
We work on a referral basis, so our professional partners refer families to us. We then with an awful lot of love and care, set about building a bundle of essential items for the family. Our usual turnaround is a few days, but we can work to urgent timescales. We have been known to build bundles the night before collection the next morning, and recently another that was collected within the hour. We support families in crisis. This practical support can range from nappies, wipes and formula to a safe sleeping space, a pram and a cot or bassinette. The items we give are always in very good condition and this includes the preloved baby and infant clothing. All the bottles, cot mattresses and breast pumps are brand new, funded by donations, as is the formula.
How do you deliver this support to families?
We are a small local charity based in Crawley supporting in the main families in the West Sussex area.. We have some wonderful volunteers supporting us. Without their help we could not function! They do everything from assembling the bundles to working patiently through all the new and donated items to ensure they’re perfect to donate.
Any standout moments to date?
The biggest moment was when we moved everything out of my crammed home into the building we now occupy. But in general, I just love watching our charity grow because it means we can support more families. We are now looking for a donation of warehouse space so that we can have a bigger stock holding to draw from. We are bursting out of our little unit in Crawley so a bigger unit would be fantastic, but we must keep our operational costs lean. We have won a few awards too which is humbling but a message of thanks from a family we have supported always gets me!
Your plans?
To carry on supporting families and extending our reach. This means we need to increase the financial donations to the charity and negotiate harder with the suppliers of our formula, bottles, and mattresses, all the new things we must buy. I would love to double the amount of new and nearly new donations, but this means either moving out of our current premises or finding local warehouse space. Possibly both. And I would love a decent van so we can deliver outside of our area to families in need on the coastline.
You can find out more here: Ten Little Toes
Interview by bestselling author and Sussex Exclusive columnist, Dee Blick
If you are a small business owner interested in supporting this charity and others, you may also be interested in:
Moonstones: A Sussex Charity for Victims of Domestic Violence
