School Uniform Giveaway On Saturday Morning

It started with just footwear and soon morphed into full school uniforms for Donagh Booth and her daughter Maddi who run a successful recycled clothing charity.

Two years ago Donagh started the Shoe Booth to fill a gap in the community for those struggling to purchase new school shoes for their children.

Ball season came and it became evident the Invercargill community also needed help sourcing good quality gowns and suits – the Shoe Booth now has 150 that can be loaned out for no charge.

And just recently H&J Smith donated boxes and boxes of uniforms for the various schools around the city – everything from white shirts, grey shirts and shorts and loads of socks.

So on Saturday from 10-12pm, they will be doing a uniform giveaway from its current location at 231 Dee Street – the same building as Land Water Science.

The event has been well organised – Donagh has 10 volunteers and is limiting the giveaway to just 10 people at a time through the door – you must also bring your child.

Donagh said if anyone wants to bring old uniforms they no longer need, they would accept those as well.

“We’re expecting it to be quite big.  We’ve had 20,000 hits on our Facebook page,” she said.

The Shoe Booth is in the process of being registered as a charitable trust, so it can apply for funding to expand and eventually operate out of its own building.

They also want it to become youth focused and run by young people to give them some new skills.