An Inverness high school cluster has unveiled two “Kit for All” drop off points where sports clothing and footwear – no longer used but still in good condition – can be donated and then distributed to young people in the community who’ll benefit the most.
Active Schools Coordinators for the Inverness High School High cluster have established the new points in a bid to combat a lack of access to suitable clothing, which organisers have identified as a barrier to making more children, more active - and more often.
We caught up with Craig Carswell, Active Schools Coordinator at Inverness High School on the project.
Can you tell us a little bit about the project and how it started?
The Inverness High cluster’s Kit for All initiative is a project that encourages members of the community to recycle any of their used sportswear by donating it to one of our designated drop off points so it can be redistributed to children and young people in the area. There are two main aims to this initiative, the driving factor being that the cost of brand-new sportswear should never be a barrier to a young person’s participation in sport. The second is sustainability. By encouraging community members to donate sportswear, we are preventing any clothing potentially going to landfill while giving donated kit a new lease of life.
This all started thanks to positive partnership between Active Schools (High Life Highland) and Inverness High School’s Young Ambassadors, Developing Young Workforce (Inverness Central), Highland Council as well as external partners who will provide areas in their facilities to act as drop off points. DYW had recently launched a “resource shed”, providing essential items to the school’s young people including food and hygiene products along with practical clothing – but there was a gap in sportswear provision. After initial conversations with DYW, this then allowed further discussions to take place with partners across the area and eventually snowballed into the project that we have now launched.
What do you enjoy most about this Kit for All scheme?
I really look forward to this initiative creating what I hope is a positive sporting environment in both Inverness High School and its feeder primary schools. If this scheme results in one more child who develops an enthusiasm for sport thanks to donated sportswear, then it would already be a success - but I believe the impact could go much further.
What feedback have you received about the scheme?
High Life Highland’s Media and Content Officer covered the launch of our project, reaching many members of the community, which is key as we are relying on the wider community for their donations. The social media engagement and the interest from the local press has been fantastic and I only hope this translates into plenty of donations for our cause.
What advice would you give to others looking to start a similar initiative?
Projects like this always seem like daunting tasks to launch, but partnership goes such a long way. Use the connections in your area, start the conversation and you would be surprised about how quickly things take off from there. Small steps at first result in big gains!