"These people have nothing. I didn't expect it to be as bad it is." - Furloughed electrician who set up warm clothing charity

Take One Leave One Sunderland has been overwhelmed with donations since it started operating at the beginning of February.
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The charity, which has been set up at Independent on Holmeside in the city centre, is urging the public to leave items of warm clothing on a rail so those in need can come and take them for free.

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Organiser Iain Lane, who works as in the event industry as an electrician, has told the Echo about how the first three weeks have gone.

The 35-year-old from High Barnes said: “The outreach has been bigger than I thought we would get.

"I knew that we would get a few donations as we were the newest thing in Sunderland and I expected that to die down a bit but it hasn’t, we’re constantly getting messages and at the moment, we have reached our limit on how much we can store.

"We are now trying to move what we have got, for example, we are taking kids clothes to other children’s charities and trying to help them out as best we can.”

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Iain set up the charity to help those across Sunderland who were most in need, something which he thinks Take One Leave One has been doing well so far.

Organiser Iain Lane has revealed that the charity has been overwhelmed with donations.Organiser Iain Lane has revealed that the charity has been overwhelmed with donations.
Organiser Iain Lane has revealed that the charity has been overwhelmed with donations.
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He added: “It feels as though we are doing something positive, which is obviously a good thing however some of the days have been brutal.

"Some of the stories that we are hearing from people coming to us for help or the amount of children’s clothes that we are giving away, it’s heartbreaking to see and it really hits home.

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"Based on what we’ve seen so far and even though we started as a charity to give out warm clothes, I think even as we head into the summer months, there is always going to be need for us to be there giving stuff out.”

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