Baby Bank and Busy Bees

Chris is a Community Minister at St Hilda of Whitby, Grangetown and completed Stepping Up in December 2021.

Chris set up a baby clothes and equipment exchange, where families can receive support and receive any items that they need for their children, aged 0-5. He also created a warm and welcoming place for families, a place for children to play and adults can share hospitality, making meaningful friendships with each other and the church. Chris’ project has received huge support from community organisations and local residents. They often receive donations of toys, books, clothes, nappies and toiletries, baby equipment and much more! Chris also works with groups like the Midwife Essential Programme and Thrive At Five to provide extra care for families they engage with.

In 2025, Chris completed the Catalyst Programme with a group led by our Diocesan Youth & Children’s Advisor, Angela Brymer. This helped him to develop his skills as a children and families worker, as he leads this mission and to think deeper about how to progress the work he and his team are doing.

The Baby Bank was proving very popular in the community, which meant the team were very busy and Chris didn’t have much time to be present with the families in the play area. He made the decision to run a Parent & Toddler group on a different morning, launching ‘Busy Bees’ on Fridays 9:30am-12:00pm and running ‘Baby Bank and Clothing Exchange’ Thursdays 10:00am-12:00noon.

As mission amongst families continues to grow, Chris has now stepped up to be a paid Community Minister to develop this vital mission with local families further. Both groups continue to be successful, with Busy Bees welcoming around 15 families each week.

One of the parents said, “I don’t have a lot of money and couldn’t get a reference to anywhere else to get all the things I need for the new arrival. Without this service I would have struggled.”

Each new person that comes to one of these groups gets to hear the heart behind the work through the love of Jesus, by the service of what the team do, with leaflets on tables and what Chris and the team are doing to share the gospel message.