Jude Devoil is one of the founders of the Huntingdon Community Swap, a community initiative project which redistributes clothing to people in need for no cost.  

The project came into fruition after Jude had an idea one evening. She remembered a similar initiative at her university and thought that it could be done on a much larger scale. She sent out messages to some of her friends who she knew were interested in environmental and community projects. 

With the idea set and people willing to help make it a reality, Huntingdon Community Swap began, with them running local clothes swap events. Most of the events happen at the Coneygear Centre but they also do events around the town and surrounding villages. 

Huntingdon Community Swap is now a three person team and each of them works voluntarily, working around their full time jobs, with Jude heading it up, dealing with the events, emails and planning. 

How Huntingdon Community Swap Helps The Community 

From the beginning the events helped a lot of people, between 60 to 100 people per event. And they are a very differing range of people, from young families to older people. So, Huntingdon Community Swap has, so far, held six events, meaning they have managed to help around 500 members of the local community.

This high level of success has been achievable due to the high level of donations they have received. But, with more donations comes a need for storage space. Fortunately, Huntingdon Community Swap met the criteria for a grant from Places for People, a housing association which provides affordable housing around the UK. With this grant, they had the money they needed to rent a proper storage space. 

And this is where Cinch Self Storage Huntingdon enters the picture. 

Perfect Storage Solution 

Before receiving their grant, the clothing was being stored in a garden shed which was not ideal as garden sheds can be very damp. Receiving the grant meant that they could begin looking at storage and Jude was already aware of Cinch Self Storage via word of mouth. Jude got in touch with the Huntingdon team and explained why she wanted storage and that Huntingdon Community Swap is completely non-profit. Our team was happy to help find her the perfect storage. 

“I knew of Cinch Self Storage through word of mouth. We were looking for somewhere to store our clothes because, previously, they were in a garden shed. So, we were on the lookout for storage and then we received a grant from Places for People which would cover the cost. I phoned up the Huntingdon store, explained the situation and whether there would be a chance of a discount because it’s a non-profit, community project. Nav and the team at Huntingdon were wonderful. They’ve worked with us and been really helpful.”

Help With Donations 

One of the ways the Huntingdon team has been most helpful is that they are happy to take in clothes donations for Jude and Huntingdon Community Swap. 

“We take donations at our events but people can also donate clothing at Cinch Self Storage Huntingdon. If you take it to reception, the members of staff will take it in for you. This has been really helpful because if people can’t make it to events or if they have certain accessibility needs, the Huntingdon team will take the clothes in and put them in our unit for us. That’s really wonderful. 

Part Of The Community 

A large part of our ethos as a company is to open our stores so we can help the local community with their storage needs. This can be for domestic reasons, such as house move, or for business purposes such as storing stock. 

In the case of Huntingdon Community Swap, we are so happy to be able to help them with storage so they can continue to provide such a wonderful and much needed service to the local community. We are so happy to be a small part of their journey and we hope to continue to help them with their success. 

What’s Next For Huntingdon Community Swap? 

Juggling Huntingdon Community Swap around full time jobs, means that Jude and her fellow founders are very busy but they are passionate about helping people within their local community. 

Their next push is for school uniforms, to help families to ready their children for September without having to worry about finances. 

“We are certainly busy but there is always room to grow and expand further. Our next big thing is that we are going to do a big push for school uniforms. The academic year is coming to an end and people will be changing schools or will have outgrown their uniforms and it can be so expensive for parents to buy new clothes. So, we are going to do a big push for school uniforms, hopefully in the summer holidays.”

If you live in Huntingdonshire or the surrounding areas and have old school uniforms that your children no longer need, bring them to the next Huntingdon Community Swap event or to Cinch Self Storage Huntingdon. Your donation will help other families and children with their school needs. 

If you would like to know more about Huntingdon Community Swap or have any questions, please head to their Facebook page.