Warriors players join Amazon’s Wigan multibank programme

Employees from Amazon in Haydock have come together to pack and donate 2,500 backpacks filled with essential back-to-school items worth more than £30,000 to help ensure Wigan children are equipped for the new school year.

The backpacks, which contain stationary supplies, water bottles, and scientific calculators for secondary pupils, were donated to The Brick-by-Brick Multibank which is run by Wigan charity The Brick, with support from former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and Amazon.

A selection of the kits were distributed to children in Wigan recently by The Brick during a special event at the Wigan Warriors fan village. The event was attended by Wigan Warriors players Brad O’Neill and Ryan Hampshire.

The Brick-by-Brick Multibank in Wigan is a community donations hub, offering support for families experiencing poverty across Greater Manchester. It provides surplus essentials, such as clothes, hygiene products, school uniforms, and bedding donated by businesses, like Amazon, directly to those in need. The products are redistributed via the lead charity partner, The Brick, to charity groups and care professionals who give them directly to people in need, when they need them.

According to a recent study from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, teachers are ‘staggering’ under the extra demands caused by poverty in Great Britain, diverting them away from their core teaching role. The report found that 7 in 10 (73%) staff in primary schools across Britain say supporting pupils who cannot afford the essentials is a challenge in their school. It results in teachers and GPs informally acting as emergency providers and social workers alongside their day jobs, as they devote time and resources to support struggling parents and children.

Keely Dalfen, CEO of The Brick, said: “The start of a new school year should be an exciting time for families but with the cost of living crippling so many in our communities, it’s become yet another financial worry for them. Through the donation of these back-to-school essentials from Amazon, The Brick hopes to provide children with the quality items they need to start the new school year ready to learn and with a smile on their faces.”

Daniel Blackwell is one of the volunteers from Amazon in Haydock who helped packed the kits. He added: “I’m passionate about supporting my community and I’m glad that my colleagues at Amazon share this passion. It was great to support such a brilliant organisation during the run-up to the back-to-school season, which can be a worrying time for some parents and pupils in our community.”

The Brick-by -Brick Multibank has already supported more than one hundred thousand families across Greater Manchester with the donation of hundreds of thousands of goods since the site launched in 2023. Community support organisations, schools and colleges, homeless shelters, and elderly support services in the area have taken delivery of essential supplies donated by local and national businesses.

The Multibank initiative was co-founded by Gordon Brown and Amazon to connect surplus goods from businesses with communities in need. The first Multibank launched in Fife, Scotland in 2022, The Brick-by-Brick Multibank opened in Wigan in 2023, followed by Cwtch Mawr Multibank in Swansea and Felix’s Multibank in London in 2024. The initiative has now donated more than 3 million surplus essential items to over 400,000 families in need.