King's College London

This November, King’s took part in Wrap Up London, the annual coat collection created by charity Hands On London, with hundreds of staff and students donating their winter wear.

Since the first Wrap Up London in 2011, the campaign has collected and distributed 137,980 warm coats to local community groups which offer direct support to the homeless, refugees, children in poverty, the elderly, and people fleeing domestic violence (to name a few).   

In previous years, King’s Libraries have hosted coat collection points for Wrap Up London. This year the Libraries team, in collaboration with Sustainability and Service, bolstered the Wrap Up London campaign by hosting numerous collection points across our Strand, Waterloo, Guy’s, St Thomas’ and Denmark Hill campuses.

Thanks to the support of numerous teams across King’s, staff and students could donate coats at all King’s Libraries, Residences and KCLSU hubs from 11–22 November. Science Gallery London also hosted a collection point for the public, helping us reach an even greater number of people.

On 22 November, King’s volunteers delivered 25 giant Wrap Up London sacks to the King’s Cross Safestore location, ready to be redistributed by Hands on London to local community groups. The volunteers also collected over five large sacks of warm clothes and passed them on to the Chaplaincy’s clothes collection for The Manna Centre at London Bridge.

The coat collection at King’s would not have been possible without the students and staff who volunteered their time to help. From promoting the Wrap Up London campaign at every campus, to writing motivational notes for community groups, to collecting, sorting and delivering donations, every single volunteer ensured the coat collection was a success!

Thank you to everyone who volunteered and donated! You have made a real difference to our local communities and people in need this winter.

Find out more about Wrap Up London on their website.