What do a bike and a mobile phone have in common?  They are two of the more unusual items HAB has put on its most wanted list.

The day centre in Woodhouse Road provides clients with food parcels and a range of day-to-day essentials in order to support them even when the doors are closed.

However, as the centre has very little storage space for donations, a list of what’s needed is posted on HAB’s Facebook and Instagram pages every week.

Tins of meat and fish, micro-waveable pouches of rice, pot noodles, tea, coffee and sugar are always welcome. Other items vary from week to week and month to month.

In the winter – as you might guess – a call often goes out for thick socks and warm coats. In the summer the need might be for sun cream or bottles of water. Sleeping bags and rucksacks are often required. Sometimes requests are made for period products, or for deodorants, razors and shaving cream.

In March, for example, the centre was running low on these things as well as on men’s jogging pants, sweatshirts and socks.

And because HAB continues to help clients who are no longer sleeping rough but have moved into accommodation, household items such as frying pans and spatulas are often on the wanted list.

It doesn’t end there. In order to help people get their lives back on track, mobile phones and chargers are often key. And recently a call went out for a man’s bicycle.

Noushin Kalati, an administrator at the centre, explains: “One of our clients had settled into a studio flat but was struggling to afford the fares to get to job interviews. That’s why we made the call out for a bike. And we need mobile phones so we can keep in touch with clients about appointments and things like universal credit.”

Can you help?

Look out for the Supplies Updates on our Facebook and Instagram pages. And for a fuller list see our Supplies Update page
What we need this week

Please take or have your donations delivered to the centre at 36B Woodhouse Road, N12 0RG.