Zarach: Bed poverty charity's ultimate aim 'to not exist'

The charity transformed the bedroom of a five-year-old girl

A charity which has handed out 5,000 beds to children with nowhere to sleep has vowed to stamp out bed poverty in the UK.

Primary school teacher Bex Wilson set up Zarach in 2018 after one of her pupils revealed he was sleeping on a bedbug-infested sofa cushion.

Since then the Leeds-based charity has grown with the ultimate aim of eradicating bed poverty completely.

Ms Wilson said: "The day we've won, is the day the charity no longer exists."

The 36-year-old said when she found out her pupil had nowhere to sleep, she was unaware bed poverty was an issue.

Charity founder Bex Wilson praised her staff and volunteers for helping out families

"His mum was struggling to put food on the table but this little boy turned up day after day with a clean uniform and a smile on his face.

"But his reality when he went home was so different to what I thought it was."

A deputy head teacher at Shakespeare Primary School in inner-city Leeds, she added: "When I looked into it and saw that hundreds of thousands of children in the UK were the same and didn't have a bed, I just thought 'absolutely no chance'."

After setting up the charity she discovered the extent of the "hidden problem".

"Lots of our parents are super proud and find it really difficult to admit they're struggling in particular with something that other people might think is such a basic thing as a bed.

"But the truth is they're expensive. It's unhygienic to buy a second hand mattress and if you're a family say fleeing domestic violence and moving quickly, then often you're just living in a shell with no furniture."

Getting a good night's sleep is crucial to enable children to develop mentally and emotionally, Ms Wilson said.

"I say all the time, if children come to us with a full tummy and a good night's sleep, we can work wonders with them in the classroom but if those two things aren't there, it's really difficult to help a child learn."

Now, having just passed its five year milestone, the charity has helped thousands of families with more than a dozen bed bundles being regularly being handed out in one day.

The charity helped another family who were all sleeping on a duvet on the floor after fleeing domestic violence

Each bed bundle the charity provides is made of a new bed, mattress, duvet and pillows, covers, pyjamas and a toothbrush.

Ms Wilson said the reaction from parents and children when they were given somewhere to sleep was "absolutely brilliant".

"It never gets old. It doesn't matter how many beds you deliver.

"For families it's so much more than a bed. Often they've been on a negative spiral because everything has been so hard but at that moment, getting the bed, can flip things so it feels more positive."

• Low pay forces family to use water with cereal

• 'Parents forgo holidays over school uniform costs'

• Parents 'desperate' as summer care hits £943 a child

Currently Zarach largely relies on schools to spot signs of bed poverty and refer children to them for support. But it wants to extend the partnership to local authorities across the country to continue its momentum and make even more of a difference.

"We've worked really closely with Leeds City Council around poverty and we've seen what can be achieved when a local authority gets involved and how many more people we can help.

"The bed industry is fully behind us so we've got the beds. We just need to make sure they reach all the families that need them."