For the eleventh year in a row, Safestore UK teamed up with the WrapUp London campaign to support their annual coat drive to help those in need during the winter of 2021.
More than 23,700 coats were collected during the campaign, which began in early November and ran through December. Coats were distributed to the homeless, refugee families, the elderly, those fleeing domestic violence, and others living in crisis through a network of over 100 London charities and community groups.

Several Safestore UK centres were used as local drop-off points for the public due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions at the time. Our colleagues also offered their support by marketing the campaign via social media, donating their own coats, and offering extra storage space to facilitate the sorting, distribution and packing of the coat donations.
Since the campaign was launched in 2010, volunteers have collected, sorted, and distributed a total of 197,245 winter coats which has made a real positive difference in the lives of the city’s most vulnerable people.
Over the years, and in partnership with WrapUp London, Human Appeal and Rotary Club International, the campaign has extended outside of London to 18 other collections in major towns and cities across the UK including Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Bath, Bristol, Leicester, and Cardiff.
This year, Safestore’s involvement included:
- providing storage space across 15 stores in London, six stores in Greater Manchester, two in Birmingham, and one each in Bristol, Glasgow, Leicester, and Bath
- provision of 5,908 sq ft of storage space enabling 913 campaign volunteers to spend 3,924 hours sorting and packing up coats for distribution whilst maintaining social distancing
- the stores acting as drop-off points beyond the campaign period and receiving numerous donations from other businesses, community organisations and the general public
- using our internal and external communications platforms to raise awareness of the WrapUp London cause and inspiring our colleagues to get involved locally
"With the country lurching from one crisis to the next, our work with the poor, needy and vulnerable has never been more critical. From people losing their jobs following the Covid-19 pandemic or becoming homeless, to those being forced to flee domestic abuse or war-torn countries, the desperate need for warm coats and jackets for all ages keeps growing.
Now at over ten years old, WrapUp London has become one of the largest winter volunteering campaigns in the city. Whilst its tough that this is still required after all this time, it’s been amazing to see just what can be achieved when people are willing to volunteer their time and efforts. Sadly, the number of people living in challenging circumstances in the city is rising, and now more than ever as we face a cost of living crisis, donations from the public are required to help those in need.
We, alongside our partners Human Appeal and Rotary Club International, are eternally grateful to Safestore for the donation of storage space for the WrapUp campaign now held nationwide. This has meant that coat collections can take place across multiple locations in the UK, and our volunteers also have the space to sort and package up the donations received so we can ensure they get to the right place. Safestore’s support has enabled the collection and distribution of over 197,000 warm coats to date. It’s been great to work with Safestore and we look forward to continuing our partnership for years to come."
Jon Meech - CEO, HandsOn London