Slimmers' Swishing Fundraiser

Members of one local Slimming World club, which takes place at Rothwell Baptist Church, have been so successful in losing weight that they decided to put their heads together to come up with a way they could raise money at the same time.

After participating in the Slimming World Clothes Throw some months ago in which members donated hundreds of bags of clothing to help to raise money for charity partner Cancer Research, Debbie Harris from the Thursday - 9am group, wanted to extend the fundraising efforts to benefit other charities and groups. The idea of a clothes swap was born, sometimes known as swishing, members bring the clothes they've slimmed out of, for other members to take home and if they don’t have an item to swap they can make a small donation to charity.

Teaming up with Catherine Holmes and Pam Hale the three ladies coordinate the swapping sessions regularly at Slimming World meetings and the idea has been so successful that in the short time they have been doing it, they have already raised over £1000 and so far, donations have been made to the Ukranian appeal, Lilybuds Toddler group in Rothwell, the RNLI in memory of one member’s wife who recently passed away, the Alzheimers society & the Leeds Cancer Centre

Debbie said “On the journey to losing over three stone I dropped several dress sizes and as a clothes-aholic buying new clothes for each size was expensive and I found it annoying to do so as I knew I would soon be in a smaller size. After reaching my target weight, I was determined to get rid of all the larger sized but barely worn items in my wardrobe and asked Caroline if I could bring them to Slimming World to sell for charity.”

“The idea has gone down really well with other members who like being able to pick something up and take it home to try on at no cost. Losing weight is a big deal and for many of us it is difficult to retrain our brains to think we could wear something in a smaller size and look good in it. Being able to swap an item for a smaller size can also help incentivise people to keep aiming for their target and I love the fact that we may be helping people on their slimming journey in some way.”

With the escalating cost of living crisis, the clothes swapping has come at the ideal time as successfully dropping dress sizes can be a costly business and by donating their larger items of clothing the members also have the added incentive of keeping the weight off so as not to have the expense of rebuying clothes. A win, win situation all round!