'No child should carry their life in a bin bag,' says the youth worker who founded a community interest company to try to help children in care
Madlug was founded in 2015 by Dave Linton: a man who quips that his only experience in the luggage industry was “bags of enthusiasm”.
The youth worker was heartbroken to learn that most children in care transport their worldly belongings in a bin bag. In that moment, he set out to do something about it. With just £480, Linton started Madlug – a community interest company.
It operates on a ‘buy one give one’ approach: with every bag purchased, one is given to a child in care.
“It enables our customers to make a difference to the lives of children in care,” said Linton. “Simply by purchasing a bag, it means that a child can carry their life with dignity.”
Linton and the team have just celebrated Madlug’s third birthday and have so far donated more than 9,000 new bags to children in care. But their targets remain ambitious: to give 25,000 bags by June 2019. There are more than 90,000 children in care in the UK and Ireland: children enter the UK care system at a rate of one every 15 minutes.
Images: Madlug
