Amazon Orpington Donates £5K to Help Disadvantaged Kids

Children who've never left their London neighborhoods are getting a chance to lead night walks, canoe down rivers, and climb their first hills thanks to a £5,000 boost from local Amazon workers.

The team at Amazon's Orpington delivery station donated the money to Free to be Kids, a charity that uses outdoor adventures to rebuild mental health in London's most disadvantaged children. Many of these kids receive constant messages of failure at school and carry deep wounds to their self-worth.

The charity takes them on outdoor residentials where everything flips. A child who feels invisible at school suddenly leads peers through a dark forest. A kid labeled as a troublemaker works with teammates to navigate a river. Someone who's never seen a horizon climbs a hill and discovers what's possible.

The Amazon donation will purchase essential gear including tents, timber for building projects, spare outdoor clothing, and bedding. It's enough to fully equip two residential camps.

"We're passionate supporters of organisations in our community that have a positive impact on the places where our employees live and work," said the Amazon Orpington Delivery Station Manager. Holly from Free to be Kids called the support fantastic and thanked the entire delivery station team.

The Ripple Effect

This donation represents just one thread in Amazon's broader community work across the UK. The company co-founded Multibank with former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, which has now delivered over 12 million surplus goods to more than 800,000 families across six UK regions.

Amazon has also reached over one million UK students through free STEM education programs and helps community groups deliver meals through its logistics network. Through its Comic Relief partnership, Amazon has raised over £4.8 million for projects supporting people across the UK and globally.

For the children heading to those next two Free to be Kids camps, the impact will be deeply personal: a new story about who they are and what they can do.