The Furniture Project is run by a team of committed volunteers, who are motivated
by the need to provide good quality re-usable household items to people in need.
In meeting this need we are encouraged that our actions also help in the reduction
of items going to landfill. We run collections and deliveries during the week.
The current fuel and cost of living crisis is probably one of the biggest challenges
to face the social housing sector in recent years. It brings with it a number of
serious financial and social challenges. The `bedroom tax’, housing benefit caps
and changes to the social fund (e.g. Community Care Grants and Crisis Loans) will
lead to rent arrears, shorter-term tenancies, a greater number of re-lets and more
people living with the fear and the reality of debt. The Furniture Scheme and our
members can help you to minimise these negative financial and social impacts.
DONATIONS
Re-using just one sofa can save you up to £30 in disposal costs, reduces your CO2
footprint by 50kg, and helps a low income household save over £300 – an Economic,
Environmental and Social impact. It helps meet the furniture needs of people on low
incomes; ■ It extends the life of furniture that would otherwise be thrown away;
■ It provides a service for people with unwanted furniture wishing it to go to a
worthy cause: ■ It acts as a resource for Welfare agencies such as Social Services;
■ It provides opportunities for training unemployed people to obtain work skills
and work experience; ■ It can generate income for our organisation to help with overheads
and enable us to continue providing this vital service; ■ It provides opportunities
for volunteers; ■ It attracts the essential raw material for refurbishment workshops.
We ask that the furniture you donate is good enough that you would be grateful to
receive it yourself. • Items must be clean and free from rips, tears and breaks -
if not there is a risk of us refusing to take them away. • Items must be in full
working order with no missing parts - damaged items may not be collected, we reserve
the right to accept donations at the driver’s discretion • We do not run a dump/disposal
service. • All upholstered items must have a fire safety label. • We do not currently
take gas items e.g. gas cookers, heaters etc, large wall units, large old style TVs
(flat screens only) or bric a brac.
Good quality kitchen items are also appreciated as we use these to make up Social
Services Starter packs.
We collect free of charge, repair and redistribute items from the Ashington and the
local area which would otherwise go into landfill, while also making available thousands
of items of furniture and household goods every year to people from the region.