Shrewsbury furniture charity lands £31,000 grant
A group in Shrewsbury which helps people in deprived communities to get hold of new furniture has been handed a £31,000 boost.
The Shrewsbury Furniture Scheme provides household goods for low prices, and has now been given the five-figure fillip by The Garfield Weston Foundation. The money will allow the charity to purchase a new collection/delivery van.
The Garfield Weston Foundation said that small community charities are facing unprecedented demand for their services, which they are meeting by being "proactive and innovative".
Mike Hall, chairman of the Shrewsbury Furniture Scheme, said: “We are absolutely delighted at receiving this funding from Garfield Weston.
"It will finance the purchase of a new collection/delivery van and enable us to continue to help those in need across Shrewsbury, where certain wards fall within the 20 per cent of the most deprived in England, by providing them with good quality household goods at very low prices.”
Among the people who make use of the charity's support is Gail Preston, who added: "With both myself and my partner being disabled we would never have been able to buy the furniture and aids that we need to cope on a daily basis.
"We are so grateful for the service they provide."
Small charities and community groups are increasingly feeling the squeeze from constrained finances, and two thirds expect their income to stay the same or fall this year.
At the same time, more than half of groups expect to be delivering more services over that period. As a result, many are looking for help with refurbishing or moving into a new building to help support their fundraising.
The Garfield Weston Foundation launched its Anniversary Fund this year, but after receiving more than 2,300 applications for cash it doubled the value of the pot from £5 million to more than £11 million.
Of those applications, 60 per cent came from organisations which had never applied to the trust for funding in the past.
The Furniture Scheme is not the only Shropshire organisation to have benefited. Alderbury Village Hall near Shrewsbury was allocated £38,500, Church Stretton United Reform Church landed £30,000, and Ellerdine Village Hall near Telford was allocated the same.
