11th March 2011

CHARD: Household charity spreads its wings

By Marion Draper

ALTHOUGH the not for profit enterprise Furnicare has been situated in Chard for 12 years, providing cheap furniture for low income families, there are still a great many people who seem unaware of its service, according to project manager Peter Bagg.

The Chard team cover all of South Somerset, as well as parts of East Devon and West Dorset and they are just spreading into Seaton Sidmouth and Honiton. With a large van and willing workers who will pick up they will take any household items in good condition, although they stress that sofas and armchairs cannot be accepted unless they still have a fire retardency label intact.

Furnicare was set up as a project by South Somerset Association for Voluntary and Community Action Limited. The project collects unwanted furniture and household items that are in good condition from anyone who wishes to donate them, and they are stored in a warehouse in Chard.

People on low incomes, referred by other agencies, can purchase items for a very reasonable sum, basically anything needed for the home, from sofas to washing machines and lamps to irons. The need is expected to increase in the present economic climate but the staff and volunteers are concerned that not enough people with money are buying new at the moment and their donations are down.

Mr Bagg loves his job and joined the scheme after taking early retirement from the Prudential. He said: “We work closely with the Somerset and Dorset Waste partnerships and have signs at the recycling centres. People will throw away perfectly good furniture which can benefit someone in real need.

“On the buying side, we are open to people on benefits an income below £15,000. We used to do referrals from different agencies like the Jobcentre but now many have gone so we will do our own referrals.

People have to prove their income, we don’t keep their personal paperwork, they just have to show us something and we will keep that referral on record for 12 months.

“We do deliver to their homes, although occasionally an awkward situation arises where they expect us to take an old suite to the dump.

That is not our job and if they call their district council they will come for things like that.

“Anything you have for your home, hard and soft furnishings, as well as garden tools and electrical goods we will accept. We tend not to take too much in the way of small items such as crockery purely because of storage but we do keep some. If someone has just been housed and has nothing at all, we will give them a box of bits to get them set up.

“Occasionally we will be given something a bit more valuable, like antique furniture which we take to Lawrences in Crewkerne. The money helps towards our expenses - there are eight employed staff and four volunteers at the moment - running two vans. We price things extremely reasonably and do not negotiate, although some still try to haggle with us. We have to be fair to everyone and still cover our expenses which are going up with the fuel costs.

“There is a lot of job satisfaction, helping people with a genuine need and helping the environment by recycling which saves everyone money in the long run. We are a friendly bunch who enjoy working together so coming to work is a real pleasure, even though the warehouse is freezing at this time of year!”

If you have a donation for Furnicare or think you may be eligible for their service please call 01460 68221.

PICTURE: HAPPY TO HELP - Ian Corrick, Paul Swinnerton, Margaret Jones and project manager Peter Bagg at Furnicare