Organised by Story
Since we set up our essential furnishing scheme last year we have had endless requests for furniture and house hold furnishings that most of us take for granted. People from all walks of life that have found themselves in crisis and in need of some support. Parents that have fled violence to keep their children safe are finding themselves with no bed to tuck their children into at night. Young single mums with no family support worrying about their young child crawling across bare floors and and being at risk of getting hurt or the unexpected house fire that has left families with only the items that they stand in.
Furniture poverty affects many people across the UK, with families often living hand to mouth the only money left over to save is mere pennies making buying even the most basic essentials often impossible.
For these people, social housing is often the only option for affordable accommodation but it comes with a hidden cost. These properties are a bare unfurnished shell, often in need of decoration and rarely include flooring, curtains or white goods such as cookers, fridges or washing machines.
Help us reach our target and make at least 30 more houses into safe, secure home. Your donations will make a huge difference to some ones life.
We have recently helped a gentleman.
He had a really tough start in life facing leading to PTSD and a heroin addiction at the age of 13. He was sleeping rough for 2 years but he recently secured council accommodation. He got the keys but had nothing to make his house a home. He is engaging with services to deal with his addiction and rebuild his life. We provided a cooker and a sofa along with essential bedding and kitchen starter pack and have support him further to receive a bed. In his words....
I've moved into a flat, I'm over the moon. They've been amazing, I've got a cooker now. Its given me a chance to start setting up my own home after living rough for two years. I've finally got a place to call home its really sweet. When you're homeless you're often treated like its your fault, but Fusion gets it, they wanted to help and didn't want me to feel guilty. They were so down to earth and easy to deal with. That's really rare."
Your help can support people to be happier and more comfortable in their own homes.
A family were referred recently when they were struggling to furnish their new home with essential items. The family are living with poor health and have also been struggling with debt. Dad has severe mental health difficulties, Mum is a full-time carer and their daughter has bladder problems leading to bedwetting. Fusion replaced their broken washer, worn out bedding and got them two new beds.
Just that little bit of help for families like ours that are living just under the breadline can really make a difference. A lot of our money was going on debt. She went through our benefits, the turnover was so fast it was unbelievable. She was in touch by the end of the week and in three weeks we had a washer and two beds. They've helped us out a lot. My daughter would have been sleeping on a mattress on the floor. This has made a big difference to her and keeping children happy and comfortable really does help families out. We knew you could go to Fusion for a food parcel, but furniture-wise we had no idea. We'd been struggling for ages, I'm really glad we got referred to them. I think its one of the best things that's ever happened to us. They're helping us again. I told her we'd moved, we've downsized and had to leave the sofa behind. I didn't like to ask because they'd helped us before, but they say they can help us again"
We supply as many items to families as we can and we have become excellent at bartering a good price but the increasing demand we are seeing is hard to keep up with and we are seeing shortages of good quality second hand items which impacts on costs. We have limited storage space so we are only able to accept donations of smaller items. Your money will go directly to the purchase of larger items such as white goods essential furniture, furniture or flooring and every pound donated will help to make a house a home.
For example:
£15 would buy a full bedding pack for a child.
£145 would provide a child with a new bed and mattress
£155 would buy a cooker for families to cook on
£30 would but the pans for families to be able to cook
£400 would buy flooring to make it safe and warm for children to play.
Hitting our target will allow us to help at least 30 households over the coming months by buying individual essential furnishing packs that are desperately needed.
Please give whatever you can, no matter how small. Your donations really will make a difference.