A PROJECT which provides furniture to disadvantaged people faces a financial crisis.

David Green

A PROJECT which provides furniture to disadvantaged people faces a financial crisis.

The Framlingham-based Furniture Project has over the past few years helped dozens of people, many of them facing a crisis in their own lives. Now it has to find new funds in order to survive.

Based at the Volunteer Centre in Framlingham the project takes useful, unwanted furniture from households in the area, often preventing items being sent to landfill dumps.

It then distributes the furniture to disadvantaged people, many of them on low income or facing problems following the split-up of families.

The project is run at a cost of £13,000 a year. As well as administrators and volunteers organising fund raising events, the Big Lottery Fund provided £7,500 a year for three years to help sustain the project.

A further £5,000 came in from funds raised by Comic Relief. However, efforts to find new funding have so far failed and trustees fear it may have to be wound up.

Gwen Randall, chairman, said: “We run on an amazingly low budget thanks to the help of volunteers but we need an injection of funds in order to keep going.”

Mrs Randall, head of Framlingham College, said grants were available for capital items such as vehicles but not for running costs.

“We need to find the money by next March or the project may not be able to continue.” She said one of the project's proudest achievements had been to help a victim of domestic abuse on a Christmas Eve.

Among others who had been helped were disabled people who did not qualify for aid in acquiring furniture under social security rules.

Anyone interested in helping to fund the project should contact treasurer, Robin Self, by email: robinself@suffolkonline.net