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Record year for Fife furniture projectAugust 20, 2008 A Fife-based furniture reuse project is preparing for rapid business growth after reporting a record year of trading. The Castle Furniture Project, based in Cupar, saw revenues increase by £32,000 last year as they redistributed over 2,000 household items to 960 homes in Fife. Achieving this profit boost by opening up its service to working members of the public, the project now operates a three-tier reallocation system allowing them to help employed Fifers struggling through the economic crisis while continuing to provide the underprivileged with free or significantly subsidised goods. Silv Ingram, Castle Furniture Project's Development Manager, said: "Given the rising cost of living and the climate of economic uncertainty, we wanted to make our service available to all Fifers whether they are employed or unemployed - but it was important to find a fair way to do this. "Our three-tier system is based on life circumstances and aims to make our service affordable to all clients. Clients with referrals from social services are entitled to receive free goods and those on benefits receive a 50% discount on our already subsidised prices. If our clients are working, we ask them to pay our prices in full. "By opening our doors to the employed public, we can help more Fifers furnish their homes and their fee for the goods acts as a charitable donation. As a social enterprise, any profits we make go back into the organisation to help the community. "Our organisation is about more than furniture reuse, as we also operate a volunteer scheme which helps those with mental health difficulties return to the workplace. Our profits help to fund the on-going staff training required to keep this scheme in operation. Castle Furniture Project will showcase their success at the Community Recycling Network for Scotland's More Than Furniture Conference this month. The CRNS is a membership body for community recycling organisations throughout Scotland. It provides information, advice and support to both existing and emerging community recyclers. The CRNS exists to build a stronger community recycling sector in Scotland which can create real social, environmental and economic benefit within our local communities. CRNS's More than Furniture Conference 08 will take place on Wednesday 27 August at the Royal Society for Arts and Drama in Glasgow. For more information, please visit www.crns.org.uk/ |
