Epping eagerly awaits a new project due to open later this month to support the low-income and needy in the community. The Lighthouse Furniture Project will be based at a large warehouse on Bower Hill Industrial Estate – which will be renamed the ‘ReUse Centre’. Founded on their Christian principles, the Lighthouse Furniture Project aims to provide cheap or free second-hand furniture and electricals for people struggling to support themselves. It is a registered charity and social enterprise currently based in Brentwood. To celebrate the birth of this innovative project in Epping, there are plans for a significant opening event at the end of this month starring a local celebrity.
 

 

The Project’s mission is to provide good quality furniture essentials at significantly discounted prices for those most in need in the local areas. This includes people suffering with hardship, poverty or social exclusion. The project works through receiving and collecting furniture and other items that have been donated by local people and selling them on cheaply through their warehouses. They work with over 50 Agencies including four night shelters and twenty-five housing associations to identify those who are deprived in the community and most in need of the Charity’s help. Those living on a low income, receiving state benefits or low income tax credits are all eligible to buy at discounted prices.
 

 

The Lighthouse Furniture Project is a Christian charity so it has connections with many churches, for example it supplies the furniture and toddler equipment for Gateway Church in Ashford, Kent. It is a member of ‘Faithworks’ which is a national organisation that supports faith based organisations engaged in social action.

 


The charity has been going since 1994 and Brian Darwood, the Project Manager at Lighthouse Furniture tells ‘after consultation with the local council and following much fundraising and a grant from the Lottery, we were able to open our first warehouse in 2005 with 4 staff and a van. God has blessed and guided us and we now have 24 staff, 4 vans and 3 warehouses, providing a beacon of hope in our community.’ Now, thanks to the extension of their new branch, Epping too can be part of this exciting, charitable venture.
 

 

The Project supports the disadvantaged through more ways than just their sale of furniture. The enterprise is run by local volunteers and the charity works to recruit people that they feel will best benefit from the experience such as the long-term unemployed, those recovering from health related problems, and offenders via the probation service. In line with the charity’s Christian foundations, they offer training for their volunteers which they hope will improve their self-esteem and employability.

The Lighthouse Furniture Project also has an emphasis on recycling and last year diverted over 284 tonnes of furniture from landfill sites through its redistribution scheme. It is a great help to Essex County Council in meeting its recycling targets.

With the opening of the new division, these volunteering opportunities will also be open to benefit the local area around Epping. The Lighthouse Furniture Project is already recruiting volunteers to cover a wide variety of jobs such as driving the vans to serving the public and answering phones. The scheme will have a furniture-themed Christmas tree on display at St John’s Baptist Church Christmas Tree Festival on the 7th-10th December. The Project Manager is encouraging people to give donations of Dolls House furniture that can be used to decorate the Furniture Project’s tree with.

Brian Darwood said ‘My passion is to serve the church, through practical expressions of love into our communities.’ It seems Epping will become part of a fast-expanding enterprise set to benefit many communities into the future.