Stories
Giving furniture…giving hope
Gateway Furniture provides good-quality furniture and electrical items to those in need within Swindon. In the last six months alone, it has helped 140 families in need with nearly 600 pieces of furniture and averted 15 tonnes from landfill. The vision, however, is not just to meet practical needs but to build relationships and point people to God…
Calling themselves ‘Helping Hands’, a small group of people from Gateway Church, Swindon, started spending evenings and weekends giving practical help to those in the church in need – gardening, DIY and decorating. Often they found families in need of pieces of furniture, so they started asking the rest of the church to donate if they could. This project snowballed and the Gateway Furniture ministry grew out of it. Launched in September 2009, and overseen by Kevin and Dawn Prosser, in its first year it opened for just two days a week with a small team of eight volunteers. Resources were limited yet the ministry helped over 120 families, giving away over 6.5 tonnes of furniture and 40 electrical items.
Today, donations of good-quality furniture are collected, cleaned and then donated to those in need. A referral system has been developed so that agencies within Swindon, such as Social Workers, Housing Officers and Children’s Centres, can refer families. Clients are allowed up to four items of furniture for a minimum donation of £10 (towards the cost of delivery). Right from the beginning clients have chosen the furniture themselves. “Due to their circumstances, they live without many choices in life and we feel giving them this choice is an important way to help restore their dignity.” With the donation of furniture further support and information are offered.
There have been a number of salvations from people who first had contact with the project. For example, in 2009 a young couple, Craig and Kelly-Marie, were given some furniture. They had both been homeless for some time but had recently been able to get a small one-bedroom unfurnished flat. As it was a private let they had only a tiny grant from the council towards furniture. Visiting the Gateway warehouse, the couple were overwhelmed by the generosity of people giving their time to help them. The following Sunday they went to church as a way to say thank you. During the service they were once again overwhelmed, this time by the love of God for them. They joined a cell group and within a couple of months both gave their lives to Christ. They have since been baptised, married and are now serving others. They recently helped out on the Alpha course as group leaders!
Gateway Furniture is the spearhead of a growing number of social action projects at Gateway Church, Swindon. Helping Hands continues to provide practical help to people both inside and outside the church. Alongside this, church members also run Healthy Options, which provides ‘healthy cooking on a budget’ courses and helps people to grow their own vegetables all around Swindon, funded by the council. Budgeting advice is available through a small team of personal budget coaches who operate a service called Mon£ywise. The plan now is to increase the integration of the furniture project with these other initiatives.
For more information, visit: Gateway Furniture
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