Rotary Club of Chichester Harbour’s furniture project goes from strength to strength

Founded more than 20 years ago and run by a team of volunteers, the Rotary Club of Chichester Harbour Furniture project provides much-needed support and access to household essentials.

Between July 2021 and June 2022, the organisation helped more than 7,000 local people, providing clothing, shoes, bedding, towels, white goods, furniture, crockery, cutlery, pots and pans, baby milk and nappies. This was primarily thanks to donated goods, topped up with additional supplies purchased to the value of £47,000.

In recent years, Clarion Futures, the charitable foundation of Clarion Housing Group which owns and manages thousands of homes across Sussex, has supported the project by funding the provision of storage space for furniture and other goods.

Latimer, Clarion’s development arm, has also donated thousands of pounds worth of furniture from its show homes, helping to boost the supply of much-needed home furnishings.

Now, the team behind the Rotary Club of Chichester Harbour Furniture project have access to a secure storage container that will mean more local people can be supported. The container was provided by builders’ merchants Travis Perkins through Clarion’s social value programme, which works with partners to transform lives and make a difference in Clarion communities. Publishing company John Wiley & Sons has provided space for the storage container on the site of its Bognor Regis factory.

In addition to their crisis work, at Easter and Christmas the Rotary Club ensures that isolated adults and children are provided with Easter eggs and Christmas sacks, which include gifts and a voucher to be able to buy extra Christmas food and drink, making a huge difference at this festive time of year.

Matt Parsonage, Head of Communities at Clarion Futures said: “Our tenancy sustainment teams have been working with the Rotary Club of Chichester Harbour Furniture project for more than 15 years and it has become a critical part of our support offer for local people. The project provides furniture to some of our most vulnerable residents, often at times of crisis, for example fleeing domestic abuse, moving into their first home after being homeless or being displaced due to fires or floods. We’re delighted to support them through Clarion Futures and it’s great to see the project going from strength to strength.”

Therese Brook, Project Lead for the Rotary Club of Chichester Harbour Furniture project, said: “We’re hugely grateful for the support of Clarion Futures and Travis Perkins and this container will make such a difference to what we can do. We continue to be busy helping those in need in our community, and are seeing more and more people worried about what the future holds due to the current cost of living crisis. Having access to donated furniture can be transformative, turning a house into a home, and with the new container we hope to be able to support even more people.”

To find out more about the Rotary Club of Chichester Harbour Furniture project and how you can donate, visit www.chichester-harbour-rotary.uk