Social Enterprises
Our Charity Shops
The Helping Hand has two shops on Cookson Street.
The furniture shop is located at: 28-30 Cookson Street, Blackpool, FY1 3EF Telephone Number:(01253) 622960
Second shop selling bric-a-brac is next to the Furniture Shop at: 26 Cookson Street.
The Furniture Restoration shop sells second hand furniture, some electrical goods and all sorts of interesting items.
The second shop next door has bric a brac, bedding, tableware, kitchenware and clothes.
Through the shops we create employment - in retail and on the two vans. These two vans travel throughout Blackpool and the Fylde, from Fleetwood to Lytham and inland to the A6 boundary.
They will pick up furniture, electrical good and all kinds of bric a brac; pots, pans, clothing etc. Due to regulations, we can only take beds and settee's if they carry the fire tag. We have an expert PAT tester, so we can accept good quality electrical goods.
At present 11 people are employed through Helping Hand (Furniture Restoration) Limted. This is a Social Entreprise and all the proceeds from sales go to cover employment and running costs. Any surplus goes to the Charity to help it to keep running too.
We use donated furniture and items in two specific ways....
Either to sell in the Shops and provide employment or to use in Starter Packs - these are packages of furniture and as much as we can provide to set up a home. Furniture for the bedroom - bed, wardrobe, set of drawers; for the living room - three piece suite or two setaer settee and/or chairs, display unit, coffee table, TV unit/table; for the kitchen - table and chairs. What is provided depends on what we have.
The Starter Packs are given without charge for the furniture but we do ask for a contribution of £40 towards the cost of employment (the staff that put together the Starter Pack and deliver it) and the cost of running our vans.
Helping Hand (Furniture Restoration) works with over 40 agencies helping to provide furniture as they move into 'new to them' accommodation - there are so many reasons why people need our services....
Where someone is moving from hostel accommodation to rented property, where they are fleeing a potentially dangerous situation and have to start again with either nothing or relatively little, where someone is elderly and needs support in independent living - Helping Hand of itself does not do everything, we work in conjunction with different support agencies throughout Blackpool and the Fylde and we take referrals for Starter Packs from all recognised agencies.
EMPLOYMENT
By doing this work we create opportunities for employment - for those who may find it difficult to get a job. During their time working for us, an employee builds up a work history and develops a CV for future employment.
Furniture Restoration Limited enables our staff to be developed through training and work experience, problem solving and growing together in a team.