Norfolk free furniture project comes to end

2009: After three years of distributing hundreds of sofas, beds, chairs and other bits of household equipment free to needy families across the county, the YMCA Norfolk furniture warehouse project has come to an end.

 

Hundreds of people around Norfolk benefited from the social action project which distributed over £180,000-worth of furniture and other essential household items for free over the last 36 months.

 

The project was run in partnership with Business in the Community and much of its furniture came from the Center Parcs holiday village at Elveden Forest near Thetford and was made available as part of the long-term refurbishment programme of the 800 villas on the site.

 

YMCA manager Eddie Pleban, who oversaw the project, said: “We provided free-of-charge furniture and basic household equipment to those needy people in Norfolk who would otherwise not be able to afford it.

 

“Assessment of need and distribution to clients was carried out in conjunction with accredited agencies working in this field to ensure that those in most urgent need benefited from the project.”

 

“We are really grateful to Center Parcs for their great generosity towards this project and we would be more than happy to resurrect the project should a future source of furniture emerge.

 

“We are also indebted to Targetfollow chairman Ardeshir Naghshineh for use of the warehouse off Hall Road in Norwich.”

 

YMCA Norfolk chief executive officer, John Drake, said: “YMCA Norfolk’s work encompasses much more than our well-known work with homeless youngsters and this was a great example of that. We are always looking for opportunities to serve the community and meet social needs where we are able to.

 

“The success of this project was largely down to the hard work and dedication of manager Eddie Pleban and project supervisor Gary Moore of which I am greatly appreciative.”

Pictured above are Eddie Pleban (left) and Gary Moore (courtesy of EDP).