Meeting room furniture boosts community charity in Shropshire

George Hounsell is Director of Sport and Community at The Marches Academy Trust and represents the brilliant Shropshire 4 All Foundation charity. He told us a little bit about how the charity was set up:

“Three years ago, we realised The Marches Academy Trust was doing lots of community activity, so decided to set up the 4 All Foundation as an independent registered charity. There are around 10,000 pupils within the Trust, and many of our schools are in deprived areas. We now have three charity hubs owned by the Trust, helping both children and adults. We also run a Ukrainian support group and cancer clinics, among many other things.”

George explained that this great charity has grown fast, and now boasts 60 volunteers across Shropshire.

So many uses

Paul Fielding from Autocraft thought the charity was a great match for the furniture his firm had to give away. He wanted to support a local organisation, as his firm is based in Telford. He listed a boardroom table and 15 chairs on the A Good Thing platform, and was thrilled to be matched with the 4 All Foundation. George from the charity explained how his charity would make use of the donations:

“The furniture will be great for so many things: trustee meetings, volunteer training, development meetings, parent workshops, maths classes, English classes… Up until now we’ve been using other pieces of furniture that really didn’t look good. We’ve been able to upgrade with this donation, and it all looks smarter.”

Pushing forward faster

George was positive about the experience of using A Good Thing:

“It was really easy to use. I’ve made lots of other requests via the site in the past. The furniture had been broken down already, so the site team just went to collect it all. It was really easy, just 20 minutes away. We’ve easily saved £500: as a Foundation, we wouldn’t have bothered getting anything new. We are a new charity, and can now push forward faster.”

Autocraft is an independent, manufacturer-approved bodyshop group in Shropshire with dedicated accident repair centres in both Telford and Shrewsbury. A Good Thing and its mission were a great fit for Autocraft: in 2023 alone the Shropshire firm was given nine awards (including accolades for its community programme and environmental impact initiatives). The firm makes regular donations to local foodbanks and charities, and recently invested £250,000 into a 470-piece solar panel system that was installed on top of its HQ in May 2023.

A piece of cake!

Paul Fielding from Autocraft was very positive about his experience of using A Good Thing:

“It was all very easy, you were very helpful. The response to the listing was fantastic, from far and wide across the country, which was really encouraging. We chose the 4 All Foundation as they’re a local organisation. We felt this would probably be less hassle, with the logistics of collection. Once we made direct contact with the charity it was a piece of cake, everything went very well.”

Finally, Paul told us a bit about how he had tried to rehome the furniture, before coming across A Good Thing:

“We had approached used furniture sales companies, but had no joy as it was an ‘old’ style. It would have been an absolute shame to have thrown away such good-quality table and chairs. Thanks very much to A Good Thing for providing the facility to pass on our cherished boardroom table and chairs!”

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