VIVID donates over £24,000 to local charities

Local housing association VIVID has provided funding to Southampton-based charity, SCRATCH and Basingstoke-based charity, the Basingstoke Community Furniture Project, who both received a donation of just over £12,000 each.

VIVID employees asked the organisation to make the donations to the charities, given they couldn’t have team ‘get togethers’ over the festive period. 

SCRATCH was founded in 1999 to relieve the effects of hardship, disadvantage and poverty for individuals and families living in Southampton and the surrounding Hampshire area.

SCRATCH runs a number of projects to benefit its community, including providing good quality furniture and household items to those in need, offering an emergency removal services, redistributing donated paint to referred clients and community groups, providing hot meals for those who are homeless and giving volunteers the opportunity to make items from pallets and upcycle donated furniture that otherwise might end up in landfill.

The Basingstoke Community Furniture Project offers practical support for people in the Basingstoke area, by providing high-quality furniture, household goods and appliance reuse, together with varied volunteering, supported volunteering and accredited training opportunities.

The Basingstoke Community Furniture Project also sells a wide range of donated furniture, electrical and household items including chairs, sofas, tables, beds, fridges, washing machines, bric-a-brac and more.

Jonathan Cowie, Chief Operating Officer at VIVID said: “The work that SCRATCH does is invaluable and we’re pleased to be able to support them through this donation. We hope this will help them reach more people in need across Southampton and its surrounding areas so more people can benefit from the fantastic services they offer.”

Annette Davis, Senior Manager (Resources) at SCRATCH commented: “On behalf of the staff, directors, volunteers and those we seek to serve, I would like to say a very big thank you to VIVID for this very generous donation. We really value our relationship with VIVID and look forward to working closely with them over the coming year as we seek to support the most vulnerable in our local communities. Having had our van stolen at the beginning of the year, some of this money is going towards funding a replacement.”

Jonathan Cowie added: “The Basingstoke Community Furniture Project plays a vital role in supporting people, often when they need it the most. We’re pleased to be able to support the work they do through our donation and we hope it will enable the charity to continue to address the needs of people living within the Basingstoke area.”

Phelim O’Hagan, Project Manager at the Basingstoke Community Furniture Project commented: “We’re extremely grateful to VIVID for this generous donation, which will be used to set up an Essential Household Goods Scheme to provide furniture and other essential items free of charge to local people who are vulnerable and in exceptional need.”

To find out more about SCRATCH, please visit the website: https://www.scratchcharity.co.uk/

For more information on the Basingstoke Community Furniture Project, please visit the website: https://www.n-c-r-c.org/community-furniture-project-basingstoke/