The Vine Project, located on the border between LB Merton and LB Sutton, is not just your average furniture re-use project. If you were to ask Jennie Chapman, Project Director, what is so special about the organisation she would tell you it’s their commitment to valuing people – clients, staff and referral agencies.

The Vine Project works with 105 referral agencies to ensure that the furniture reaches those who need it most. They mainly accept referrals of people who are moving into accommodation with little or no furniture. As well as furniture re-use, the project also runs a scheme for families on low incomes, called Kids Stop. This provides low cost children’s clothing, baby equipment and toys, as well as serving as a drop-in centre.

In addition to 8 paid staff members the project has around 100 volunteers. Jennie says she doesn’t know of any other furniture project that uses volunteers as extensively as they do. It’s a rewarding and sustainable option for both the project and the volunteers, with volunteers involved in all aspects of the organisation. They are keen to help their volunteers find where their skills lie and make the best use of them, to enable them to move onto paid employment – indeed, over the past year several have done so, following this skills and confidence boost. The project also has a particular emphasis on supported volunteering, and has made sure it has staff members with experience of working with people with special needs and learning difficulties. This enables them to offer volunteer work to many people who would otherwise find it hard to find a placement.

Case study issued in November 2005