Need

Our beneficiaries arrive at situations of urgent need or outright crisis for all sorts of reasons: the breakdown of inter-family relationships, domestic abuse, marriage or relationship breakdowns, leaving Local Authority Care, leaving custodial sentences or the need to flee racial or homophobic harassment. In 2006 there is a reduced capacity within family units or neighbourhoods to supply the necessary material to enable a person in need to establish a new place to live. Many of the settlements that we supply goods to are former mining communities, which have not had any alternative employment opportunities since their pits closed leading to two or three decades of every decreasing social capital.

According to the indices of Multiple Deprivation, there are 51 wards in County Durham in the 10% most deprived in England, more specifically; 69 wards are in the top 10% most deprived for employment; 41 are in the top 10% most deprived for income; 27 are in the top 10% most deprived for child poverty.
The same data reveals that there are very affluent wards across the area also.
The project aim is to provide facilities to enable a transfer of reusable goods from affluent districts to deprived districts across the whole of County Durham.
(Source: “Miserable Measures” – The range and severity of deprivation for the County Durham and Tees Valley area, NHS May 2003)