The SVP (St Vincent de Paul Society) is an international charity with ‘conferences’ all over the world. Burngreave is lucky enough to have such a conference based at St Catherine’s Church, Melrose Road.
The SVP boasts a number of furniture stores including one that serves Sheffield.
The store collects donated items of furniture and redistributes them as and when/where they are needed. They also provide ‘starter packs’. These are aimed at individuals and families who have had to relocate but find themselves in an empty house or flat with no means to furnish it. This could be because of separation/divorce, release from prison or, more commonly, immigration/asylum seeking. The starter packs comprise of various items of furniture (bed, table, settee, cooker etc) and essential items such as crockery and cooking utensils.
All these items are purchased new from suppliers and stores with whom the SVP have brokered a discount/donation deal.
There is an unusually high demand for the starter packs in the Burngreave area, largely due to the higher than average influx of immigrants. For this reason the furniture store has been awarded a grant of £5,000 to purchase 40 of these packs for distribution within the BNDfC area. The furniture store will work in partnership with the St Catherine’s conference to ensure that all funding is used within the BNDfC area.