A HAILSHAM charity has announced it is to expand its services in the town to include an inclusive Community Shed facility.
The Now! Charity Group, which runs the popular Furniture Now! Shop on the High Street will be launching the scheme next month which will be open to all residents who would a safe space to share skills, meet like-minded people and help upcycle furniture to be sold in the shop.
The initiative will be open a few days a week and will be run by volunteers.
The concept of Men in Sheds is popular throughout Sussex and the concept is to reach out to isolated men and offer them a safe space to socialise, volunteer, and gain new skills.
However, the concept of Men in Shed does not fit with the Now! Charity’s value of inclusivity and a community shed would imply that everyone is welcome, not excluding any gender.
Manon Brun, CEO of The Now! Charity Group told Hailsham News: “The concept of making furniture, DIY, even up-cycling is very gendered, and often thought about as “manly tasks”. Opening our community shed to everyone and helping women get more diverse skill sets is crucial.”
In 2023, The Now! Charity Group helped 14,839 families make £1,807,525 in household savings and saved 787,556 kg of carbon emission. Its objectives aid to reach out and help more people in the community and help the fight against climate change.
The Tackling Poverty Report, launched by Sussex Community Foundation in 2023, found that elderly people, people from ethnic minorities, LGBTQIA+ people, as well as people with disabilities were more likely to be socially isolated and live in poverty.
In the report, Campaign Towards Loneliness (charity) explains: “The close relationship between loneliness and health is well-documented. In 2023, people who said they had a physical and/or mental health diagnosis were over three times as likely to be chronically lonely than those who said they did not.”
The Community Shed project is aiming to tackle this issue. Manon continued: “Absolutely everyone is welcome to come and learn, help, and teach. This is a community-based project, started by a local charity, made possible by the community, for the community.”
There is a fundraiser to help raise money for the project. Use the QR code or
Visit https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/hailsham-community-shed.
