'We are in a financial crisis' - Telford community store launches £60,000 appeal
A community store in Telford has launched a major fundraising appeal as it faces what bosses describe as a "financial crisis".
The NotJust Surplus Project is aiming to raise £60,000 to cover outstanding energy bills and install solar panels that would help cut future costs.
Owner and founder Lea Beven said the organisation has received two electricity disconnection notices, due to take effect from Friday (November 21).
She said the project "urgently" needs public support to settle its bills and to fund solar panels that would "prevent this situation from arising again".
The project supports between 500 and 900 families across Telford and Shropshire each week, but has recently had to make the "heartbreaking" decision to make two members of staff redundant due to mounting financial pressures.
Lea said: "We are in a financial crisis. We are just not getting the support from the community financially that we need.
"In the past we would get help from companies that might sponsor things for us, but since we moved from Wellington this has declined - but we have more people in need.
"We support around 900 families a week.
"We are about £30,000 behind in our electrical costs across our two buildings in Madeley and on Halesfield.
"We need to raise around £60,000 to completely get out of the mess."
The organisation, based on Halesfield in Telford, works with distributors across the UK to rescue food and items past their 'best before' date, stopping them from going to landfill and supplying them in bulk to the community.
"It is a unique three-tier project," Lea added. "We have our community store for anybody to use. People on a lower income can bring a bag to our store and pay £7.50 and fill it for whatever they want. It's amazing."
You can donate here.
