volunteer

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED !

21/09/2021Martin StickBexhill, charity, furniture, Hastings, St Leonards, volunteer, volunteering

Join our team and make a difference in your local community

Collect and deliver furniture, white goods and homewares with our van team
Reduce the amount of furniture going to landfill
Assist customers in our three stores, operate the till and answer the ‘phone
Book in collections of donated goods and arrange delivery slots for purchased items
Sell unusual/collectable items on eBay
Assist with marketing, PR and social media
Represent the charity at community events
Run an HFS charity stall at local events
PAT test donated electrical goods
Join our Trustees Board

Click on the link to find out more about volunteering with HFS

Job successes

18/10/2019H F SBexhill, confidence, courses, employability, employment, experience, get back to work, Hastings, job, jobs, Rye, skills, St Leonards, support, sussex, training, volunteer, volunteering, work

Pete joined our team two months ago. He was made redundant over 12 months ago, after 25 years in the same job.

Volunteering showed that Pete preferred being active and working hard rather than staying at home, and proved he could adapt to a new workplace. Pete got a job after just a few weeks with us. He said that volunteering with us boosted his confidence and helped him over the final hurdle of getting a job.

Katie had been looking for work for 3 years before she joined us as a volunteer at the reception in our Priory Meadow store earlier this year. Getting back into work after taking time out to look after young children can be really hard, especially if you need work that will fit in around school hours and holidays.

Katie built up her confidence and worked with Angie to update her CV and fill in applications. Katie was ecstatic to get a job interview … then became extremely nervous. Practicing suitable answers that explained her relevant experience helped, and she was offered the job at her first interview.

Katie says “If it wasn’t for you guys I would not have got this perfect job, thank you so much”

Max started volunteering with us 3 months ago. He has been looking for a job in IT since he left college a year ago. Not having anything to do, Max had shut himself away at home and he was very quiet. He had become isolated and felt he had no confidence.

Max worked well with the team and started to gain confidence. He is a very intelligent, articulate young man. He has been offered a job with a local Council’s IT department. He says that if he hadn’t come to us to volunteer that he would still be stuck in his bedroom.

Read more about volunteering at hfs

Volunteering pop-up

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HVA (Hastings Voluntary Action) will be running a regular volunteering pop-up within our pop-up store in Priory Meadow from the start of September.

We’re delighted to host HVA and encourage people to volunteer. Getting involved with local community groups can help you feel more connected to others, boost your skills and confidence, and help if you are looking for work. Good local charities like HFS need a team of dedicated volunteers; when we work together we can make a huge difference.

At the pop-up sessions, experts from HVA will be on hand to talk to you and help you find volunteering opportunities that suit your skills, interests and goals.

Tuesdays: 2 – 4

Wednesdays: 10 – 12

Fridays: 12 – 2

Plus – First Saturday of the month: 10 – 12

And you can read about volunteering with HFS here.

Pop Up

21/05/2019H F Saffordable furniture, armchair, bargain, benefits, chair, charity, cheap, chest, clearance, collection, dining, donate furniture, drawers, East Sussex, furniture, Hastings, help, home, homeless, house, household, low income, low-cost, Pop-up shop, recycling, rehouse, repaint, resettle, reuse, second-hand furniture, social enterprise, sofa, sussex, table, volunteer, volunteering, wardrobe

We’re excited to announce that HFS Hastings will be relocating to the Priory Meadow shopping centre temporarily.

The pop-up store will give us a chance to reach more people and reuse even more furniture.

It will also enable us to redecorate our full-time premises in Dorset Place. We haven’t seen most of the walls or floor since we moved in after our re-build in 2007, so we can’t wait to give it a lick of paint!

The pop-up is on a rent-free “meanwhile” basis, while the landlord looks for a new paying tenant. We are moving on Tues and Weds (21-22 May). Hastings store will be closed on Weds 22nd.

The new store will open at lunchtime on Thurs 23rd May

Open Tues-Sat 9.30-4.30

Phone 01424 44 11 12

Address SU2 (former Top Shop) Priory Meadow Hastings TN34 1PH

Not all

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We couldn’t collect, reuse and deliver over 300 tonnes of furniture and electrical goods every year without our team of amazing volunteers like Dan.

Dan is volunteering at HFS Bexhill while he is looking for work.

Store Manager Gerald says “Since he started volunteering, Dan has gained the experience and confidence to play a full part in the team. He’s a real asset for us, helping out with collections and deliveries, and also helping in the store. It’s great to see people like Dan join us and develop their skills so they can move on into work.”

Be like Dan! If you can spare a few hours, we need more volunteers at both stores most days, including Saturdays. Find out more about volunteering here.

Thrift Fest is this Saturday!

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The big day is Saturday 22nd September!

We’re celebrating 30 years of furniture reuse with a whole day of community activities at the Hastings Centre on the Ridge (opposite Conquest Hospital).

Please join us and have fun making, doing and trying new activities that don’t cost the earth!

Free advance tickets are available until the end of Friday on Eventbrite, or you can pay just £1 per adult on the door.

The programme and ticket link are on our website here.

Everyone deserves a comfy sofa

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HFS patron Mark Thomas launched our Reuse Manifesto poster at our Mark Thomas & Friends fund-raising comedy night on Friday 25th May.

We worked with local artist and HFS team-member Pea Crabtree to design the poster and it was printed by Martel Colour Print in St Leonards.

Supporters were able to buy their own copy of the manifesto poster (A3) to take home from the comedy event, and you can pick up a copy from your local HFS store for the launch price of £5. We also have postcards with the same design for £1. All proceeds help the charity.

Volunteers get into work

29/03/2018H F Semployment, learn, skills, volunteer, volunteering, work

Congratulations to our volunteers Sam and Mark (pictured in front of van) who have both been offered jobs at Combe Haven Holiday Park.

Sam has been volunteering at our Hastings store since the start of the year, and his eventual goal is to join the army. We wish him every success.

Mark, on the other hand, is not saying a final farewell to us yet, as he will continue to volunteer on the days when he’s not working at Combe Haven.

Looking for a route back into paid employment? Read more about volunteering with HFS here.

Bags of help!

07/02/2018H F Sbags of help, Bexhill, charity, confidence, experience, friendly, Groundwork, Hastings, help, join, support, team, Tesco, volunteer, volunteering

Thanks to hundreds of local Tesco shoppers for voting for HFS – we won £2,000!

The funds will help us support volunteers to gain skills, confidence and experience. A lot of our volunteers need support to take on their role with us and to build up towards moving on into training or work.

Thanks to your support we can help more people.

Our friendly team can’t wait to welcome more members!

Read more about volunteering with HFS.

Vote for us!

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If you shop at any branch of Tesco in Hastings, St Leonards or Battle, please take a token and vote for HFS to win some “bags of help” funding.

Voting runs through November and December 2017.