VOLUNTEERS NEEDED !

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

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

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

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

 

Vintage Fair

We have a stall full of vintage finds from our stores at the Age UK vintage fair in Bexhill this Saturday 18th May – do pop along and say hello if you’re there!

The Vintage Spring Fair has been organised to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Age UK East Sussex.

It’s a free-to-enter family fun day expected to attract 8,000 local people. There will be lots of stalls and activities to enjoy, as well as information and opportunities to work together as a community to help support our vulnerable, older neighbours who may be at risk of isolation, loneliness and poverty.

Not all

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.

Changing our times

We’ve simplified our opening times. From 1st July 2018 we will be open from 9.304.30 every day from Tuesday to Saturday.

This means there will be more time for our Saturday shoppers to explore our stores.

We will also be able to provide some collections and deliveries on Saturdays for folk who cannot take time off work during the week.

We will be closed so our team can rest on Sundays and Mondays.

Volunteers get into 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!

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.

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