St Vincent's furniture donations help 3,000 Sheffield residents

Almost 3,000 people in the Sheffield area have benefitted from free furniture donated as part of a project to help those in need.

St Vincent's Sheffield has distributed tables, beds and cabinets, and has even furnished entire homes.

The group has seen a "dramatic" rise in people seeking help - from 1,800 in 2021 to nearly 3,000 last year.

Tracy Haycox, manager of the group's centre on Queens Road, said: "The work we do here is changing lives."

The furniture project is part of the national St Vincent de Paul Society, with household donations being sent across the city.

Ms Haycox said families were being given "basic furniture that should make every house a home".

"Not only do we serve people in need, but we're saving many household items from going to landfill and recycling what we can to give as many items as possible a second home."

People were having to choose between heating and eating, with the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis "causing even more marginal divides in society", she added."We're just giving them something which they should be able to afford but simply can't."

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