In this second installment of #VOLUNTEER WEEK celebrations we’re highlighting some of the outstanding work that our volunteers have carried out since #VOLUNTEER WEEK 2019.

2019 was a good year for FRADE we started off the year by opening a new store in Northallerton following on from our takeover of what was the “Richmond and Hambleton Furniture Store”.

Once we found a location it was all hands on deck to get this store furnished and opened in such a short space of time, we’re talking two weeks from singing the lease, filling the property with good quality household items to sell and then opening to the public.

This took a monumental effort and would not have been possible without our volunteers!

Our store in Northallerton is thriving and has been welcomed with open arms by the local community.

Moving on to the next big task came the decision to relocate one of your existing stores!

The Darlington store has served it’s community well but it was time to upgrade their premises so we took the decision to move to a new premises.

Don’t worry! We haven’t moved far, we’re only a couple of streets away from our old premises now based on the corner of John Dobbin Road and Chestnut Street.

So with this in mind a huge task was undertaken to completely empty the old premises and fill the new premises on John Dobbin Road with good quality household items and furniture.

Once again the compassion, determination and dedication from our volunteers shone through!

Clearing a 5000 square foot space is no easy task but in true FRADE volunteer style they knocked it out the park!

Your Darlington store has a fresh new layout with new projects planned for the future, watch this space!

The first new project you will notice is that we’re now selling recycled Paint, the Darlington store will be the first store to trial this and then eventually move to all our stores.

We’re now a member of “Community RePaint” who take donations of old Paint and recycle it to pass on to projects like ourselves.

Learn more about “Community RePaint” here > https://communityrepaint.org.uk/

Two of the biggest operations FRADE had undertaken over the last year and our normal day to day activities were not affected by this, once again this is down to our amazing volunteers that we were able to carry out these tasks whilst maintaining our high standard speedy free collection service!

We’ve put the spotlight on our volunteer van assistants but we also want to acknowledge the volunteers who are based within our stores.

These volunteers may serve you when you buy something from us or you may speak to them when you call to make a donation or you may even see them moving or building items within the store.

Our army of volunteers go above and beyond every single day and we really could not do what we do without them, they are the driving force behind all of FRADE’s operations, they’re the reason we’ve been operating for 30 years and they’ll be the reason we operate for another 30 years.

From all the FRADE employees and Board of Directors we THANK YOU!

We couldn’t do this without you.