This Volunteer group meets in the basement of the Methodist Church on a fortnightly basis to refurbish tools donated by the public, for assembly into trade kits. Tool kits are prepared for a variety of trades including Carpentry, Building, Auto-mechanics, Plumbing , Dressmaking etc.
The group prepares kits required for specific projects run by charities in Africa. Once refurbished the group packs the tools into boxes which are then transported to our partner charities who send them out in large containers. The tools are checked for quality and completeness before being shipped to Africa. No recipient receives a tool kit until they have completed a training course. A recipient usually pays the cost of transporting the kits from their local docks and making a contribution to the cost of the training to enhance a sense of ownership. To help with shipping costs the group undertakes fund raising. Every penny raised is allocated directly to a project with no deductions for running costs and payment of staff salaries etc.
To date the group has completed 220 kits containing 8500 tools, plus numerous sewing machines and quantities of dress making materials.
Some donated items are unsuitable for inclusion in kits. In such cases they are either sold to help raise funds for shipping costs and training of the recipients, or in the case of items beyond refurbishment, their scrap value is also used to fund the projects. However with lack of funding restricting the number of projects undertaken each year any money raised by the disposal of these items indirectly contributes to the number of artisans that can be given an opportunity to improve their lives.
If anyone would like to consider volunteering there are many tasks to be undertaken besides the refurbishing of tools. There are opportunities to help as tool collectors, fund raising, publicity etc. We would particularly welcome anyone who could help the group with online activities as this is an area we feel we could develop further and our current group of volunteers do not feel it is within their skillset.
Meetings at the Methodist Church are usually from 6.30pm to 9.00pm on the first and third Mondays of the month (exceptions are when bank holiday intervene).
If you are interested in any form of volunteering, donating tools or making a financial donation please contact David Falkner on 07860 502479 or email: johngreenengineer@btinternet.com.
Southwell Methodist Church