Jacob's Well Care Centre was founded in 1992 by Stuart & Angela Pottinger, the Charity was originally set up to provide free furniture to those in need in Gosport, also to provide aid for the people in the Salaj district of Romania. In the beginning members of Jacob's Well church and local volunteers helped to collect clothing, bedding and furniture surplus to requirements and then distributed them to those in need. During this time lorry loads of aid were sent out to Romania on a regular basis.

Up until 1999 the organization was run from a warehouse which was donated free of charge in the middle of Rowner Gosport, After a major looting incident where all the toys and clothes were stolen by local people the care centre moved its premises to Gordon Road in Gosport, this is now where our charity shop is situated. When the care centre moved, the premises were no longer donated so we had to make a small charge for the furniture so we could cover costs. 

As the community demand for our project was expanding very quickly, the furniture project side of the care centre out grew the premises at Gordon RD, so we then found a larger more suiteable premises to house the furniture and all other projects associated with the furniture project. The Gordon Rd premises then became our Charity Shop.

CURRENT PROFILE (ENGLAND)

Jacob's Well Care Centre occupies a unique position in the community, there is at present no other project that concentrates its efforts in Gosport, Fareham, Portsmouth, West Sussex and surrounding areas and offers a service specifically designed and focused on providing for low income households.

The Homeless act. This has required local authorities to produce homelessness strategies that consider a home to be more than just a roof and to consider issues such as social exclusion and support needs, Our project helps them by offering a to those who are being re-housed after homelessness, enabling them to create a home that is furnished and comfortable.

At present the charity receives referrals from 22 local agencies, especially from the local authority, housing and community services departments, the remainder come from a wide range of voluntary and statutory bodies.

Community Care Plan. The objective of this is to help people remain in their homes by providing them with decent furniture at low cost, also to help soon to be families with baby equipment totally free of charge. The national service frameworks have mental health promotion as a priority area, the recommendations includestrengthening individuals through interventions designed to promote self-esteem, life and coping skills, which is very much part of our project with our supported staff and volunteers. Also recommends increasing social support, social inclusion and participation as well as developing initiatives to reduce inequalities and promote access to education, employment and support for those who are vulnerable. This scheme encourages participation in volunteering, thus leading to greater employability with new skills, confidence and support.

We currently collect donated items of furniture, carpet, paint, household items, toys, baby equipment, clothes, bedding, these items then come back to our main warehouse at which the furniture is then sold via referrals or the general public in need of low cost furniture. the carpet is also sold in a similar way, the paint is collected and sorted at several re-cycling plants and then delivered to us via a project called the re-paint project in conjunction with Hampshire County Council details of this project are on the products page, we also collect paint from B&Q and HOMEBASE. The baby equipment is sorted & cleaned some of which will go to our charity shop to be sold, some will be kept for our baby care project which we give baby equipment via referrals free of charge more details on the baby care project can be found on the products page, the rest of the baby equipment is then packed for aid to romania.  The household items, clothes, toys and bedding are sorted into things that are suitable to be sold at our charity shop the rest is then packed for aid to go to our distribution centre in Romania.  

We also give emergency bedding packs & cutlery packs totally free of charge to those in desperate need via referrals.

Our local strategy aims to encourage more energy efficient lifestyles, by providing facilities for people to both donate and receive furniture, we close the loop hole on a refuse re-use service, offering the facility to re-use and a ''market'' for the goods.

CURRENT PROFILE (ROMANIA)

The work in Romania now includes the running of a distribution centre which distributes the aid we send to families referred by local majors.

We also support a pyhsciatric hospital which is near Jibou, we have been supporting the hospital since 1994.We take aid to the hospital on a regular basis as they are always in need of bedding and clothes.

We have 5 kindergarten which are run by Jacob's Well, all of which have achieved accreditation from the Romanian Government. Each child's place is free and is fully funded by Jacob's Well.

We regulary take aid to the senior citizens who are always in need of bedding and clothes.