David Wright MP is helping launch a unique store in Telford this Saturday at 10am.

Telford Community Store is a collaboration between six local charities and a social enterprise, working together to deliver rapid cohesive services to people in crisis and using the store to raise much needed funds to support their co-operative projects.

Heather Osborne, Chief Executive of Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin said “we are very excited to be taking part in this new venture in Telford, and hope that lots of people will come along and find out about how they can get involved. It is a wonderful opportunity for Age UK to raise money to support older people in Telford & Wrekin.”

In Store on Saturday, visitors can meet each of the charities and find out a little more about the work that they do and discover a broad range of volunteering opportunities that enable them to get involved.

There’ll be facepainting, henna painting, crafting, upcycling and examples of some of the community activities that take place every week, like christmas decoration swaps, clothes swaps, and toy swaps.

Maninplace will be highlighting their #bleakmidwinter project that works in partnership with others to try and ensure that no-one need sleep rough on our streets this winter. Stay will be raising awareness of their forthcoming #StayOut2014 event later this month and Telford Crisis Support will give a unique insight into how the Borough’s food bank work at the back of Store.

Christmas Smile will be there inviting folks to join their gift giving project to help raise smiles for children and older people who might otherwise go without on Christmas Day.

There’s plenty going on. Much of the work undertaken by the in store charities overlaps and by joining up in partnership, some of the themes that they tackle, like Winter Warmth for example, can be shown in a cohesive way.