Finding new homes for used beds and bedroom furniture has helped to save lives by raising more than £7.1m for the British Heart Foundation (BHF), thanks to Bensons for Beds' customer.
Bensons customers can donate unwanted bed frames, bases, mattresses and bedroom furniture to the BHF, which sells them through its network of 190 home stores. Proceeds go to helping life-saving research into heart and circulatory diseases.
In the past year the Bensons-BHF partnership has raised almost £90,000, despite both having to close stores for several months to comply with lockdown rules. That took the total raised since it was launched in October 2013 to £7,181,092.
There is an environmental benefit too. During the 12-month period, the scheme helped to find new homes for 3788 tonnes of furniture that might otherwise have been sent to landfill.
As Bensons and the BHF reopen their stores following the easing of lockdown restrictions, the BHF has restarted its free, Covid-secure collection service, and expects interest in the scheme to be significant as households up and down the country update their bedrooms.
Items will be sold through the BHF’s home stores and its eBay store. BHF shops reopened on 12th April in England and Wales, with home stores now open in Scotland, and fashion shops in Scotland to follow later in April.
Bensons has remained open for business online, and reopened its 16 stores in Scotland on Easter Monday (5th April), and its 160-plus stores in England and Wales on 12th April.
Allison Swaine-Hughes, retail director at the BHF, says: “We want to say a huge thank you to Bensons for Beds – this is our eighth year of partnership and to date they and their customers have raised an incredible £7.1m for the BHF, every penny of which has gone towards our vital work to fund heart research.
“Despite what has undoubtedly been a challenging year for retail, Bensons and their customers have also continued to donate much-needed bedroom furniture to the BHF’s 190 nationwide home stores, which has also helped prevent 3788 tonnes of furniture from going to waste. Thank you for the continued support.”
Bensons' marketing director Helen Nunn adds: “Everyone at Bensons and all our customers are delighted that we’ve teamed up with the BHF to support the amazing work they do. It’s fantastic to think a preloved bed or furniture can be reused and help save a life."
