Dunedin Curtain Bank - Urgent need for winter funding

The Dunedin Curtain Bank is a charity established to help relieve poverty by providing free thermal curtains to those in need. We do this by re-purposing curtains that are donated to us, thermally lining them where needed, and giving them to those in need.

With winter well on its way, we are experiencing unprecedented demand for our service, while at the same time we are dangerously low on funds to keep us operating through winter.

Thermally lined curtains are the cheapest and easiest way to keep a house warm. They stop heat loss therefore assisting with fuel poverty and allowing families to have money to spend on other essential items like food and clothing. They assist with health and well-being in a home as well as providing privacy.

We are lucky enough to have generous people who donate curtains and volunteer their time, but we still have overheads to cover every month, including rent, utilities, insurance, part time staff, fabric costs, etc. At present, we have enough funds to see us through to the end of June 2017 (at a stretch). We are awaiting the outcome of some funding applications, however even if successful, this funding will not come in time to keep us running after the end of June. Our volunteers have also been working hard at fundraising initiatives such as making craft items, running a sausage sizzle and a rummage sale in the past month, however as they are also working extremely hard to keep up with the demand for curtains, we need some extra help at this time.