A north-east charity has launched a new service in order to reduce its reliance on external funding and donations.
Volunteers from Moray Handyperson Services have supported vulnerable and older people across the region for more than 20 years by doing small DIY jobs at their home.
However, as costs have increased, the Elgin-based group has found it harder to run its core offering on grants and fundraising alone.
Now the charity has launched a new mobility hire service, including electric scooters, wheelchairs and walking frames, to help sustain its main objective.
Yesterday Malcolm Aldridge, the manager of the charity, said the group is certain there is a demand after having people inquire about renting equipment for years.
He said: “The Red Cross hired out wheelchairs when they were in the same building as us. They left about four years ago and through that whole time we’ve had people coming in still asking about it.
“We run a few services on a social enterprise basis in order to fund that core service because prices keep going up and we want to keep doing a professional job.
“The DIY jobs were the reason we were founded so it’s important that we keep funding that.”
Every year the charity supports about 700 people by performing jobs around their home as well as helping them with shopping and getting to events.
The group received a £2,500 grant from the Money for Moray scheme to fund about half of the total needed for the wheelchairs with the rest paid for by their own fundraising efforts – with some equipment also donated by supporters.
The charity now has two electric scooters available from £10 per day, seven wheelchairs available from £15 per week and several walking frames and crutches available to borrow for a donation.
Mr Aldridge added: “We got one of the wheelchairs a few months ago and it has been hired out three or four times since then.
“These things are quite big so they’re usually too big to transport if you’re visiting someone, or going somewhere for the weekend, so there is a demand to use them for short periods.”
