Maidstone United players open charity shop to help homeless

The Make a Difference trust has extended their building so more items can be stored and sold.  Henry Luck reports.

Transcript

00:00Making a difference to Maidstone is welcoming customers to explore its brand new extension.

00:14The Christian charity saves and sells unwanted goods like furniture, school supplies and

00:21even wedding wear with the goal of supporting Maidstone's people who are in crisis.

00:26The charity shop has been here for about two and a half years but we just wanted more space

00:31so we've expanded it today, we've taken space into the warehouse, we've come into the warehouse

00:36so we can increase the sales opportunities rather than having items just stored.

00:40We thought we'd want to get them back on the shop floor so we can make some more money.

00:45Players from Maidstone Football Club gave the grand opening some star power.

00:50They made it all the way to the fifth round of the FA Cup earlier this year.

00:55Obviously we've been invited down just for this little community event, helping out.

01:01Obviously what the guys do down here is for a great cause and it's absolutely brilliant,

01:06all the people working behind the scenes so just to support it a little bit, it's really nice.

01:11What the guys do down here is such an incredible thing, so much selfless work goes into it

01:16so just to help out a tiny bit we're more than glad to do so.

01:20In the nine years it's been running, the charity has been helping people facing issues like hunger.

01:26Amanda started off about nine years ago and this came along a couple of years ago as a great big storage

01:33and what she's done today is incorporated more of this warehouse.

01:37It used to be Argos in Maidstone and they've incorporated more showroom into it

01:42so this is a bit of a major achievement for her and she does so much in Maidstone for homeless people,

01:48food banks, she's just, if she wasn't doing what she was doing, a lot of people would be suffering.

01:56With the return of school coming up fast, there's never been a better time for the public to come and find a bargain

02:02whilst giving back to those in need.

02:05But what plans does the Nine Year Old Trust have for its 10th anniversary next year?

02:11We have a vision to get our own accommodation and there's quite a lot of homeless people out there at the moment

02:16and different people in crisis so that's one of our next, a big vision that will be for us to get our own accommodation.

02:22Henry Luck for KMTV in Maidstone.