VOLUNTEERS need your votes to help a Worcester-based social enterprise for homeless people secure extra funding.

Second Chance Furnishings (SCF) is a not-for-profit social enterprise set up and owned by St Paul’s Hostel in Worcester with all its profits going towards the homeless charity.

It costs about £500 per volunteer and to date SCF have had over 100 which means they need more cash to keep their volunteering opportunities going.

Philip Fowler, chairman of the board of Second Chance Furnishings, said: “The resilience and passion of the team delivering the project and the volunteers who work to improve their life chances is humbling.

"Their focus is on the needs of the vulnerable people they are working to help and on delivering positive outcomes for them.

"Voting for Second Chance will help us make sure we can continue to offer a safe and secure environment for these vulnerable volunteers to build skills and help improve their chances for the future.”

SCF has applied to the Aviva Community Fund for some help but they are up against a host of nationwide projects for the cash and they are asking the people of Worcester to get behind them and vote for them.

They are up against 3861 other projects nationwide (about 30 of which are in Worcestershire).

Launched in 2012, SCF is a life skills project for vulnerable people collecting and selling low cost good quality furniture and white goods.

SCF also delivers furniture and white goods to help families or individuals across South Worcestershire facing exceptionally difficult circumstances or an emergency as part of the Discretionary Welfare Assistance Scheme (DWAS).

They also work to reduce the amount of furniture that goes to landfill.

Their aim is to provide every person or family in Worcestershire access to good quality second hand furniture and white goods for their home, regardless of their financial situation.

The volunteers in the main are residents at St Paul's Hostel and they learn life skills, build confidence and go onto employment.

The project is run by a team of three full time staff plus a group of volunteers who work to keep the warehouse and project open from 9.30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday and from 10am till 4pm on Saturdays.

The deadline for voting is November 18 with finalists announced on November 22.

Winners will be announced on January 10.

To vote for SCF visit aviva.co.uk/community-fund