Mansfield aid charity desperately seeks new warehouse as it celebrates 30 years in town

The National Police Aid Charity has been based in the Mansfield area since it began 30 years ago.

The unique charity was set up in the hope of helping people in the war-torn Balkans during the conflict, which ravaged the region during the 1990s.

Three decades later, it has given aid to thousands of refugees, poverty-stricken families and orphans in many countries around the world and continues to give humanitarian aid where needed.

In recent years, the charity has been providing educational and medical donations to countries in Africa, including Zambia, The Gambia, Malawi and Zanzibar.

Marion Tasker, charity chairman, said: “We have been based at the Old Pit Head Baths on Crown Farm Industrial Park for nearly nine years and the building has served the charity extremely well during this time.

“However, sadly we have been asked to vacate the premises by the end of June, so the charity is now desperately looking for new storage facilities.

“We need a building to store donations of development aid such as school tables, chairs, cupboards, hospital beds, wheelchairs and walking aids.”

The charity also takes donations of books, medical items, stationery and school and sports clothing. Items are collected using door to door collection systems, clothing banks and through school and hospital links.

All the donations are then loaded into a 40-feet shipping container by the volunteers about once a month.

Marion said: “The big issue is we don’t have an income as such, so we need a place where the landlord would let us have it free with no rent. But we will take on board the business rates.

“It needs to be somewhere where we can house a portable container and it really needs to be around the Mansfield area as a lot of our volunteers live here.”

The charity also collects and sells domestic furniture at a very low cost to those in need in the local area, which helps recycle items that would otherwise go to landfill.

If you can help this long-running charity secure a warehouse or offer help in another way, contact [email protected] or call 0844 870 1999.