The Highways Tools and Craft Centre on Church Street Conisbrough will come to the end of the road unless an appeal can raise an income of £10,000 per year.

Marisa Graziano, secretary of the centre, is calling on the organisations which have used it to donate just £50 per year to keep it running.

Marisa told the Times: "Highways was set up by Jane Thompson, a former teacher in the 1980s to help unem-loyd people and all these years we have survived on grants and donations. We are very grateful for this help but it is drying up and soon we will no longer be able to carry on our work. People with the greatest need will suffer and some families may even be forced apart if Highways fails."

The charity was called Highway Tools and Crafts as initially it lent out tools for people to do DIY at their own homes, but later it was realised that people on the poverty line needed basic items like furniture, prams and pushchairs even more.

The organisation grew collecting unwanted furniture and other items for redistribution. This year alone they have made 270 deliveries.
Marisa explains: "Highways is for people who often have absolutely nothing often through no fault of their own. It could be someone just released from prison or someone who has been in hospital or people who have been flooded or had fires at their houses."

Shop manager Gill Brammer added: "At least one a week we are asked if we have anything for a family so they can get their children back. It could be a women whose children have been put into care and all she needed was a bed for them to sleep in."

David Streeter of Conisbrough, knows personally the lifeline offered by Highway. David told the Times: "My stepson died just before Christmas in Cyprus. His family decided to come back home and they had nowhere to live and no money for furniture. They got all the basic things - a bed, three piece suite and bedding. Without this I don't know what they would have done."

Paul Walsh 22, of Mexborough, is an unemployed father of two. He now helps deliver furniture for Highways as a volunteer, after the charity helped him and his partner. He said: "We were rehoused but we just couldn't afford a wardrobe and stuff with two young children. We got a settee, a bed, wardrobes table and chairs. If it wasn't for Highways we wouldn't have been able to set up for ourselves or we would have got into debt."

Highways are looking for individuals, voluntary groups or companies who would like to become a patron, with an annual donation of £50.