Grace Cares expands reach into Burton thanks to partnership with Star Foundation

Grace Cares, the circular economy social enterprise that rescues, refurbishes and redistributes unwanted care equipment, has announced a new partnership with Burton-based recycling charity the Star Foundation.

From August, the Star Foundation will stock Grace Cares care equipment at its Burton store, giving people across East Staffordshire and South Derbyshire local access to mobility aids, daily living equipment and other essential items at half the original RRP or less.

The partnership marks a significant step in Grace Cares' growth plan. Having already helped more than 5,000 people since it was founded in February 2023, the social enterprise is targeting 10,000 people by the end of 2028, with a long term ambition of reaching one million people through social franchising.

Care equipment that would otherwise sit unused, or go to landfill, becomes affordable and available on the high street, without a wait, a referral, or a full price tag.

Every sale funds free community programmes, including Care Club, tea parties, the Caring for Tomorrow webinar series and hardship grants for older people and unpaid care givers.

The two organisations share a model built on the same principle: that what one person no longer needs can fund what another person urgently does.

The Star Foundation's Rags2Riches campaign works with schools, clubs and community groups nationwide to collect unwanted clothes, shoes, CDs, DVDs and books, turning them into funds for the groups that collected them.

Those funds open up sport, music, arts and media opportunities for young people, and the charity involves young people directly in the campaigns that generate income for their own clubs and schools, building community spirit, pride and personal discipline in the process.

Pete Tryner, founder of the Star Foundation, said: "Everything we do at Star starts with the same belief, that something unwanted in one household can change things completely for someone else.

“We have spent years proving that with clothes, shoes and books for young people. Bringing Grace Cares equipment into our Burton store extends that thinking across the generations.

“Now a family in Burton can walk in and find the wheelchair, walking frame or bath aid they need at a price they can actually manage, and know that what they have spent goes straight back into community programmes.

“It is the right partnership at the right time and we are proud to be part of it."

Emma Smith, co-founder of Grace Cares, said: "We set out to reach one million people, and partnerships like this one are exactly how we get there.

“We cannot open a unit in every town, but we can work with brilliant organisations who are already trusted in their own communities.

“Star Foundation has that trust in Burton, and they understand the circular economy because they have been living it for years.

“Reaching 10,000 people by 2028 is not an abstract number to us. It is 10,000 individual moments where someone got the equipment they needed instead of going without, and Burton is now part of that."