Work Aid

About WORKAID

WORKAID are committed to tackling poverty in a practical way by helping disadvantaged people, overseas and in the UK, to help themselves through practical skills training.

Unwanted tools and equipment are collected from all over the UK and refurbished by a team of dedicated volunteers at the WORKAID workshop.  The refurbished tools are then sent to vocational training projects where they help vulnerable and disadvantaged people to learn trade skills and start their own businesses.

Each year, WORKAID helps over 9,000 people to rebuild their lives by focusing on projects working with orphans, street children, unemployed teenagers, disabled people, people living with HIV/AIDS, widows and refugees. In this way WORKAID makes a difference to individuals and families and helps communities to build a brighter future together.

A brief history of how WORKAID got started

1984 saw one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the 20th century when, because of famine in Ethiopia, over one million people died and a further eight million were at risk of starvation.

As governments and individuals concentrated their efforts on emergency relief following the LiveAid appeal, a group of friends from Buckinghamshire began a ground-breaking project to help the people of East Africa escape the cycle of poverty and rebuild their lives.

In response to the vivid reports of the famine, Ken Nunn - a local solicitor, called a meeting which was attended by 30 people from churches and the local community. That evening a committee was formed, with Ken Nunn as Chairman and local businessman John Boughton offered space in his premises in Little Chalfont, which became the first WORKAID workshop.

WORKAID officially opened for business in April 1986 and formally registered as a charity soon after.  As more volunteers joined the team and the supply of tools and equipment increased, WORKAID had to move several times to ever-larger premises.

Today it operates from the Old Boot Factory in Chesham with a dedicated team of nearly 200 workshop volunteers and Local Collectors around the country. Each year the team receives hundreds of applications for tools and equipment from groups. They seek to fulfil as many as possible but are constantly in need of more volunteers, donations of tools and equipment and funding to enable them to continue helping thousands of people to escape the cycle of poverty.

To find out more, click HERE to access the WORKAID website.