A charity is asking for financial donations as it supports those affected by the coronavirus lockdown by delivering furniture.

Emmaus Hertfordshire, which supports people who were previously homeless, says it lost nearly 70 per cent of its income overnight after most of its shops closed when the lockdown measures were announced in March.

But in the last few weeks, the St Albans based charity launched a Coronavirus Community Support Scheme in response to local need and started to deliver furniture to people distancing themselves across the county.

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It is delivering beds, chairs, and sofas to people in need of them during the isolation period, along with full furniture packages for the homeless being housed at short notice.

The charity has also recently provided hundreds of toothbrushes to NHS staff and patients at Watford General Hospital.

Now, the charity says it is receiving a "huge increase" in calls for emergency furniture.

Karina Griffiths, retail manager for Emmaus, said: “The past few weeks have been quite challenging. The amount of people across our county that needed access to furniture, and literally overnight, was astounding, and just at the time our shops had to shut to adhere to government guidelines.

"So, we set up our community support scheme and the requests are still coming thick and fast.”

The charity is now asking for financial support to help with the furniture support scheme and to help care for their formerly homeless residents based in St Albans.

Anyone who would like to donate can visit www.emmaus.org.uk/hertfordshire