Welcome to Gordon Rural Action
Gordon Rural Action (GRA) is a registered charity (SC004883) and was founded in June 1978 to provide advice and information to the people of Huntly in Aberdeenshire. With the growth of the organisation, we became a company limited by guarantee (Company No. SC154075) on 3 November 1994. Our advice services and projects cover Ellon, Huntly and Inverurie and their substantial rural heartlands, an area that is bordered to the east by the North Sea and to the west, the Cairngorms National Park.
In 2010/11, we dealt with 13,854 issues, resulting in a client financial gain of in excess of £3.1M. We are currently handling over £12M of debt on behalf of our money advice clients.
We also have an expanding social enterprise business comprising two charity shops which recycled/re-used over 10 tonnes of textiles and 70 tonnes of furniture, bric-a-brac and books during the last financial year.
We provide the following services:
- General Advice and Information– provides advice on benefits, housing, employment problems and a wide range of issues.
- Money Advice Service– offers advice and assistance when dealing with debt.
- Welfare Rights Service - which offers representation at benefit tribunals.
- Review and Bargain Box – our charity shops in Inverurie and Huntly provide vital funds for GRA's Advice projects and provide low cost starter packs/furniture to homeless people who have recently been re-housed.
- Payroll services for community groups and small businesses.
Our aims are:
- to improve the quality of life for individuals within our local communities through the provision of a high quality, professional and focused advice and information service which will be provided through our three advice centres in Ellon, Huntly and Inverurie, outreach offices across central and south Aberdeenshire and home visits where required.
- to provide free, independent, confidential and impartial advice on a range of issues including benefits, debt, housing, employment and consumer problems.
- to promote and support a successful, environmentally friendly and sustainable social enterprise business which provides good quality and affordable products and services to our customers.
Our aspirations are:
- to expand our advice services within our communities.
- to grow our successful payroll and charity shop/recycling/re-use business.
- to increase the number of volunteering opportunities within our organisation.
Click here to see a list of our Supporters.
