Our mission is to provide beds and essential home furnishings to children and families in need.  This has an immediate, positive impact and provides part of the basic foundation on which a successful life can be built.

We encourage your thoughts, feedback and story ideas.  Please let us know what you think at friends@furniture-bank.org.

This is why our mission – to provide beds and essential home furnishings to children and families in need – is so important…. and why we truly appreciate your support!

Last year was a difficult one for the Furniture Bank, as it was for many local businesses, nonprofit and for-profit alike.  We laid off staff, we closed a facility, we sold a truck and reduced our hours of operation.  At the same time, we still helped 2,700 families, including those whose stories are highlighted above.

We reached out to new funding sources and launched two successful new fundraisers.  We instituted a new service fee structure – in keeping with the best practices of furniture banks across the country – that not only provides us with a more sustainable base of support, but also gives our clients a sense of ownership in the items they receive.  For only $40, paid by the client or their referral agency, a family can receive three beds, a dining room table with four chairs, a sofa and two living room chairs.

There’s now a greater focus on the most compelling needs… those of children.  We’ve expanded our Cribs for Kids program to include Pack’n’Plays, a safe yet portable solution for a population that must frequently live transiently.  We now also have a twin bed program, so children between the ages of three and 12 can get a good night’s sleep, reducing the risk of childhood obesity, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and impeded brain development.

Despite a difficult economic climate in 2010, the Furniture Bank of Southeastern Michigan still was able to furnish hope to thousands.

 

As more people find themselves in need of support, and as more struggle to get ahead, the Furniture Bank continues to provide beds and essential home furnishings to local children and families who hope to live with the safety and dignity that many of us take for granted. 

Join us on Facebook!  The Furniture Bank maintains a Facebook page where information about our upcoming events, available pickups, and news regardung the organization is available!

More than 90 women executives, business owners and devotees of fine fashion were on hand for our first annual Women’s Accessory Exchange fundraiser.  This fabulous event, which was held on January 20th at Amore Fashion in Ferndale, raised more than $7,000 in support of our mission to provide beds and essential home furnishings to children and families in need.

With the purchase of a ticket, women turned in their gently-used purses, shoes and jewelry, for which they received vouchers that allowed them to obtain “new” items that others had turned in.

Great thanks go out to our generous sponsors, Opinion Search and Statewide Disaster Restoration, as well as our raffle and food donors.  Special thanks go out to our outstanding event committee, Susan Armstrong, Lynnette Boyle, Kara Laramie, Attarah Paglia, Roselyn Perri, Peg Reihmer, Rosemary Ricelli-Scheidt and Lori Zieman.  These ladies did a fantasic job!

None of this would have been possible without your help, which is why we can’t thank you enough.  We hope you’ll continue to support us... so more children can have beds and cribs to sleep in, more families  can have tables to gather around  for a meal, and more southeast Michigan residents can live with the basic  dignities that many of us take for granted.

Thanks again,

Below, you’ll learn more about what we’ve done over the past year, and more about the people we’ve helped. So on behalf of our clients, staff and board, thank you for supporting our mission with your monetary and furniture contributions.  We can't do it without you!

In these pages, you’ll see numbers… lots of them.  Items distributed, number of referrals, referral sources, demographic breakdowns, volunteer hours.  But if you just look at the numbers, you don’t get a full picture.

Behind these numbers, there are stories – nearly 2,700 of them.  The story of a young girl sleeping on an old mattress picked out of the trash with cardboard underneath as her “box spring,” the story of a family who lost everything in a Christmas Day fire, the story of a mother who wanted a crib for her second child after her first died from SIDS, the story of a home healthcare worker who saw her hours reduced and lost her home to foreclosure.

Robert Boyle

Executive Director

Under 5 Years

5 to 14 Years

15 to 19 Years

20 to 39 Years

40 to 59 Years

60 to 79 Years

80 and older

Unknown

Total family

members served

1151

2139

883

2289

1348

205

21

3

We hope you’ll join us for another evening of good, clean fun with a reception, hors d'oeuvres, cash bar and silent auction… followed by comedy performances from some truly hilarious folks!

 

So have a good laugh for a great cause!  Call 248-332-1300 x200 for more information about this year’s event, including volunteer opportunities and our great sponsorship packages.