Why a Furniture Ministry?
As people transition out of homelessness to having their own space, they have the need for basic necessities like a bed to sleep on, a chair/couch to sit on, and a table to eat at. Most people coming out of homeless or near homeless situations (living in shelters, the YMCA, or similar) do not have the resources to buy furniture on top of paying for rent and food.
Who We Serve
We try to limit our scope to people in the Des Moines, IA metro area who are working through established organizations that help homeless people and are working with case managers such as Central Iowa Shelter and Services, Primary Health Care, and Broadlawns Behavioral Health.
How it Works
(Recipients): Either case managers or people who have been referred to us describe the situation and what needs exist. We do some basic screening and then provide what we can when we can. It’s a very small number of volunteers and we store donations in donated space. We usually show up to deliver with a couple of pick-up trucks.
(Donors): Donations come mainly from individuals. They send us a message and let us know what they have and we pick it up (or optionally donors can drop it off at our storage unit) and provide a letter of donation to the church for tax purposes. We also have an Amazon wishlist that has options for purchasing our most needed items.
