Twenty years and many more!

Posted on March 1, 2018

The Furniture Bank of Central Ohio turns 20 on March 18th! That’s right….Twenty years of helping turn empty houses into homes by providing furniture and household essentials to central Ohio individuals and families impacted by poverty and struggling with severe life challenges such as homelessness, domestic violence, and other life crises. We celebrate and are thankful for twenty years of wonderful partnerships with other community providers, nonprofits and faith-based organizations and the thousands of furniture and financial donors and volunteers who support us.

In our earliest days in 1998, 400 families were served from the basement of a church by one man and a pick-up truck. Today, a fleet of 10 trucks collects close to 60,000 furniture items from 7,000 donors per year then delivers the items to an annual average of 3,900 families. More than 2,800 volunteers contributing over 25,000 hours of volunteer service help us serve families in need.

Over the years we’ve added and diversified services such as inside deliveries and flexible point system so that we can meet the identified needs of the families we help. In total, we have served over 60,000 families and provided about 900,000 furniture items since 1998. We have also diversified our funding base with the addition of our thrift store and downsizing and moving service social enterprises. The surplus from these social enterprises is applied toward our core business of providing furniture for families in need. We expect further growth in this area so stay tuned!

Looking ahead, we are filled with optimism and hope for the continued generosity of our friends and donors who help to furnish with purpose through their donations of unwanted, gently-used furniture. The items get a new #FurnishedPurpose in new homes with families in need. So, our mantra for the next twenty years is to continue to furnish with purpose to give hope to those that need help turning their empty houses into sustainable homes throughout central Ohio and beyond. You have made this possible during our first two decades because of your faith and belief in our mission. Here’s to helping more families and celebrating more birthdays with you in the years to come.