Child Protection United States Project #6365

Provide beds for 300 kids sleeping on the floor

by Community Warehouse

Provide beds for 300 kids sleeping on the floor

Project Report | May 20, 2013
Mattress Magic

By Kristy Wood | Executive Director

Mom with Kid & Mattresses (Eastside Spring 2013)

Dear Beds for Kids Supporters,

Thank you all for your generous support of the Community Warehouse Beds for Kids project. This project continues to meet a pressing need in our community as families work to regain some stability in their lives. The past few months have been an exciting time at Community Warehouse. As we roll past the one year anniversary of opening our second warehouse facility, we see the impact of our programs growing with each passing month. One noticeable area of growth is in service to families with young children that live in Washington and Clackamas counties.

Prior to opening a facility in Tualatin, Oregon, we saw families from Washington or Clackamas county a few times a month. Now we are filling an average of 20 furniture requests each week from those two counties, with a majority going to families with children. With this new service area, Community Warehouse is filling an average total of 60 requests each week between the two Warehouse locations. This increase makes efforts like the Beds for Kids project even more critical to meeting the demand for beds for low-income families with young children.

Recently, staff and leadership sat down to discuss how to ensure every family leaves with the beds they need for themselves and their children. Amidst brainstorming around a long-term, sustainable solution, a wonderful thing happened. Sealy Mattress Manufacturing generously offered to donate 360+ beds to the Warehouse and several local partner agencies! In the words of Program Manager Tom, "One of the hardest things is looking at our empty mattress section in the morning, knowing ten families will be visiting that day in need of beds. This will help tremendously." One case manager reports, “Just delivered two of these to a very happy family today! Thank you Community Warehouse!!! It's amazing how empowering new furniture is for someone moving off the streets and into their own place.”

To try to keep up with ongoing demand we have expanded our donation pick up truck service, adding two more days of service each week. We now have a total of seven full days of truck pick up service across the metro area. This is a great way for donors to ensure that their gently used furniture and household items go directly to their neighbors in need.

In other Community Warehouse news, we have recently kicked off a new project called Health at Home. This project collects and distributes donated medical furniture and assistance equipment, such as wheelchairs, walkers, canes, scooters, crutches, hospital beds, and lift recliners. The community response to this program, both from the donation and recipient side, has been amazing. We expect to collect and distribute at least 400 medical assistance items by the end of 2013.

Finally, as the summer rolls around, Community Warehouse is busier than ever out in the community, with tabling at events, neighborhood cleanups, and many other venues. This is a great way for Community Warehouse to spread the word about what we do and get information out around the need for donated beds for kids and other support. We can always use more outreach volunteers and ideas – get in touch if you can help! To keep track of our busy schedule or simply to follow the latest Community Warehouse news please check out our website or stop by one of our locations to say hello. Also, check out our latest video to hear stories about the work you've supported directly from case managers, families, staff, and volunteers.

Sealy Mattress Donation Before & After

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Feb 19, 2013
Westside Wheels Toward Self-Sufficiency

By Kristy Wood | Executive Director

Beds for Kids Recipient at the Tualatin Warehouse

Thank you for all you do! You all help so much and we really appreciate your service. We all wish you the best of everything in the coming year! – Clackamas Women’s Services

These words came to us from one of our partner agencies, and we’d like to pass them right on to you. We truly couldn’t do what we do without you. On behalf of Clackamas Women’s Services and the 147 other agencies we partnered with in 2012 to serve 6,362 people (a record!), THANK YOU!

Westside Wheels Toward Self-Sufficiency

Clackamas Women’s Services is one of the agencies that has benefited greatly from our new Westside Warehouse location in Tualatin. One of the best parts of finding this location is that it’s easily accessible to residents of Clackamas County in addition to our original goal of expanding our service to Washington County. However, it’s still difficult for many families to arrange transportation to collect the donated items available to them through Community Warehouse . The delivery service we offer ensures that our clients do not have to coordinate their own transportation, a task that sometimes takes weeks or never happens, preventing these families and individuals from creating stable homes.

Our greatest need this year is for a second large truck to pick up donated furniture and deliver it to those in need. We have one truck right now that is overloaded with requests. We have found a second truck that meets our needs perfectly and will be dedicated to the Tualatin Warehouse. We’ve secured $10,000 in matching funds, and our challenge is to raise the $30,000 needed to purchase the truck. Once purchased, we can help another 15 families a week by delivering beds and other furniture to our client families, increase our donation collection capacity (especially critical for increasing the supply of twin and double mattresses for children), and divert over 460 tons of useable goods from the landfills. Contact us to learn more about this campaign, or join our e-newsletter list to get regular updates.

Comcast Newsmakers Interview With Kristy

Recently, our efforts to help spread the word about the need for donated beds for kids got a boost from Comcast Newsmakers. This program interviews leaders in the community, area non-profits, schools and local and state government officials and shares their stories with the public. The program is a widely-accessible educational resource, and it is a great way for residents in the community to find out about the people and issues that directly affect their lives. Check out the interview through the link below, and forward to anyone you know who should be “in the know”!

Come Say Hello!

Finally, a quick shout out to those of you in the Portland Metro area: we have a volunteer & donor appreciation party coming up, and you’re invited! This is a great chance to see the Warehouse and get more deeply connected to the work that your gifts have made possible. You’ll also hear the inside scoop on Community Warehouse’s plans for the coming year.

WHEN: Wed, Feb. 27th
WHERE: Estate Store East, 3969 NE MLK Blvd, Portland, 97212
WHAT: We will share some of the organization's successes from 2012 and upcoming excitement for 2013.
YUM: Snacks and drinks will be served.

Contact Jocelyn@communitywarehouse.org with questions or to RSVP. Hope to see you there!

Note from Clackamas Women's Services

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Nov 21, 2012
A Precious Sense of Normal

By Kristy Wood | Executive Director

We're reminded every day of the need for beds!

Dear Beds for Kids Supporters,

It’s been pouring buckets here these last few days, and while we’re all grateful that the Warehouse roof was repaired last winter so that we’re no longer moving actual buckets around to catch the drips, it still gets a little cold and soggy for the families who are loading up their furniture and moving into their new homes. It’s easy for our movers and Warehouse staff to get a bit discouraged too, and you can imagine that many of our would-be furniture donors are disinclined to head here in the downpour! So it truly brightened everyone’s day to receive these words of inspiration and encouragement from Colleen, one of the case managers we partner with:

“This afternoon I got to deliver a load of furniture & household goodies from your Eastside warehouse to a formerly homeless family I work with who just moved into their own place. Their four year old, who was dressed up like a fairy, "helped" us carry her new bed up three flights of stairs and immediately collapsed onto it laughing when we set it up in her bedroom. On rainy days like this I am so grateful for the awesome work that the Community Warehouse does. I know of at least one cute kiddo who will sleep much better tonight thanks to all of you!”

It is stories like these that YOU make possible through your support of our Beds for Kids campaign. Thank you! As we head into the winter and holiday season, we’re especially reminded of the importance of a warm cozy bed and blankets for everyone in the family and all the other basics that can be easy to take for granted. Your gifts ensure that families receive the household goods they need to create holiday memories and safe, stable homes.

In addition to providing basic furniture and household goods for families, we occasionally are also able to directly support some of our partner agencies that offer transitional shelter for people rebuilding their lives. Recently we were able to help create more comfortable surroundings for the residents of Yolanda House, a shelter for domestic violence survivors through the YWCA.

"You make coming home so much more normal for our ladies. Thanks."
-Yolanda House staff member

This quote from a thank you card we received expresses how much it means to create normalcy for families recovering from crisis. With your support, Community Warehouse partners with agencies like Yolanda House to connect them with gently used beds, lamps, tables and more. Now, people who are struggling in so many ways can come home to a precious sense of normal.

Oh, one more thing: we’re heading into the thick of collection drive season and are looking for a few more businesses, congregations and other organizations to host drives. If you are involved with a group that might be a good fit or have any suggestions, please get in touch!

Yolanda House Card

The Table

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