Provide beds for 300 kids sleeping on the floor

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.

Links:

• Community Warehouse Website
• Spring 2013 Video - Hear from Case Managers & Families!