The Furniture Bank of Thurston County is holding a bed drive on Saturday, August 11, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM in celebration of their new furniture storage facility completed this summer.
The Furniture Bank, in its current form, began in 2005 when Olympia Christian Reformed Church picked up the cause from earlier efforts to provide furniture to low-income families, especially those just coming out of homelessness.
The nonprofit organization is run by a board comprised of church deacons and a group of dedicated volunteers. A dozen volunteers pick up and deliver furniture, and another half dozen receive incoming phone calls and emails, schedule pick-ups and deliveries, and maintain a database of those in need.
Going years without a significant storage space, scheduling pick-ups and deliveries of furniture required careful organization, as donated items had to be delivered the same day. Inevitably, some furniture couldn’t be delivered immediately, and church members’ garages started filling up.
Realizing that the growth of their ministry was limited by the lack of storage space, the church began collecting monthly offerings towards construction of a new building. In addition to money to fund the project, church members contributed their diverse expertise in concrete work, framing, roofing, drywall, wiring, and painting. The new 1500-square-foot facility was built almost entirely by volunteers over several long weekends earlier this year, following the designs of church member and engineer Luke Moerke. The new facility was lovingly dedicated as the Kelly Building, in honor of church member and former Furniture Bank director Donna Kelly and her late husband John, who formerly housed many of the organization’s spare items in their garage. The new space allows the Furniture Bank to focus more on deliveries, as donors now have a place to drop off furniture, and to accept large donations when they become available.
Despite the vigilant work of the volunteers and the furniture donations they receive, many needs remain unmet. Of the more than 600 families currently on the bank’s waiting list, over half are in need of beds, typically for children. In an attempt to reach as many of those children as they can before the start of the school year, the Furniture Bank is seeking donations of new or gently used beds. Beds can be brought to the new building at the back of the Olympia Christian Reformed Church parking lot at 2121 Log Cabin Road SE, between the hours of 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM on August 11. Church members will deliver those beds to families in need later in the month.
If you have other items to donate or are unable to transport your furniture to the bank, you may also contact them to schedule a time for a volunteer to pick it up. The Furniture Bank of Thurston County can be reached at (360) 705-1756 or via email at furniturebank@olycrc.org. They accept chairs, tables, dressers, small sofas (no sofa beds), loveseats, other living room furniture, and beds. The bank asks that furniture not be soiled or stained, ripped, broken or malodorous.
Check their website at http://www.olycrc.org/fb.cfm for future donation dates and times.