Homeless people typically don’t have much furniture. Even those homeless men and women who once had apartments typically lose their belongings upon eviction. I’ve had a lot of calls about furniture donations lately, and wanted to address the best way to donate your gently used furniture to the Center for Respite Care or another agency serving the homeless in Cincinnati.
The Center for Respite Care uses furniture as part of Respite Permanent Housing, but we don’t accept furniture donations for our homeless clients. Why not? Because space is at a premium in our facility and even with a storage unit, we just don’t have the space or the manpower to process furniture donations.
This is where New Life Furniture comes in. New Life is a nonprofit in Cincinnati that assists families in need by providing gently used furniture to help make their house a home. Every weekend, this great group picks up donations of gently used furniture and delivers them to those in need. They’ve been an amazing help to our clients (see their May 3, 2008 blog entry at the last link), who enter our housing program often with only a tiny amount of clothing and personal items. Without the help of Tim and Holly, the founders of New Life, we would have little means of furnishing apartments for all the clients in RPH.
If you have furniture to donate, please consider New Life Furniture! Remember to check their list of acceptable items and donate only those items that are still in good working condition, without rips or tears.
