From House To Home

Purpose

To “furnish hope” by providing furniture, appliances and household items needed to bring stability and comfort to a home.

Having a roof and four walls is having shelter. The House to Home (H2H) program turns shelter into a comfortable place to call home. The program takes usable donated furniture, appliances and household items and gives them to low income families in Madison County free of charge. Clients include homeless people who are in transition into their own homes, the working poor who have very little income left after paying for necessities, elderly people on fixed incomes, abused women who leave their situation, families who have lost their possessions in a disaster, and grandparents with custody of their grandchildren. For these families, saving to buy furniture is not an option.

In 2009, H2H provided more than 650 pieces of furniture and appliances and more than 9,000 other household items. When families apply for furniture, their names go onto a waiting list. As the furniture/heavy appliances are donated, we set up a time they can pick the furniture/appliance up. Household items are donated daily, so clients are allowed to take what they need from the donation room on their appointed day. Since what they need is not always available, they are allowed to return in six months (twice a year).

Self-sufficiency is very difficult to achieve when you are worried that your children are sleeping on blankets. A bed or sofa donation may mean a child does not have to sleep on the floor; a kitchen table and chairs may mean a family can eat together; a desk gives a child a place to do homework; a blender means an elderly person can better prepare meals. A furniture donation is not only good for people; donated furniture also stays out of our overflowing landfills.