A furnished home for a Harrisburg family through Church World Services
Furniture helps make a house a home—and providing furniture to those without is the goal of Pennsylvania Furniture Mission.
Based in Columbia, the organization was founded just last year.
“We create warm and welcoming homes for residents of south-central Pennsylvania who are experiencing economic hardship or transitioning out of homelessness or poverty, by providing them with an entire household worth of furniture,” explained the executive director, Amanda Reilly-Sokoli.
Recently, Reilly-Sokoli and her Albanian-born husband Pashk Sokoli, co-founder and director of operations, made a decision to move back to this area. They brought with them Reilly-Sokoli’s experience as the director of operations of the Chicago Furniture Bank, the largest in the country.
“If we were going to return to Pennsylvania, to be close to family, which was important to us, it has to be for a reason,” Reilly-Sokoli said. “If we have this passion and we have this experience, we have to do something more. I kind of live by the idea that to whom much has been given, much is expected.”
The furniture bank serves six counties, the widest area of any furniture bank in the country, according to Reilly-Sokoli. The couple chose this area because of the need, but also because of the local populace.
“There are a lot of people that want to support this kind of mission and have the ability to donate time, talent and treasure,” Reilly-Sokoli said. “And that really enables the furniture bank to succeed.”
They accomplish their mission through over 45 local partner agencies. One of these is CWS Harrisburg, a refugee resettlement organization. Last year, the agency resettled over 125 families, all of them needing furniture.
Kim Hiles and Tara Lucido worked as housing specialists, responsible for finding housing for all of these families before moving into their current positions as employment specialists. They described Pennsylvania Furniture Mission as a game changer.
“I will sing their praises from the rooftops,” Lucido said.
Before Pennsylvania Furniture Mission, CWS Harrisburg received their furniture from a generous furniture bank in New Cumberland. But there was a big problem, namely, “having enough bodies to help carry,” Hiles said.
Thankfully, Pennsylvania Furniture Mission has pickup and delivery options. For a fee, they will deliver the furniture to the home. Without trucks, and with volunteer help, delivering furniture was a huge challenge.
“We had volunteers renting U-Hauls on their own,” Lucido said.
Need Everything
New Hope Ministries recently partnered with Pennsylvania Furniture Mission, and they have eight households ready to receive furniture.
With two new hires focused solely on getting folks into permanent housing, New Hope finds the furniture mission a welcome and needed addition to the community.
“When you’re putting a homeless family into permanent housing, they, whether they were living in their car, or living in a hotel, living with others, need everything—everything from a shower curtain to pots and pans,” said Sue Fornicola, program director at New Hope Ministries. “Furniture is one of the most expensive items that we need to help them with and being able to do this, [get furniture from the mission] will be a blessing to our guests.”
Families who receive furniture get to choose, which can be a very important step.
“When a lot of people are going through a hardship, a lot of that decision-making power is taken away in their lives,” Reilly-Sokoli said. “A lot of time, you have to go with whatever you can get, whatever job you can find, whatever apartment you can get.”
That community support comes in the form of furniture and financial donations. The mission will pick up furniture that folks want to donate, for a suggested donation fee. Why donate to have furniture picked up, when a person is already donating the furniture?
Storing furniture takes a ton of space, and that space must be lit, heated and maintained. Also, the mission employs three people. Providing jobs is another goal of the mission.
“To create jobs and job training opportunities for people with barriers to employment,” Reilly-Sokoli said.
People don’t have to opt for the pickup. They can drop off items directly to the mission, which will happily receive it.
They also receive furniture donations from businesses. The mission has a huge donation arriving from a hotel this month and, as a result, is looking for additional warehouse space.
As a fledgling operation, financial donations are crucial, as well. Reilly-Sokoli explained that grant options for new nonprofits are small until they can prove their viability. Grantors want to see “at least a year’s worth of bookkeeping,” she said.
Service organizations are pleased to have Pennsylvania Furniture Mission working with them to better the lives of those living here.
“I just feel that it’s an honor to have them here in Pennsylvania and that they are so willing to go above and beyond the needs of our guests,” Fornicola said. “Their heart, you can tell that their heart is for serving others.”
Pennsylvania Furniture Mission is located at 341 Chestnut St., Columbia. For more information and to donate, visit www.pennsylvaniafurnituremission.org.
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