This summer, The Green Chair Project reached three significant milestones in its 14-year history: providing 10,000 children with a bed or crib who previously lacked one of their own; serving 10,000 households with the items needed to make a house a home; and diverting 10,000 tons of furniture and household items from landfills.
The organization provides furnishings and household essentials to those facing the challenges of homelessness, crisis, or financial hardship. By partnering with over 100 nonprofits and agencies in Wake County, The Green Chair Project provides families and individuals with the furniture and housewares needed to create a nurturing environment and a fresh start.
Pull up a chair as retired CMO and volunteer Lori Webber shares how The Green Chair Project achieved record numbers in 2023, including almost 2,000 beds or cribs given to children and over 1,400 households provided with essential furnishings.
Who — and how — does The Green Chair Project serve?
For those who have secured housing after homelessness or crisis, it can be difficult to obtain basic furniture or beds for children. The average cost of fully furnishing a household can be as high as one-third of a low-income family’s annual income. Consequently, many families face the tough decision of whether to spend their money on home furnishings or provide the necessary food, medical care, clothing, utilities, or gas for their families. The Green Chair Project believes these are not choices families should have to make and helps to provide these individuals and families with furnishings and essential home items.
As the sole provider of new beds and cribs, and the only organization operating as a furniture bank in Wake County, the Green Chair Project fills a unique and critical role by providing individuals and families with the household furnishings and essential home items they need to create a comfortable and nurturing environment through three cornerstone programs:
Essential for Home: The Green Chair Project is dedicated to empowering individuals and families transitioning from homelessness, crisis, or financial hardship to achieve a brighter future. Through the generosity of our community, individuals and families receive gently used household furnishings and essential items, donated by our neighbors throughout Wake County and the Triangle, or purchased with funds generated through our Shop for Good program.
Clients are referred to our program through one of our partner organizations. Once approved, our team of dedicated and talented volunteers sort and organize incoming donations to create household vignettes. These carefully coordinated pieces of furniture, soft goods, artwork, and bath and kitchen wares are showcased onsite or virtually, allowing clients to select a household package tailored to their preferred style and color scheme. It’s important that each client has choice and dignity when they pick their household package; we make sure they have several packages to choose from. Once the package has been selected, our logistics team delivers the items directly to the client’s home within two business days.
Our community impact is substantial and sustainable, as evidenced by the experiences of families who receive our Essentials for Home package:
- 95% feel less stressed and 89% feel more empowered
- 91% are still stably housed one year later
- The value of our assistance is equivalent to four months of rent
Sweeter Dreams: The Green Chair Project is dedicated to ensuring that every child in need has access to a bed. Research shows that a good night’s sleep positively influences a child’s learning, growth, and overall well-being, additionally improving school attendance and academic performance.
Clients in need of a twin bed or Pack ’n Play for their child are referred to the program through a case manager at one of our partner organizations. Thanks to the generous financial support of our business sponsors and the community, the Sweeter Dreams bundle includes a new bed, new pillow, sheets, and a blanket. Once approved, our programs team works with the client to select color preference and then get them scheduled for our weekly delivery.
Our mission to provide a bed for every child in need continues:
- In 2023, we delivered 1,979 beds and cribs for children in Wake County
- Since 2015, we have helped ensure over 10,000 children have a good night’s sleep in their own bed
Shop for Good: Not all our essential furnishing and bedding needs can be met solely through donations from the community and our business partners. Our Shop for Good program was developed to address this gap, enabling us to transform items that may not be best suited for our clients’ homes into an opportunity for the community to support our mission. By selling these eclectic, unique, or sought-after items, we can bridge the donation shortfall and ensure we have the essential items our clients need the most.
We offer several ways for the community to Shop for Good:
- Shop online at ShopCHAIRity.com
- Shop in person at our retail partner Pig Fish Lane, 5425 Hillsborough St., Raleigh
- Participate in periodic in-person shopping at our headquarters at 1853 Capital Boulevard, Raleigh (follow us on Facebook and Instagram for dates throughout the year)
- Support our annual fundraising event, Chairity
Donated Chief Advancement Officer Mary Brooks Rice points to The Green Chair Project’s online furnishings program, a virtual showroom accessible by clients and case managers.
What are some of the struggles of our Wake County neighbors?
Wake County continues to experience significant population growth. Simultaneously, almost 90,000 residents live below the federal poverty line and cannot afford basic household furnishings. Additionally, one in every 30 children in a Wake County classroom does not have a bed of their own and is sleeping on the floor, on furniture, or with siblings. Stable, well-furnished homes are crucial for transforming lives as they support better health outcomes and help reduce homelessness.
How can readers show their support?
The community can support The Green Chair Project through in-kind donations of gently used furniture and household items; financial donations that help buy beds for children in need and fill the gaps in items donated and items needed to support our clients; and volunteering at our facility or holding local furniture or pillow drives.
Any upcoming activities or events you would like to share?
We just started a Back 2 School Fundraiser with a goal of raising $50,000 to buy beds and bedding for Wake County children in need. Information can be found at: https://thegreenchair.org/back-2-school-with-sweeter-dreams/
We are also gearing up for our annual fundraiser event, Chairity – 2024, happening September 18–20. Learn more at thegreenchair.org/chairity-2024/
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