Central Furniture Rescue relieved to find long-term location

For an organization dedicated to helping its formerly-homeless clients with basic home supplies and furnishings since its founding in 2019, Central Furniture Rescue has itself had difficulty maintaining a permanent home, being forced to relocate on numerous occasions while continuing to serve the needs of hundreds of individuals and families. But as of this spring, […]

For an organization dedicated to helping its formerly-homeless clients with basic home supplies and furnishings since its founding in 2019, Central Furniture Rescue has itself had difficulty maintaining a permanent home, being forced to relocate on numerous occasions while continuing to serve the needs of hundreds of individuals and families. But as of this spring, the organization has relocated once again – and hopefully for the last time – to their new headquarters at 2275 16th Ave. SW, Cedar Rapids, most recently the Old China Buffet, a move celebrated in late May with a grand opening and community open house.

For CFR founder and executive director Susan Johnston, the group’s physical instability has been a constant reminder of the issues her clients face regularly, and she believes CFR’s latest move will provide the organization a sense of long-term security. “We now have permanency, and that helps you become viable,” Ms. Johnston said. “When you're moving every six months, your followers start to question if you’re viable, because you keep moving. ‘Are they going to still be around? Should I give them money?’ The minute we got this building, suddenly people were coming in, wanting to know about us, giving us money and bringing us stuff. I think about that relief we felt. And then I think about our clients who may never feel that stability.” It’s certainly been a rocky road for Central Furniture Rescue over its brief history. The organization began as an offshoot of the clothing giveaway program at the Central Church of Christ in southwest Cedar Rapids, a twice-yearly event spanning nearly four decades. In 2018, Ms. Johnston was asked to take over the program, succeeding the woman who had been at its helm for many years. As part of that transition, many volunteers shared their thoughts about the program’s future direction, leading to the formation of a partnership with other social service agencies in the area, including Willis Dady Homeless Services and Waypoint Services. “After I filtered through all this wisdom, it came down to three things,” she said. “It's a lot of work. It's not relational – people come in and leave, they’re not really engaging with you regularly. And it's really not conducive to shopping. It's like Black Friday, a line of 100 people in three hours.” Shortly thereafter, she encountered a woman named Dereisha at the church, and the trajectory of her life’s mission was fundamentally altered. “She has no idea that this is all her fault,” she said. “We were walking around, being relational, and I said, ‘Dereisha, is there something we can be praying about?’ She said, ‘Susan, I start my new job at Walmart on Monday. I am so excited.’ I said, ‘Dereisha, I am so proud of you.’ She said, ‘Nobody has told me that before. Susan, my two little girls and I moved into our apartment on Saturday, and we don't have any furniture. Do you have furniture?’ “My heart sunk,” she added. “I had everything but what she needed. We weren’t doing furniture at the time, just clothing and household items.” Another issue quickly became apparent, Ms. Johnston said. “I talked to her caseworker, and she said, ‘Susan, they're homeless. Where are they going to put furniture?’” she said. “‘They don't have the money for furniture. We can get them a new place to live, but we can't buy them furniture, and they don't even have the financial means to buy it. And even if they could buy a couch, how are they going to get it home? They don't have transportation. They can't get a couch on the bus.’” Having recently retired from a career in business administration and project management, Ms. Johnston made it her mission to help Dereisha set up her new home, and the die was cast. In January 2019, she set up a pilot program working with area nonprofits to coordinate home furnishings for those who had recently acquired a new home – homeless people, abuse victims, community newcomers and the like. By the end of May, the program had helped 27 households, and a roundtable was convened with nearly 30 community organizations to discuss establishing the program permanently. The program now known as Central Furniture Rescue then obtained its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and sought a long-term home. Then came a series of seemingly endless moves, from a facility on 33rd Avenue SW, to a larger facility that served the group until the August 2020 derecho, to the former Somersaults gymnastics facility on 27th Avenue SW, to the former Star Equipment building on 18th Avenue SW, to a facility on Ninth Avenue SE near Horizons. The constant moves presented a significant challenge for a group requiring significant inventory space, Ms. Johnston admits. “All through 2021, our goal was permanency,” she said. “Any time I was speaking to any organization, it was about permanency. I always (said) we were no better off than the people we serve. We're always a phone call away from a 30-day notice to relocate.” Finally, in November 2021, Jeff and Connie Palmer purchased the 16th Avenue location and offered Central Furniture Rescue a five-year lease, and after some quick remodeling, the group moved into the building in February 2022. The demand for Central Furniture Rescue’s services has continued unabated, and while the group’s need for physical space has been met, operational expenses continue. The group is run exclusively by volunteers, from sorting donations to delivering items, but operational expenses continue, including a mortgage, taxes and utilities. As she recounted the network of local agencies that work with Central Furniture Rescue to meet basic household subsistence, Ms. Johnston noted that most are able to provide for two basic needs – food and shelter. “The agencies were doing everything for them in that regard, those two basic needs,” she said. “That's what the government provides. But over time, it's more than a gap. People think, ‘Oh, it's just comfort and feel good.’ Yeah. But if you think about when 43% of (those programs) are children, it breaks my heart. I think about growing up, raising my children, and my grandchildren. Those memories are cuddling on a couch. There's a lamp there. There's a table there. Getting tucked into bed, or watching that next Disney movie. Our most lasting memories are centered around furniture and household items.” And while Central Furniture Rescue now has an established mission, as demonstrated by its statistics – nearly 1,300 households and over 3,000 individuals served, diverting 449 tons of furniture from the landfill and totaling nearly $660,000 in total value of gifted items, averaging $700 in services per individual and $2,000 per family – Ms. Johnston stressed the importance of collecting and distributing items of reasonably high quality to its clients. “Every order that we fill is received so graciously and gratefully, because they have nothing,” she said. “But we do have a quality standard. I tell people, if you (would be) comfortable giving this item to a family member or a friend, I probably want it, but if you're not comfortable giving it to a family member or friend, don't bother. Because everybody deserves dignity and respect, and none of us are exempt from a situation where we may fall into that need ourselves. 40% of Americans are two to three paychecks away from homelessness.”