Dallas Furniture Bank, a member of the National Furniture Bank Association, is a nonprofit agency that collects and stores gently used, basic household furniture -- cribs, beds, dressers, sofas, tables and chairs -- through donations from the furniture industry, businesses, hotels, motels, and individuals from the community. Social service agencies who become members are eligible to refer their pre-qualified clients to us.

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Mission
The mission of the Dallas Furniture Bank (DFB) is to provide furniture that meets basic living needs to families and individuals who are transitioning out of homelessness or to others who are in need. We work to achieve this mission by collaborating with Dallas social service agencies whose clients desperately need furniture.

Dallas Furniture Bank helps between 300 and 400 needy families a year (at least 1200 individuals) regain their dignity and independence. With every table, chair and bed we deliver, Dallas Furniture Bank is helping rebuild the disrupted, often tattered lives of the transitional homeless and others who have lost everything.  DFB is the only agency in Dallas County whose mission is to provide basic household furnishings to people in need.

DFB History
Dallas Furniture Bank became an independent 501(c)3 in December 2002. We officially opened our doors for service in late 2003. The establishment of a furniture bank for the Dallas area was led by Sheryl Fields Bogen and Jerry Szor. Together, with their many years of community volunteer and business expertise, they co-founded a social service agency that would specifically address a long-term, missing gap in service for the transitional homeless in the Dallas area. As a result of the formation of Dallas Furniture Bank, many individuals and families have had the opportunity to experience renewed hope and another level of stability due to receiving basic furniture items.

Purpose
It is estimated that between 2.3 million and 3.5 million people experienced homelessness across the nation last year. In Dallas alone, approximately 6,000 individuals--mothers, fathers, and children--spend nights on the streets or in shelters with nowhere to go and no idea where they will be tomorrow. Their numbers are growing at an alarming rate. In the last two years, The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance reported a 50% increase in need from area shelters and agencies. Increasing unemployment and our economic climate have created what the United Way Community Assessment calls a "substantial increase in the number of people seeking support." We experienced a drastic 250% increase in the number of families seeking our help.

Homeless does not mean hopeless! Armed with a will to beat the odds and with help from area social service agencies, hundreds of people escape Dallas streets and shelters each year. They embark on a new path of self-sufficiency and permanent housing. But a house is not a home. The cash deposits and rent money necessary to get these individuals off the streets leave nothing to purchase even the most basic of furniture. Children sleep on dirty floors; entire families dine within barren walls, without chairs or a table for meals. The Dallas Homeless Commission confirms that there is a chronic and critical need for furniture. One Dallas agency reports that 75% of these people have absolutely no furniture at all.

Dallas Furniture Bank is the only organization in Dallas whose sole purpose is to provide basic furnishings to families and individuals determined to rebuild their lives in a home of their own. Imagine for a moment what your house would be like with no furniture. Self-sufficiency is very difficult to achieve when your primary worry is that your children are sleeping on the cold, hard floor. Since 2003, Dallas Furniture Bank has helped people turn an empty house into a home so they can focus on steady employment and self-sufficiency. A furnished, livable home environment that allows people to eat in comfort, rest well and interact together as a family will drastically reduce the potential of falling back into homelessness.

Who We Serve
The fastest growing segment of the homeless population both in Dallas and nationally is no longer individuals, but families. A census of the homeless, conducted by the city of Dallas and the Metro Homeless Alliance in January of 2005, documented 202 intact families living in shelters in 2005, up from 113 the year before.

Within the first three years of service, DFB provided furniture to over 900 families (3600 individuals). Among those we assist, many are formerly homeless men (including veterans), women and children, families below the poverty line, victims of domestic violence and those who have lost all to fire or natural disaster. We also help the elderly, disabled and those who have had personal tragedy touch their lives. Our families come from many different ethnic backgrounds and are of all ages, but the overwhelming majority of those who benefit are children. The majority of the children in the families we serve are younger than 10 and almost 20% are under the age of three.