Congregation’s furniture ministry distributes hundreds of beds each year to families in need

[Episcopal News Service] Partners in Housing Transition is a long-running furniture ministry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Of all the furniture and household items that its staff and volunteers put in the hands of deserving families throughout the year, the most important is a place to sleep.

The ministry provides new or gently used mattresses and frames, pillows and sheets – all free of charge to more than 200 families a year in Kalamazoo County.

“Every family member that is referred to us, we will make sure they have a complete bed,” Executive Director Carla Baublis, one of the ministry’s two paid staff members, told Episcopal News Service. For a ministry that dates back nearly 35 years, that adds up to a lot of beds, including nearly 600 in 2024 alone.

Partners in Housing Transition was founded in 1991 by Louise Dunbar, a parishioner at St. Luke’s who was volunteering at the time at an agency that helped homeless and low-income residents obtain federal housing vouchers. “Folks were getting their housing and not a stick of furniture,” Baublis said.

So, Dunbar pulled the seats out of her family van, loaded it with donated furniture and began making deliveries around town. She served about 20 families that first year. St. Luke’s soon began letting Dunbar store the growing inventory of donated furniture in the church basement. Then, about 20 years ago, St. Luke’s launched a capital campaign for building upgrades, including additional space in the basement and a freight elevator, allowing the furniture ministry to expand.

Today, the ministry’s two part-time employees – Baublis and an assistant – and two regular volunteers typically serve about 230 families a year, with support from the congregation, community donors and grant providers.

“Folks are always really happy to give,” the Rev. Randall Warren, St. Luke’s rector, told ENS. “It lets us get furniture to people who need it.”

Partners in Housing Transition has its own board of directors but isn’t incorporated as an independent nonprofit. It remains a ministry of St. Luke’s, an example of the congregations’ commitment to what Warren calls “spirituality in action.”

The congregation, Warren said, has a long history of “enacting the love of Christ for those in need.”

Baublis personally knows the value of ensuring families have restful places to sleep, particularly families with young children. She previously taught elementary school students in metro Atlanta and rural Massachusetts, where she observed up close the effects of economic disparities on student success rates.

“The kids that do the best are the ones that have the most,” she said, and having a comfortable bed is crucial to success in the classroom. “I can’t teach you to read if you can’t stay awake at the reading table.”

Baublis began attending St. Luke’s in 2003 and within a few years was volunteering with Partners in Housing Transition. She has served as director since 2020. Baublis now works with 20 social service agencies in Kalamazoo County whose case workers refer clients in need of beds and other furniture.

Social media posts and local news reports help to get the word out about the ministry’s need for donations, which come in throughout the year – often from people downsizing their own home or disposing of the furniture of a recently deceased loved one. “We collect furniture that folks no longer want,” Baublis said. Commonly donated items include couches, tables, lamps, dressers, silverware, mixers, toasters and other small appliances.

All donated mattresses are zipped in encasements for protection and hygienic safety. Mattresses and furniture must be free of rips, tears, pet stains and smoke smells. The moving crew inspects them and has final say on whether the items are in good enough condition to take back to the church’s storage area. “We’re not a free haul-away service,” Baublis said.

Many used mattresses still have plenty of life in them. Baublis commonly cites hotel mattresses when reassuring clients who are hesitant. Would you consider spending a night in a hotel? “Someone has slept on that bed,” she said.

The ministry’s inventory got a big boost a few years ago when a local college, Western Michigan University, was rebuilding some of its dormitories and agreed to sell all the old dorm beds for about $20 each rather than send them to the landfill. Baublis estimates she secured at least 400 frames and 600 mattresses from that agreement, keeping the ministry supplied for about 18 months.

Baublis lucked into another windfall about a year ago when an Ann Arbor hotel was swapping out its older beds, which otherwise would have been junked. She picked up about 170 mattresses for the cost of transporting them to Kalamazoo, about $3,000.

And if she runs out of donated mattresses, she buys them new. Mattress Mart in Kalamazoo allows her to buy its mattresses at cost, or a little more than $115 for a twin and $150 for a full. She orders new $75-100 frames on Amazon, so they are delivered right to St. Luke’s. The metal frames don’t require a box spring.

She also rents off-site storage space for items that overflow the church basement. “I don’t want to turn down an offer of furniture,” she said, so if a purchase or donation isn’t immediately needed, it gets put in storage for later.

The church pays for the insurance on the ministry’s 14-foot box truck, as well as the ministry’s electric and phone bills. The St. Luke’s outreach committee also sets aside some money from of its fund each year to support the ministry. The rest of the ministry’s cash budget, about $200,000 a year, is funded by grants.

The ministry’s staff and volunteers also ensure families feel both cared for and empowered. When a family is referred to Baublis, she gives them a call to schedule an appointment to come to the church and see the inventory of furniture.

“We really work hard to make it look like you’re shopping in a furniture store,” she said. Families can pick the items they like best, and the furniture typically is delivered to their house the next day.

They aim to serve five families a week: two on Monday, two on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. A week later, Baublis sends each a survey asking how they like their new furniture.

Some are immigrants who were able to find housing but haven’t yet filled their homes with furniture. Others are young families just under the poverty level who need a little help furnishing their homes. Or sometimes a family is dealing with sudden economic disruption, such as the loss of a job, and doesn’t have disposable income to buy a kitchen table, couch or bed.

Furnishing a home won’t solve all problems, but it can be a helpful step in the right direction.

“It might not be moving mountains,” Baublis said, “but for every family, it’s that little bit.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.