Furnishing Hope

MSC has been involved with post-Hurricane Katrina clean-up and rebuild for several years in Waveland, Mississippi. While a good deal of the reconstruction is complete, many families in that area lost all of their furniture--and they lack the financial resources to do anything about it.

While it seems like an overwhelming task to furnish homes 700 miles away, we're just not very good at shrugging our shoulders and assuming someone else will figure it out. And so, beginning April 1, 2010, we'll be inviting our church family and community to donate their quality, gently used furniture, and we'll be hauling it down in October.

Pretty cool, huh? Here's the best part: You can be a part of it.

Volunteer Needs

While the logistics of this project are a bit challenging, the leadership team behind the scenes has those details covered. Now they invite you to help make it all happen! Check out these opportunities:

Inspection Team
This team will determine if an item to be donated meets the requirements developed by the Christian Life Center, our partner organization in Waveland. (While we don't expect donations of new furniture, we want to make sure it's clean, safe, and useful.) We're looking for about 10 people for this team. For details or to express interest, please contact Dan.

Pick-Up Team
Once potential donations are inspected and approved, our pick-up team steps up to the plate. If you're comfortable driving a 26', non-CDL truck, contact Jim

Warehouse Team
Approved donations are delivered (by the pick-up team) to our warehouse. (And by "our warehouse," we mean the space someone's going to gift us very soon. See below.) The warehouse team is responsible for organizing donations and helping to track inventory. To learn more, contact Matt.

Delivery Team
Our delivery team will haul the furniture to Mississippi on October 17. Volunteers can either just help with the delivery and unloading, or they can stick around for the whole week to see the project all the way through.

Class 8 Tractor Drivers
It'll take a large truck or two to delivery all of the donations, so we'll need qualified drivers. Contact Dave for details.

Warehouse Needs

We anticipate a need for approximately 10,000-square-feet in which to store donations, and we're now on the lookout for that space. If you, or someone you know, has space to offer in a building or trailer, please be in touch with Dave.

Furniture Needs

Many of us have furniture that we no longer want or need, and those items could be a huge blessing to families in Waveland. Although our inspection and pick-up teams won't start rolling until April 1, we're already compiling a list of potential donations. If you have items for consideration, please contact Dan.