CAMPUS LIFE
Beds for Kids is making a difference in Charlotte by providing over 1,300 beds to local families.
by Sam Coover
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Beds For Kids is a non-profit organization based out of Charlotte that helps people who have recently moved into a house or lack the funds to purchase furniture furnish their house with affordable furniture.
In 2010, Tim Rowley started to help people who had recently moved out of a local shelter furnish their homes through donations from others in the community. Starting out of a garage, they grew to become an official non-profit and currently work out of a 30’ by 10’ storage unit. During their first year as an official non-profit, they provided 256 beds and other furniture items for families around Charlotte. Now they have moved into a much larger warehouse and are providing five times the amount of furniture in 2011.
Beds for Kids provides a great service for the Charlotte area, but few people know or have heard of them. Its overall goal is simply to help people who can't afford to furnish their homes. When the non-profit first started, it did not charge for its service, but as it progressed, they realized that many people wanted to pay. They wanted to pay because they wanted to provide for their family. Director of Operations Bart Noonan remembers a father and his three children who had just received a delivery from Beds For Kids: “He had each of his three kids give us a 20 dollar bill, and he came up after to thank me and said that this was the first time that his family saw him provide for them.”
Beds for Kids was brought to Providence Day through the Students of Service (SOS) program,which allows students to form clubs to help the community by assisting organizations around Charlotte. Will Madairy, PDS junior, is the leader of the Beds for Kids club for PD and was the one who started it in 2014. He wanted to bring Beds For Kids to PD because while looking through the list of possible SOS clubs, he didn't see them on the list. He started working with Beds for Kids as a freshman when he volunteered there with Marcus Hoodak, Will's sponsor during his confirmation process. Will wanted to bring Beds for Kids to Providence Day because he, "had a good time there and really enjoyed the work he was doing and believed that he was helping the community."
Many people don't know about the lack or furniture in Charlotte. Beds for Kids has been operating for five years, and has given thousands of pieces of furniture to people in need, but believe that it’s still not enough. Will Madairy said this about the first time he went to Beds for Kids: “ I had no idea how many people needed basic things like beds in Charlotte until I worked at Beds for Kids, but after going it blows me away and makes me realize the great work they have done.”
Daniel Fogarty, Executive Director at Beds for Kids, had a lot to say about the organization when I got the chance to ask him a few questions. For those who want to help, you can either volunteer or even run a donation drive for smaller things like bed sheets and lamps. Also, you can help spread the word about Beds for Kids to the people in your community who might have furniture they don’t use. What they need the most are kitchen tables and chairs, night stands, dressers, bed frames and monetary donations.
Although the donations from the community do help, they have linked up with the local Ashley Furniture store with whom they have formed their strongest partnership. As of now Beds for Kids has a single location, Uptown Charlotte, that they base all of their operations out of, but they are planning to expand to a second location in Lake Norman in January 2016.
Fogarty told a story that has really impacted him, “There have been a lot of them that are constant reminders. One that sticks out was a family of five that was living close to uptown. There was no furniture in their home, no food in their kitchen. But every time I carried a piece of furniture into the house you could see the Bank of America building in the background and it was just a reminder that no matter how well we are doing as a city there are still people that are hurting.” This is eye opening because many people do not realize that although our city as a whole is doing great things, there are still people who need help. It is our responsibility to help those in our community.
Beds for Charlotte
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