CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Some south Charlotte moms have built a furniture showroom for people who were homeless and starting new lives -- all the furniture is donated.
WCNC first looked into this story before we started social distancing. Now, this kind of non-profit is needed more than ever.
It’s called Furnish for Good. The idea is to take people who were homeless and moving into new homes and make sure they have a completely furnished home when they get in there.
Monique Smith is starting fresh, thanks in part to some Charlotte-area women.
“It’s been a long time coming end of a journey, beginning of a new one,” she told WCNC.
She left a bad relationship and ended up in a hotel for the last three years with her two kids.
“You lose hope when you’re constantly trying and people are constantly denying you based on what you went through In the past," Smith said.
But Smith got a new job and now a new apartment.
“When you’re looking at moving in you gotta pay the deposit — lights turned on — before you can even think about, 'How am I going to get a couch,' you've got to think about how to get in there.”
She told her kids they’d all be sleeping on the floor for a while. But then she met the women behind Furnish for Good.
“I can not wait to go home and set up my living room," Smith said.
Furnish for Good is a new Charlotte non-profit helping ease the transition from homelessness to having a home by letting them shop at a 4,000 square foot showroom filled with donated home goods.
“It would have taken me years to pay off the furniture they are giving to me," Smith said.
Priscilla Chapman is one of the co-founders of Furnish for Good. She says there are simple reasons behind it.
“It offers dignity empowerment self-respect, and most importantly, having a choice,” Chapman said.
“It’s such a blessing," Smith said. "They don’t know the stress they have taken off my shoulders I never expected to be walking into this type of blessing – it's amazing.”
WCNC checked back in with Monique, and she like so many right now, she was laid off. She was working as a cook at a Charlotte hotel restaurant.
She admits it will be a struggle to make rent in her new home right now, but she is doing the best she can.
As far as Furnish for Good, they still need lots of donations – if you want to help, check out their website.
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