The Baltimore Furniture Bank is a project that grew from WLOY’s work with the homeless community in Baltimore. With the assistance of the Good Stuff Campaign on Loyola’s campus and members of the Facilities department, WLOY was able to secure a tremendous number of used goods to redistribute to needy members of the Baltimore community. Incubating the Furniture Bank during its first year of development allowed it to start creating standard practices, a website (thanks to WLOY alumni donating their time), a small initial client base and a great buzz in the community.
The Furniture Bank achieved fiscal sponsorship from Fusion Partnerships and in the short space of 2-1/2 years the Baltimore Furniture Bank grew from an idea to a 1 car garage to a 6,000 square foot space and now to over 10,000 square feet and more than $100,000 in donated items ready to support re-housing efforts in Baltimore! In recognition of the excellent project and it’s potential impact on the community of Baltimore, The Baltimore Furniture Bank was awarded grants by several organizations and one of it’s co-founders was awarded an Open Society Institute fellowship.
In addition to coordinating the delivery of clothing and household furnishings throughout Baltimore, WLOY and the Furniture Bank were able to deliver hundreds of meals destined to be discarded by FEMA in Cecil County by pulling together a team to consolidate the massive supply, and Loyola’s box truck to move 9 pallets of food to Baltimore where it was immediately distributed to 8 organizations serving those in need in the city.
WLOY works with the Director of Sustainability at Loyola and the Baltimore Furniture Bank to coordinate the collection and reuse of dorm items that students no longer need as well as volunteer teams to help with the warehouse and more at the BFB’s new space. Students from Loyola’s Communication major have served as PR teams and interns in support of the BFB.
