Furniture Bank in Canada Workshop Program in Full Swing!
We’ve had a dream for a while. That dream was an onsite furniture repair workshop to fix slightly damaged furniture to divert even more items from the landfill and put them back into our donation stream. On top of that, the people who will be doing the furniture repair would be individuals with barriers to employment gaining valuable work experience under the guidance of qualified instructors. Now thanks to the generous support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Mackenzie Investments and individual donors, that dream is now a reality!
Furniture Bank Workshop Program
Working in collaboration with Miziwe Biik Aboriginal Employment and Training, we’re providing a hands-on opportunity for students of their Carpentry Pre-Apprenticeship program to get hands-on experience putting what they learned in the classroom into action.
Here’s how it works. For an 8 week practicum, participants are working hard in our workshop salvaging furniture items that would otherwise end up in the landfill. This is allowing us to put more furniture items into our donation stream for clients to choose from, and at the same time improve the environmental footprint here in the GTA.
In the first month alone, our students have helped us salvage 100+ furniture pieces that would otherwise end up in the landfill.
What Next?
As a final project, the students will be working together to recreate a 1 of a kind table and rocking chair combo for our Chair Affair event. Chair Affair is our annual auction based gala and fundraiser where we reimagine, redesign and repurpose old furniture for auction. Stay tuned for photos of their progress!
FBANA Conference 2014 – Sept 10-11, Tacoma WA
Mark your calendars! The next Furniture Bank Association Conference will be hosted by the NW Furniture Bank in Tacoma, WA (near Seattle) on September 10-11, 2014 (Wed-Thur).
Now is the time to seek funding (grants or other) or get funding approval to cover the cost of airfare and lodging. We sincerely hope you can join us!
Click here to download the 2014 FBANA Conference Invitation in a PDF file. The invitation shows the details of the topics to be presented and discussed this year, and the networking opportunities and site-seeing that are also included.
FBANA Conference 2013 – Columbus OH, Apr 18-19
Twenty-six furniture banks from the U.S. and Canada sent executive directors, board members and volunteers to Columbus, Ohio on April 18-19 for the 2013 Furniture Banks Conference. Sixteen U.S. states and two Canadian provinces were represented, and attendees shared best practices, felt the energetic spirit, shared comaradery, and then returned to their own organizations with new ideas and renewed commitment to serve.
For those that were not able to join us, you can find PDFs of all the topics presented and explored in the “Library of Resources” for members. And below are just a few pictures that capture some key moments.
Stay tuned to this website for an upcoming announcement of the location and dates for FBANA Conference 2014!
FBANA Conference 2013 – changed to April 18-19
In order to take advantage of better hotel availability and rates, our 2013 Furniture Banks Conference has been moved to April 18-19 (Thurs-Fri). This will also insure milder, more spring-like weather for traveling. (The dates originally posted were March 7-8.)
We hope you’ll mark your calendar and plan to attend!
Furniture Banks Conference 2013 – April 18-19
UPDATED! Mark your calendars! The next Furniture Bank Association Conference will be April 18-19, 2013 (Thur-Fri), in Columbus, OH. The Furniture Bank of Central Ohio will be the host for next spring’s conference.
Some members had indicated at the November 2011 conference a desire to seek grant funding to cover the cost of airfare and lodging. We hope this early notice will provide you enough time to seek funding so that you can join us!
Information on hotel lodging and airfare recommendations will be coming soon.
(Pictures from the Nov 2011 Conference in Minneapolis, MN)