Flourish Furniture Bank

Some of Flourish's goals for 2023 are to:

- Serve 969 households (a 10% increase from the 881 households served in 2022) composed of 2,455 and estimated individuals

- Continue to provide a supportive, dignified shopping experience where all clients are welcomed as "guests" and treated humbly and respectfully.

- Distribute 38,280 items, including mattresses and bedframes, sofas and other upholstered furniture, kitchen tables and chairs, dressers, linens (including blankets, sheet sets, and towel sets), microwaves, small kitchen appliances, bakeware, and cookware.

- Increase awareness of our organization, especially in Jackson County, Missouri. We must clearly define a need many people are unaware of: the importance of essential home goods for housing stability and physical and mental health.

- Provide volunteer opportunities and training to achieve a goal of 25,000 hours of service.

- Better serve our clients and partner referral agencies by initiating a limited furniture delivery service. Currently, the referring agency and the client are responsible for securing a truck and providing the people to deliver the furniture to the client's home. For some agencies and clients, furniture delivery is a significant barrier to using our services.

We are adding a morning of service to provide two additional weekly appointment times to serve 88 more clients than in 2022. Training will be provided to ensure that our clients are treated with care and respect, especially to our volunteer "hosts" who work directly with clients as they shop.

To distribute home goods, we first must collect them. Collecting enough furniture and furnishings to provide an entire home full of furniture to nearly 1,000 residences annually is a monumental challenge that we continually tackle! Our strategies to do so include the following:

- Hiring our first paid truck driver to assist our volunteer pick-up crews. We can collect furniture from 200-250 additional locations.

- Increasing corporate partnerships with furniture stores, thrift stores, colleges, hotels, and other organizations that are capable of providing a large volume of donated goods.

- Continuing to partner with another organization that assists us with pick-ups.

- Leaving brightly colored collection bins at select businesses, churches, and clubs around the city, where small donated items (such as linens and small appliances) can easily be dropped off.

- Advertising the ability to drop off donations at our warehouse.

- Adding 22 additional zip codes to our collection area

Flourish’s strategic marketing plan includes increasing awareness of the organization by seeking interviews with local media. Rich Shockey, Flourish's Executive Director, will also make frequent presentations to clubs, businesses, and faith groups. Other plans for 2023 include the following:

- Beginning an "Every Door Direct Mailer Postcard Campaign." We will send postcards with information about Flourish and a coupon for free furniture pick-up to 15,000 residences in Jackson County, Missouri.

- Enhancing our two box trucks and cargo van (that currently have plain white sides), with brightly colored advertising wraps displaying our name and logo. We are excited for our pick-up teams to be able to spread awareness as they drive around the city!

To establish our limited furniture delivery service, we plan to:
- Establish a delivery fee to help fund our added expenses
- Utilize the truck driver that we intend to hire to assist with deliveries
- Recruit volunteers from businesses and faith-based groups to assist with deliveries. They will see first-hand how transforming an empty dwelling into a fully furnished home impacts our clients.

Flourish is well-positioned to achieve its goals. We continue to work from a 28,000-square-foot facility and are supported by 365 volunteers who provide the vast majority of the labor. As we become more well-known in the community, we are receiving expanded financial support from many organizations and individuals. We will add two additional weekly shopping appointments to our schedule to reach our goal of serving 969 clients in 2023. We have a training program for our volunteers that has been updated and improved. We have confirmation that we will receive funding to hire a truck driver later in the year and have already received our advertising-wrapped collection bins to collect additional inventory. Funding for our marketing campaign in Jackson County has been committed. Our relationships with partner referral agencies are based on mutual admiration and respect.

Flourish is moving into the next stage of its evolution. We are working to expand so that we can better meet the demand of those who need our services. Some of what we have already accomplished includes:

- Served 881 households in 2022 (an increase of 120 from the 760 served in 2021), impacting the lives of 2,244 individuals (including 1,085 children).

- Expanded the board of directors from seven to a more diversified nine members.

- Provided 34,797 items, including mattresses, bedframes, sofas, upholstered chairs, kitchen tables and chairs, dressers, linens, small appliances, and cookware.

- Increased the number of volunteers from 317 in 2021 to 365 in 2022. Our wonderful volunteers provided 22,726 hours of service, valued at $680,643!

- Began an enhanced training program for volunteers who work directly with clients as they shop. The training includes a poverty simulation, trauma-informed care, and discussion regarding systemic racism and injustice and how Flourish can best provide a welcoming, supportive, and caring environment for everyone we serve.

- Worked with a consultant who holds a Ph.D. in Evaluation to review and improve case manager and client surveys that will be used in 2023. Our goal is to better understand furniture's impact on our clients' physical and mental health and determine how it contributes to home stability.

The Flourish staff and volunteers are excited about the "what's next"! We continue to meet wonderful, caring people in the community who want to make a difference in the lives of those most vulnerable and under-resourced. We are inspired by the strength and resilience of our clients and greatly admire the case managers from agencies throughout the city who refer them to us. We are confident that we will continue to grow and become more able to meet the needs of additional individuals and families in the years to come.