The Coburn Place

Think of the one place in the world where you feel safe and comfortable and able just to be yourself. Dorothy knew. In The Wizard of Oz, she cut right to the heartstrings when she said “There’s no place like home.” Now imagine having to leave your home, along with most of your belongings, because you no longer feel safe living with the person who is supposed to “love, honor and cherish you”. With little income, your options for housing are limited. You bounce around a lot - staying a few days with friends or family, several weeks at a shelter, a night or two in your car. While you’re grateful when there’s a roof over your head, it’s just not home. Finally after 7 months on the waiting list at Coburn Place, a long-term supportive housing program for domestic violence survivors, you’re handed the keys to your new apartment. You’re home. The first thing you see is a comfy sofa in the living room. You imagine yourself and your two children cuddled up together under a blanket watching your 8 year old daughter’s favorite movie, The Wizard of Oz. When Dorothy clicks her heels together and utters that famous line, you sink into the sofa with tears in your eyes. There truly is no place like home.

Coburn Place has 35 apartments available to women and children fleeing abusive situations. Our apartment homes are fully-furnished, private living spaces with kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms and living areas. With a safe place to call home, our families can begin healing and working toward independent lives. We rely solely on the generosity of our supporters to furnish our apartments with everything from linens to furniture. We are extremely grateful to Eric and the folks at Outré for their many generous furniture donations! They help us transform our apartments into homes and are making a difference for our women and children.

Tips on Donating Furniture

by Deborah Mitchell

Furniture donation is especially critical for low income families who are forced to make difficult choices between buying food, furniture, prescription drugs, children's clothes, or school supplies.

If you have furniture or household items that no longer fit your lifestyle, but are still useable, there are literally millions of people who could use your furniture donation.

When you donate furniture and household items, they not only get a second chance, they can also give the recipients a feeling of security, comfort, and home. Your furniture donation, for example, can help formerly homeless people who are transitioning to housing, the working poor who don't have enough income left over after paying for necessities, elderly people on fixed incomes, abused women who leave their situation and seek new shelter, families who have lost possessions or their homes to fire or other disasters, struggling college students, refugees from war-torn countries who resettle in the United States, and people who have lost their jobs.

Your sofa donation may mean a child does not have to sleep on the floor; a kitchen table and chairs may mean a family can eat together; a desk gives a child a place to do homework; a blender means an elderly person can better prepare meals. Your furniture donation is not only good for people; donated furniture also stays out of our overflowing landfills. Learn how you can make a difference with your furniture donation today.

Some organizations will pick up donated furniture and household items, while others ask you to drop them off. It may be inconvenient or even impossible for you to transport your donated furniture (not everyone has an appropriate vehicle or the help necessary to move such items), and it is also true that some worthy organizations do not always have the extra funds and/or volunteer power to make pickups. If you want to donate furniture to an organization that cannot pick up your donation, you may want to ask family members, friends, neighbors, or coworkers for assistance. Perhaps they will have furniture to donate as well!

• Contact the National Furniture Bank Association to see if there is a local affiliate near you. The National Furniture Bank Association is a network of facilities throughout the United States that collect and distribute used furniture and household items to people in need.
• Check out the Reuse Development Organization (ReDO), a nonprofit organization that promotes reuse of surplus and discarded items, including furniture and household goods. ReDO maintains a list of organizations that accept furniture donations, by state, that accept these items.
• Charities that typically provide pickup service for donated furniture and household items (as well as drop-off points) include Military Order of the Purple Heart, Salvation Army, and Big Brothers, Big Sisters (see "Find My Local Agency" button) often have trucks that are scheduled to pick up in different locations. Call the Goodwill Industries facility in your area to see if they provide a furniture donation pickup service.
• Contact churches in your area. Many either have furniture donation programs for needy individuals and families or know of people who can use furniture and household items.
• Consider donating furniture to a homeless shelter, a battered women's shelter, or to a refugee resettlement program. You can find telephone numbers for these organizations in your local phone book (women's shelters will have a phone number but no address for security reasons), or contact your local United Way for information on groups in your area.
• Local theater groups may need donated furniture for their sets and welcome donated props to help them defray costs.
• Offer your items on an Internet-based group such as Freecycle or FreeShare. Both of these grassroots organizations offer individuals a forum for donating (and receiving) free items, including furniture and household goods. Together, there are more than 4,300 individual Freecycle or Freeshare communities in the United States and around the world. Registration is free.
• If all else fails, you can put your donated furniture out on the curb and place a big "Free" sign on them. This furniture donation option should only be done in fair weather.

Please be courteous. Most nonprofits are not equipped to clean dirty upholstery or repair broken furniture or household items, so please only donate items that are usable, unless directed otherwise. If offering items on Freecycle or Freeshare, let readers know if an item needs repair, as some people are willing to accept and fix them.

To find our more about our products or for donating items contact us at www.itstheniche.com

Using Furniture For Something More

Are you wanting to give back?

Join us and help relieve some stress from members of our very own community.

Do you have a gently used piece of furniture you no longer need?

This is where you can help. Bring your sofa or chair to Outré's studio and receive 50% off a like piece of custom upholstered furniture.

The furniture donated to this cause will be cleaned up and then given to an individual in need and finding it hard to start out on their own. We are excited about our chance to help out the Indianapolis Community, and surrounding areas - Please help us in our chance to give back.

Any questions, contact our studio at info@itstheniche.com

20 Years Running

"This was a normal child experience. We don't get many of those."
- Parent of child

It's quotes like the one above that keep Racing For Kids on such a high note. After teaming up with Firestone Racing, Andretti Green Racing, and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, RFK has been capable of taking ill children down to the tracks for a day at the races. Many of the children are on an outpatient basis and seldom get this kind of experience. Each day at the race includes a chance to meet the drivers, enjoy lunch, and also have a chance to watch each driver practice or even qualify for the upcoming race. The entire day is not only a thrill for the children but the families enjoy the experience as well.

At the Racing For Kids Event this year we were able to get another piece of furniture signed by the Dreyer and Reinbold racers: Milka Duno, Davey Hamilton, John Andretti, and Mike Conway. It was a nice added touch to the black and white checkered chair.

Since their funding started 20 years ago, Racing For Kids has given more than $5 million to the hospitals they have visited.

Racing for Kids

Racing for Kids is designed to use the love and popularity of motor sports to focus public attention and funding on the health care needs of children. From the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, and Australia, there are over 400 hospitals taking part in this act. That's nearly 20,000 young children that have been able to engage with the RFK drivers. Whether it's signing autographs, posing for several pictures, answering questions about their passion, these drivers help sick children through their love of motor sports.


It was during several events for the Indianapolis 500 this year when we had a chance to make a difference. 90% of the funds raised in the silent auction remained right in the Indianapolis Community as hospital donations. The children's furniture pictured below were autographed by Milka Duno, Buddy Rice, and Townsend Bell all whom raced in the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500.

While the final tallies from these four events are not yet in, it is estimated that over $30,000 was raised with the majority of these funds going to Indianapolis' Riley and St. Vincent's Children's Hospitals.

For more information about Racing For Kids visit their website HERE.

Jackson Schrock

We have built a chair for a benefit for this little guy... here are some pictures. The story follows...

Jackson in the beginning

Jackson now! :)

Jackson with mom and dad

The Kids Chair for the benefit. It's about 21" tall and 25" wide, covered in a soft fuzzy brown fabric that would be great on a teddy bear!

-the following is taken from a flier produced for the Jackson Schrock Benefit



August 2008 marks the celebration of Jackson Schrock's first birthday - a milestone in many ways. This happy little boy was born with a list of physical challenges, including: an imperforate anus, dual hip dislocation, hypothyroidism, a tethered spine, severe reflux and the absence of one kidney.

There have been many victories in Jackson's first year: the switch from tube-feeding to bottle-feeding, a succcessful surgery to release the tethered spinal cord and an amazing reconstructive surgery that will give Jackson a chance at normal bowel functions.

Though Jackson's future is hopeful, continued medical care is a certainty. Future hurdles include: relocating both hips, physical therapy, and a kidney transplant. Doctors warn that Jackson's lone kidney will eventually fail, requiring dialysis until a kidney transplant is possible. Jackson must be two years old and 22 pounds in order for his body to accept an adult kidney. Currently, efforts are underway to help Jackson overcome his struggle to gain weight.

Jackson's parents are thankful and amazed by the progress he has made so far. The financial burden for teh Schrock family, however, is substantial and ongoing. They do have medical insurance, but unfortunately, do not qualify for many types of aid, and the ongoing out-of-pocket expenses are significant. The cost of co-pays, medications and periodic in-home health care add up quickly, as do the costs of regular trips to Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis. Additionally, both bathrooms in the schrock home are in urgent need of repair, as their current condition is not safe for Jackson's bathing and other practical needs.

If you'd like to help with home repairs, financial assistance, or anything else, donations are being accepted through the Schrock family's church, Downtown@808, or this specialwebsite: http://www.jacksonschrockbenefit.com/. We also invite you to join us Friday, October 3, at the Old Goshen Theatre in Goshen, IN, for a Bite, a Brew and a Bargain. This first Friday event will raise much-needed financial relief for the Schrock family.

Danni Frain

We would like to share with you a small part of a very big story. Danni Frain is a very special person, a special friend, a very special child. We were fortunate to have had the opportunity to help with a benefit sponsored by many loving people. We were asked if we would build a piece of furniture and provide it for the benefit auction. Of course we were anxious to help any way we could. We learned Danni’s favorite color was red. After a bit of research we found a fabric that was unique and had an exciting use of the color red. The fabric is named “Bubble Fabric”. After we received the fabric and decided it would be a nice cover, we manufactured a piece out of our Outre’ Collection that we call Olivia. Olivia is a lounge where a person can enjoy resting.

As the day of the benefit approached, we were upholstering Olivia with the “Bubble Fabric”. We could not resist taking a picture. Eventually, Danni saw the picture and expressed her desire to own it. Well, the rest is history. Olivia witnessed Danni smiling intently at “Bubble Faced Olivia” arriving in her home. We were told Danni smiled and napped on Olivia.

My friends, thank you for your work and all you contribute as we work together day to day doing the best we can to do the right thing for our customers. This particular piece exhibits how an upholstered piece of furniture can bring about a smile and comfort in a way few of us could ever hope, imagine or feel. We appreciate the opportunity to help others. We are blessed to welcome Danni as a friend and as an inspiration to embrace life.

Please visit www.dannifrain.com. You will immediately be directed to a site her family started to share their journey in this treasure of life.

____________________________________________________________

Quisiéramos compartir con usted una parte pequeña de una historia muy grande. Danni Frain es una persona muy especial, amiga especial, niña muy especial. Éramos afortunados haber tenido la oportunidad de ayudar con una ventaja patrocinada por mucha gente cariñosa. Nos preguntaron si construiríamos un pedazo de muebles y lo proporcionaríamos para la subasta de la ventaja. Por supuesto estábamos impacientes por ayudar a cualquier manera que podríamos. Aprendimos que el color preferido de Danni era rojo. Después de que un pedacito de la investigación nosotros encontrara una tela que era única e hizo que un emocionante utilizara del rojo del color. La tela se nombra “tela de la burbuja”. Después de que recibiéramos la tela y decidido le sea una cubierta agradable, fabricamos un pedazo fuera colección de nuestro Outre ' que llamamos a Olivia. Olivia es un salón en donde una persona puede gozar el reclinarse.

Como el día de la ventaja acercada, tapizábamos a Olivia con la “tela de la burbuja”. No podríamos oponernos el tomar de un cuadro. Eventual, Danni vio el cuadro y expresó su deseo a propio él. Bien, el resto es historia. Olivia atestiguó Danni que sonreía atento en “Olivia hecho frente burbuja” que llegaba en su hogar. Nos dijeron que Danni sonrió y que napped en Olivia.

Mis amigos, gracias por su trabajo y todos lo que usted contribuye mientras que trabajamos junto cotidiano haciendo el mejor nosotros poder para hacer la cosa derecha para nuestros clientes. Objetos expuestos particulares de este pedazo cómo un pice tapizado de los muebles puede traer alrededor de una sonrisa y la comodidad de una manera pocos de nosotros podría esperar siempre, imaginarse o sentirse. Apreciamos la oportunidad de ayudar a otras. Nos bendicen para dar la bienvenida a Danni como amigo y como inspiración para abrazar vida.

Por favor visita www.dannifrain.com. Le dirigirán inmediatamente a un sitio su familia comenzada para compartir su viaje en este tesoro de la vida.

____________________________________________________________