"...the Furniture Bank celebrated 20 years of furnishing homes for people coming out of homelessness"

For a city that ranks #4 in the "20 meanest cities towards the homeless (full pdf report here)," Atlanta still has a few good approaches and ideas that other cities ought to take note of. The fact that they give free furniture away should not and does not excuse them for their blatant ugliness towards people experiencing homelessness, but this particular idea itself is a good one that can be mimicked anywhere.....

Furniture bank celebrates 20 years of helping the homeless

By STACY SHELTON

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Saturday, September 13, 2008

When Tom Polk moved to metro Atlanta from Iowa in 1985, he’d never seen a homeless person.

Three years later, over a couple of beers at Manuel’s Tavern in Atlanta, he got the idea to start the Furniture Bank, a non-profit that provides one of the final helping hands to the city’s neediest citizens.

“I couldn’t believe there was a population of folks who had no place to be at night,” said Polk, who lives in Decatur.

Saturday afternoon, the Furniture Bank celebrated 20 years of furnishing homes for people coming out of homelessness. In that time, about 17,000 families have been helped.

Polk has since lent assistance to other Furniture Banks starting up across the country.

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin spoke at the anniversary event, held at the non-profit’s warehouse and office on Permalume Place. She later toured the warehouse with Executive Director Megan Anderson.

Franklin said she has both donated furniture and referred people who needed the help.

With her final 16 months in office, the mayor said, “I certainly want to keep the issue of homelessness on the front burner.”

The Furniture Bank offers free pickup service for good, usable household furniture donations in Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties. For more information, go to www.furniturebankatlanta.org.