Local Furniture Program Provides Home Decor For Families In Need

SAUK RAPIDS -- Furniture is being reused to give families in Central Minnesota a sense of security.

The Community Furniture Program thinks no child should sleep on the floor, and they shape their program around this belief.

Project director Patrick Bednarz says they assist low-income families with struggles that most take for granted.

"The program is for anyone in the Tri-County area that is at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines and has a referral from on of the 17 agencies. This way we know the right households are getting the furniture," says Bednarz.

Bednarz teamed up with social service agencies and concerned citizens to tackle some of the struggles low-income families face. He believes low-income families deserve life's simple comforts.

"The largest gently used furniture program in the United States closed their doors in Sauk Rapids in 2008. A group of citizens and social service agencies got together and decided we needed to fill that gap," says Bednarz.

The program was started in 2009 and is located in Sauk Rapids.