Our Mission and Vision.
The mission of Make It Home is to help Bay Area families and individuals transitioning out of crisis. We recycle, repurpose, and curate gently-used, donated furnishings to transform empty spaces into homes.
Our vision is to end furniture poverty while protecting the environment.
By providing furnishings to those formerly in crisis, Make It Home not only creates a true home for its clients, but also greatly increases their confidence and sense of security. These efforts dramatically reduce their chance of returning to the streets and puts them on a positive path.
With the homes we create, we keep tons of furnishings out of landfills. Caring about our community and the environment is woven into everything we do. Make It Home is proud to be a Certified California Green Business.
What We Do
For those transitioning out of homelessness or aging out of the foster care system, even the simplest of furniture and household goods are unaffordable. Make It Home was created to solve this problem.
Started by an interior designer, Carolyn Rebuffel Flannery, Make It Home is a non-profit furniture bank that provides gently used furniture and household goods to newly-housed foster kids, formerly homeless families and individuals who would otherwise move into an empty apartment.
About Us
13% of Bay area residents are living in poverty, and the homeless population today is larger and growing faster than ever before.
1 out of every 4 youth in foster care will become homeless within 4 years of aging out of foster care.
Simply placing people in housing does not equal long-term success.
By collecting donated, gently used, and repurposed furnishings and household goods, we are working toward our goal of ending furniture poverty in our community. We create sets of essential home items to provide families, foster youth, and individuals with the support they need to Make It Home.
Additionally, 12.1 Million Tons of Furniture Waste Went to Landfills in the Us in 2018.
That’s over 24.2 billion pounds (add in carpets and rugs for another almost 5 billion pounds) discarded to sit in landfills in 2018 alone. For perspective, when we furnish a home, a one-bedroom apartment requires about 1.1 tons of furniture, so (for some quick math) 11 MILLION one-bedroom apartments are getting tossed into the trash each year.
Our Why
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement
At Make It Home, we believe embracing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is essential to effectively fulfilling our mission and serving our community.
We celebrate the rich diversity within the San Francisco Bay Area and strive to ensure it is reflected in our team, volunteers, and the people we serve. Through our commitment to diversity and our embrace of partnerships that reach out broadly, we work to ensure that our impact is far-reaching and inclusive.
Our commitment to equity drives our efforts to break down barriers and provide fair access to resources and opportunities. We work to support individuals and families from all walks of life, especially those who have faced systemic inequities, ensuring that everyone can have dignity and pride in their homes.
We seek to create an inclusive environment where all voices are heard, respected, and valued. We believe that inclusion is essential to innovation and problem-solving and helps us better serve the community.
Creating a sense of belonging is central to our approach. We strive to ensure that our staff and volunteers feel welcomed and valued, and in our work, curate home items that will encourage the individuals and families we serve to feel more comfortable in their new chosen communities.
These principles, along with our vital partnerships, guide our actions and decisions, helping us better serve our community and fulfill our mission. We recognize that this is an ongoing journey, not a finished task, and we are committed to continuously learning, improving, and deepening our efforts as we move forward.
