"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Annabelle In 1st Grade

asked Sister Mary Karen of her first grade class at D’Youville Academy. Each student made a drawing of what they thought. 

Annabelle Naples drew the pink girls wing and the blue boys wing of an orphanage in the shape of a V. Each wing had twelve twin beds. Each bed had a night stand, vase of flowers, lamp, and a window. There was a teddy bear or stuffed animals on every bed. “Outside there was a garden, playground and school then there was my house. I lived there too. I was a child and I loved children. I still love children, I always have and I always will!”

Up through the grade years and into high school, Annabelle’s parents had properties. They would buy properties and sell them. That is how they put seven children through college.  Annabelle would help her mom clean out and maintain the properties. "My mother was very thrifty and creative. She was great at decorating, making the space look bigger, and she would get great deals on furniture. I drove a Ford F100 pickup truck. I would go pick up a washer, a dryer, or a couch, a table and chairs, whatever else was needed for these properties. More than any of my siblings I loved to help her with these projects.” 

Annabelle had a cleaning business from the age of thirteen. Her father was an OBGYN. She was his cleaning lady all throughout high school. Through these experiences Annabelle developed a skill-set to create what the client needed, maintain it, and do it for the best price.

Annabelle In 7th Grade

“I told my husband Lance that I feel like I was actually being trained to do this my whole life.”

In Furnishing Families of Texas, families who find us, finally have a roof over their heads and a door that locks. They have a place to live without any furniture. We go in there, to that empty space, and make it into a home. Many times we don’t even see it before we choose the furniture. We always ask how many bedrooms and the size of the living room and eating area

Yesterday, we furnished a family that has six children that came here from El Salvador. The mom has been here a little while. We had to put a twin over full bunk bed in two different rooms. These are teenage boys. They only have three rooms for all these people!  

There are a lot of refugees that are coming now as well. The families go from rags to riches very fast.  They go from nothing to a very posh lovely home. 

Doing this work fills everyone involved from our team to the people we serve with JOY! 

Thank you for your generous hearts! Your investment is filling homes with furniture and families with hope and joy. Consider the fact that this is the fruit of YOUR labor. You are making an enormous difference in so many lives!