THE 2023 FALL NEWSLETTER
"WHAT A FALL, Y'ALL!!!"
Hello Friend!
This transformative season has been marked by unexpected generosity. Beyond just the YMCA outreach, we partnered with local businesses to feed and clothe those in need this holiday season.
In this newsletter, you will also hear about a NEW sister organization—Furnishing Families of California! Get to know our strategic partner in estate sales, and learn more about the subsidized housing programs that affect the many of families we serve!
Firstly, Thank You to all who have partnered with us in our Mattress Mania Campaign to purchase beds! At the publishing of this newsletter, $13,487 has been raised!
A reminder to all donors of $150 or more that you will be receiving a FREE one-of-a-kind scarf or poncho after making your gift.
A Thanksgiving Surprise
Early in November, our case manager Terri Byrd was shopping at Trader Joe’s in Fort Worth when she felt the Lord lead her to talk to the manager. Terri explained the mission of Furnishing Families of Texas and asked if there was a way to partner together for Thanksgiving. Wanda (the manager) said to come by on Wednesday the 22nd and Trader Joe’s would donate seven turkeys. This would turn out to be QUITE an understatement.
Terri contacted seven of our closest families to find out how we could help. She also assessed their need for coats since we recently received a generous coat donation from Dr. Becky Tibbits at Max Living network (See Story Below). On Wednesday afternoon, Lance Jr and Terri packed Annabelle’s van with aluminum cooking pans, bags of thanksgiving sides, 3 coolers, freezer packs, and coats, then set off to Fort Worth.
The Trader Joe’s staff overwhelmed us with their generosity. Not only did they donate TWENTY TURKEYS, but when they discovered our plans and the amount of time for the deliveries, they also donated Trader Joe’s travel coolers AND packed them (3 to a cooler) for us. This kept the turkeys fresh and cold, because they were refrigerated—not frozen. We stuffed our own freezer packs into the bags and hit the road!
The families were abundantly blessed with the holiday food and the coats. Larger families had the option of more than one turkey! At the Regency Oaks drop off point, Tylynn Richards met us to collect turkeys for distribution to families who live near her. (She also cooked an additional turkey for the homeless in her area and shared with them. Amazing!)
Thank you God, Trader Joe’s Fort Worth, and our amazing team for helping make this Thanksgiving Surprise happen!
Coating Our Community With Love
Temperatures in Texas have started to drop toward freezing! Families without proper cold weather attire feel the winter temperature changes dramatically. Dr. Becky Tibbits, a friend of the Wallnau’s (pictured right of Annabelle), saw this need and wanted to work together with Furnishing Families of Texas to help.
In October, she and her business partner Dr. Yaxaira Almeida (pictured left of Annabelle) started a coat drive at Max Living Momentum Family Chiropractic, their practice in Cedar Hill. They invited their clients and their family network to donate new and gently used coats for children and adults. Annabelle was thrilled with this idea, initially hoping for enough coats to supply seven families we have built long-term relationships with.
Amazingly, within a few weeks the results were beyond abundance. OVER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY COATS came in!!! Annabelle and Terri Byrd have been able to deliver coats to our families before the coldest temperatures arrived. We still have coats available to distribute to additional families in our network and beyond through several public schools.
Other partners continue to confront this issue, as well. Robyn Garcia, executive director of Worth Fighting For in Las Vegas, connects us with thousands of dollars worth of new, high quality, name-brand clothes, sweaters, and coats for free! We just pay for the shipping. We distribute these items to our network and through our outreaches. Last year, we joined forces with social worker Misty Gann of Keller ISD for a free school closet program to clothe students in need. (You can see that story HERE). We sent her some beautiful Patagonia coats. We will also be sending items to Donna Biss for their Christmas outreach in Orange County, Ca.! (Read Furnishing Families of California in our blog to learn more).
Thank you to all our partners for your benevolence in helping these families. This Thanksgiving and Fall season, together we have been able to follow Jesus’ command found in Luke 3:11: “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”
The Estate Sales Partnership
Furnishing Families of Texas relies on our partners’ generosity. We are truly grateful to our financial supporters and those who make in-kind donations. Estate sales have also served as a source of gently used furniture and household items. This all comes from Sarah Wilson and her clients at Sarah Sells It, her estate sale business.
Our introduction to Sarah came about organically though Mercedes Sparks, a family friend of the Wallnaus and VP of Operations at Lance Learning Group. In 2021, Mercedes was visiting a local estate sale and struck up a conversation with Sarah. They discussed Sarah’s business and what happens to items that don’t get sold. Mercedes suggested partnering with Furnishing Families of Texas and shared Annabelle’s contact.
Sarah recalls of talking with Annabelle:
“I said, look, y'all can take it all, but I just need you to take it ALL.”
That includes furniture, lamps, dishware, etc. which fits the template for our demographic needs, as well as large ornate pieces of furniture that are harder to place. There are also random items you would find in someone’s pantry, closet, or garage. Annabelle agreed and found different channels to appropriately distribute, sell or dispose of the items we do not use.
Sarah says:
“I think it's a really good service across the board. It helps you all…families in need…it helps me as a service. It definitely helps the family (her clients).”
Two years in, we are thrilled with the whole operation. Furnishing Families also hires Tylynn Richards to clean the home once our team has cleared everything out. Sarah has been impressed with our effort and excellence.
Consignment has also proven to be a mutually beneficial arrangement. Many of Sarah’s clients in the DFW area are wealthy and have large, beautiful homes. This provides quality furniture for us to receive and it is a great venue for reselling certain items to estate sale hunters. In the past, fitting larger items has proven to be an issue at delivery time. Annabelle has decided that large and/or high value items make more sense to be re-sold with our share of the profits (50%) going toward the operation and purchasing more practical pieces. This is a win/win situation as we are able to move out unused inventory and make room in our warehouse, as well!
While Sarah also helps families liquidate a home after a family member passes away, most (about 80%) of her at-home-sale clients are people moving across the country or down-sizing their homes. We are grateful to receive from these families. Those who are interested in Sarah’s services can see her latest deals online or join the “First Dibs Club” by visiting her Facebook Business Page: “Sarah Sells It.” She is also listed on Estatesales.net.
Sarah shares her appreciation of FFOT:
“You know, you have a really, really good heart…and everything you do is with good intentions. I feel good about what y'all do and it benefits a lot of people.”
We look forward to the future together and continuing our estate sale and consignment partnership. Thank You, Sarah!
Furnishing Families of California
We have been blown away by the stories of how Furnishing Families of Texas has inspired others to do the same thing in their region. If you have been following us for a while, you will remember our friend and partner Donna Biss. In 2021, Donna moved to Texas from California in the middle of the pandemic, primarily because she felt a connection with the mission of Furnishing Families to serve those in need.
Donna and her family immediately became an integral part of our operation. She became the funder, buyer, and oftentimes, deliverer of food and cleaning supplies to the families we furnished. Her daughters would often help with prep and deliveries, and her son Kyle became one of our main truck drivers and movers. Donna assisted with different outreaches, especially the Christmas project, where 50 children in our network received gifts. Donna personally contributed most of that budget. Her heart and generosity is off the charts.
When she and her family needed to move back to California due to changes in their work and family business, Donna desired to start something similar to Furnishing Families in her new home city of Orange County. She reached out to a local domestic abuse shelter called Laura’s House, because she felt she wanted to serve women who were the most vulnerable and needed help. She discovered that though there were beds at the home placements for girls that exit the program, they were in need for everything else. This is how Furnishings Families of California started.
Like in Texas, this became a family operation. Her sons have pickup trucks and help transport the heavy duty furniture (dressers, couches, etc.). Whatever doesn’t fit in the trucks, Donna brings in her car: food, cleaning supplies, clothes, blankets, pots, pans, microwaves, small appliances, etc. All of the homes have children, and Donna’s daughter, Savannah donates stuffed animals. While many of the women do not speak English, Donna shares her contact with everyone, hoping to build a relationship over time and minister to them personally.
Because this is a part-time project, Donna’s intention is not about quantity but quality. To date, 8 families have been served. “It's in God's hands,” she says. “If He wants it to go bigger…God will bring it all in, right?” Annabelle’s desire from the beginning of Furnishing Families has been for people to simply begin with what they have, without feeling they need to start a big organization. We are so proud of Donna and provoked by her commitment to service.
Since being back in Orange County, there have been more opportunities for contributions. In September, she joined a local group sending items, especially diapers and baby products, to families displaced in the Maui fires. Her daughter Savannah also sent stuffed animals for the children. (She’s started her own organization called Blue Birds Charities!)
Next, they have their sights set on the holidays: She shares, “We are busy buying Christmas presents for the wounded warriors families and Camp Pendleton base families which is located near us…They are in need of 800 gifts; praying we could meet their needs!!” FFOT shipped 13 boxes of Preston and Brianna swag to Donna to include in the gifts to the Wounded Warrior’s children! (We also sent 13 cases of Preston and Brianna swag to Mario Murillo Ministries in California for their Christmas outreaches to the people in their communities.)
To learn more about Furnishing Families of California or to donate, please visit their website furnishingfamiliesofca.com. We look forward to tracking their journey and sharing another update in a future newsletter. Thank you, Donna Biss and family, for all that you do!
Learning About Our Neighbor: Housing
Annabelle hopes to someday provide affordable housing through Furnishing Families, but for now, that goal stays on the vision board. The fact remains—furnishings are pointless without a living space to take them to. In this “Zip Codes” series installment, you will learn about the current assistance landscape in the Tarrant County/Fort Worth area and gain a further understanding of the life circumstances for the families we serve.
Nearly all of our served families are in a low or very low income bracket, and a large percentage have just left a shelter, domestic abuse case or homelessness. While there exists some local non-profits that help, inevitably, some form of government intervention becomes the most reliable and practical way towards a stable and successful living arrangement.
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) remains the umbrella at the federal level of oversight. In our primary service areas, two of the main agencies through which HUD administers resources are Tarrant County Housing Assistance and Fort Worth Housing Solutions. Additionally, HUD provides project-based assistance (rent help is sourced directly through designated properties) and tenant-based assistance (renters pick a location that meets HUD’s criteria). In all these cases, assistance may range from fully to partially subsidized, depending on the case (HUD Website). All applicants are subject to screening for abuse of alcohol, drug use, and any criminal activities in an effort to promote safety and selection of “deserving” candidates (Cityscape).
Fort Worth Housing Solutions provides the biggest variety of help, overseeing both project and tenant-based assistance, as well as homeownership and family self-sufficiency programs. Recipients of a Housing Choice Voucher can use resources toward a mortgage, loan interest, property taxes, utilities, and more. Additionally, training sessions are provided for good home stewardship, budgeting, financing, rebuilding credit, and more. The seven point criteria for qualifying is strict and includes enrollment in the Voucher program for at least a year and full-time employment with a minimum income of $16,000 a year (FWHS).
Family Self-Sufficiency programs work with a client and case manager to help set (at least) 5 year career and financial goals, working together over time to meet them. The goal is to incentivize education or technical certifications so the client earns more income and pays more of their rent over time. Part of the reward for completing the multi year program includes an interest-bearing escrow account, where funds are added monthly to correlate with increasing costs of rent as income increases. These funds typically mount to at least $10,000 that can be used for any purpose after graduation such as a down payment on a home (1).
While amazing government offerings exist in the United States, the demand far outweighs the supply, especially for extremely low-income households. The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) defines these households as those “with incomes at or below the federal poverty guideline or 30% of AMI (Area Median Income), whichever is higher” (The Gap). In light of data gathered in the 2021 American Community Survey, The NLIHC came to these conclusions (1):
The shortage of affordable rental housing primarily impacts renters with extremely low incomes. Extremely low-income renters in the U.S. face a shortage of 7.3 million affordable and available rental homes, resulting in only 33 affordable and available homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households.
The shortage of affordable rental housing worsened during the pandemic. Between 2019 and 2021, the shortage of affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renters worsened by more than 500,000 units, or 8%.
Black, Latino, and Indigenous households are disproportionately extremely low-income renters and are disproportionately impacted by this shortage. Nineteen percent of Black non-Latino households, 17% of American Indian or Alaska Native households, and 14% of Latino households are extremely low-income renters, compared to only 6% of white non-Latino households.
Texas, especially, falls into the category of scarcity of availability. For rental homes that are affordable and available per 100 extremely low income renter households, Texas has 25 available (2). Of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the USA, that disparity becomes even more exacerbated in “Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX” at 16 of these homes for every 100 of this household type (3).
There exists a stigma that extremely low-income households are unemployed, and to a large degree this is true. About 66% are unable to work, falling into a specific category such as Senior (30%), Disabled (18%), Single Non-disabled Non-elderly Caregiver of Person with Disability or Young Child (3%), in School (4%), or Other (11%) (4). Roughly 7% are simply unemployed (20% of the Labor Force group), and 13.65% of low-income householders work 40 hours a week in low wage earning jobs (39% of Labor Force group) (5). The figure below is compiled by the NLIHC using the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) (6).
Because of the affordable housing shortage, when new single family properties are built, higher income households snatch them up first. The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) proposes an array of legislative approaches to this, such as: increased funding from congress for HUD programs, changes in local and state zoning laws to incentive programs for high density living spaces to be built, and legal renter protections to prevent tenants with subsidized income to be turned away by landlords (7).
There is, of course, a place for government intervention. In direct and indirect ways, Furnishing Families collaborates with local government programs and agencies. Our case worker Terri Byrd has connected many of our families with help, such as house placement or disability assistance. Case workers from other non profits regularly ask us to help provide the beds, furniture, etc. for client living spaces that the government subsidizes.
We do not have all the answers for this issue, but desire MORE neighborly support from the private sector and local community. Churches, volunteering, local non-profits, and organic relationship-building serve as bedrocks of long term societal stability. Furnishing Families’ future communities will provide housing, discipleship, and life-skill mentorship that can empower extremely low-income families to not only increase their income but thrive and pay it forward, as well.
We all may not be able to break national cycles of poverty and its spiritual and practical root issues, but we want to be faithful with the mission field God entrusts us. You are invited to continue following and partnering with this work to see the immediate and long term vision impact these families. In the meantime, you may consider what it looks like to love your neighbor that needs stable housing.
The Mattress Mania Joy Continues!!
This Has Been One Fun Fall!
Each day has its challenges and rewards, but experiencing joy in the midst of it all keeps us grounded in the Lord.
While we cannot cover ALL that has happened since our last newsletter here, these special events and updates provide us encouragement of increasing impact.
To see the other amazing Fall stories, be on the lookout for more blog-emails and social media posts in the coming weeks!
Thank you for joining Furnishing Families and being part of this amazing community.
May you FALL in love with the Lord, your family, and sphere of influence more and more as we enter the holiday season and New Year!
As One,
Annabelle and Lance