“A Surprise Bed Partnership With Denton!”

Hello Friends,

You have to be creative sometimes to meet a big demand. The largest need for Furnishing Families has always been mattresses, because they remain the largest requested item and also the most expensive. The provision for this ministry often comes seemingly out of nowhere! God is always creative with His supply chain for us.

This past May, we were sent a cold email from Ryan Nichols of Classic City, an extraction and installation company, regarding a donation opportunity. They were working on phase 2 of a huge dormitory upgrade and clearing project with the University of North Texas (UNT). They discovered us through the office of Brandi Rabalais, the business account coordinator for The City of Denton’s Solid Waste & Recycling division. Her team actually found us through a simple google search!

Ryan and Brandi wanted to find non-profit partners for this project for a few reasons. Of course, they found joy in these resources being repurposed by people in need. This route also served as a logistical win/win for each entity, too. Items from the dorm could avoid Denton’s landfill, in accordance with the growing city’s long-term goals. Classic City could also forego higher waste-hauling costs, especially because non-profits were invited to meet onsite to collect the items. 

Initially, their in-kind donation offer laid out the whole tally of available beds, dressers, desks, and desk chairs from the dormitory. We also discovered that the mattresses had used full protection encasements and were in great shape. Annabelle, of course, gave an emphatic “yes!” 

In coordination with 8 other receiving organizations, Classic City gave us priority for the mattresses! The team drove up to UNT two different days and received a whopping 200 mattresses (over 75% of their supply), 100 chairs, 10 dressers, and 10 desks. 

Our warehouse and storage units were immediately bursting at the seams! This gift was pivotal because now distribution has ramped up in serving the current waitlist, most of whom have needed beds as part of their home delivery. 

A special thank you goes to Brandi and Ryan for being FFOT’s advocates in the project. According to their final records, 90% of the dorm items were donated to partnering organizations. That means a whopping 190.41 total tons were diverted from the Denton landfill! We look forward to what partnership opportunities this opens up with the City of Denton, this region, Classic City, and beyond. 

Thank you to everyone who follows this work!. If you have any hot tips on receiving new or gently used beds or furnishings, please send an email to hope@ffotex.com. This community is amazing and we love you!!!

As One!

Annabelle and Lance