The Fall 2026 Newsletter
Hello Friends!
What a year this has been! A lot of time has passed since we gave you an update on Furnishing Families, and there’s so much to share! Fall is about to kick off, and it’s time to highlight fun stories from the year along with some exciting things to come!
The stories behind a home transformation have a common thread: Before And After. The families who receive help from Furnishing Families experience a sudden shift in their life. Now you can witness the personal view of this reality with amazing story telling and art, created by BeyondWorldsAI. Please consider sharing this video, especially on social media, as a way to get the word out and invite others to help transform more homes in Dallas and Fort Worth!
Watch the commercial HERE!!!
The Art and Mentorship Program
This August, we concluded the 8 week Youth Summer Art Program for 7-12 year olds in partnership with McDonald YMCA in southeast Fort Worth over the course of 16 classes. Our staff presented a small teaching from scripture and then distilled the topic down to a single word like Joy, Grace, and Mercy. This became the prompt for artistic interpretation, where students made amazing paintings. It also sparked conversation and appreciation of each other’s art. We helped the students overcome their fear of public speaking by having a live mic and having them share about their art with the entire class.
This summer program granted us an amazing insight to the power of art as a gateway into exploring personal and spiritual matters, and how it transforms the dynamic of the classroom. It also revealed how to effectively prepare for our next after school program starting this October!
We will now be expanding the format for an older age group this Fall semester (ages 12-18) and will incorporate more training materials with mature teaching and conversation pieces across 10 weeks (2 classes per week). About 30 students total will be led by 2 teachers and 2 teacher assistants.
This region of southeast Fort Worth tends to have at-risk students needing various forms of stability support. This class will facilitate conversations that instill self confidence, a sense of belonging, and an invitation to spiritual transformation through the presentation of the Gospel. Relationships will be established with students first and Christ will be introduced later in the program. We will also present approved churches in the region.
The class format will be expanded from the Summer program. A brief lesson and art will still be the first segments, but there will also be structured roundtable conversations about the art pieces, with self reflective questions and prompts for discussions of practical applications. Each lesson builds on each other, covering subjects of character development, emotional health, financial stewardship, relationships, and, ultimately, spiritual transformation through Jesus.
The roundtable format follows a model and curriculum inspired by the work of Global Priority Solutions (https://globalpriority.org/), which has been implemented in various settings, including corporate environments, youth programs, correctional facilities, and government offices internationally. While the staff serves as the facilitator and participates, each student has a time slot to share their answers. This ensures more engagement.
In partnership, the McDonald YMCA will graciously provide the class facilities and buses for our hired drivers to transport the students (most will be directly transported from three local schools). We will sponsor and facilitate the rest of the program, including supplies, class staffing, and a media team to help document the classes and create social media presence and evergreen marketing materials to further promote future classes.
This last summer session also revealed a couple other needs. New portable sound equipment is needed to replace that which was sadly destroyed by vandals at the YMCA earlier this year. This tech helps mitigate the acoustics of the large room from incidental noise during art, as well as serve as a tool for effectively controlling the room during conversations. We also discovered that many of the students who attend our summer class arrived hungry and their nourishment needs often became a distraction during class. We’ve created an additional food and beverage plan.
Through our home delivery program, we’ve delivered thousands of furniture items, beds, and other home necessities across 1100+ at-risk families in DFW. We have given Bibles and many ministry team accompaniments for deliveries, but we have consistently seen the need for additional ongoing mentorship and discipleship for lasting change within the family unit. We realize that a large-scale support system needs to start somewhere. The relational, mental, and spiritual health needs of youth are the most pressing.
If you would like to help financially support the art and mentorship program, your gift makes a big difference. Also, if anyone has teens aged 12-17 in the region who would like to join this program, please register HERE. Classes start October 6th!
For Future In-Kind Donations
Many of you have generously given items from your home that have transformed the living space of someone else in your community. You are amazing, and we are grateful! Home pickups come with a cost: labor, fuel, and storage, and usually add up to about $120 per pickup.
Moving forward, in-kind givers will be invited to help offset these costs. All of these donations are also tax deductible and NOT a requirement for home pickups. If you have given furniture, beds, etc in the past and desire to cover previous logistical costs, go HERE!
An Amazing Gift From A Local University
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. (You can watch a short recap of the pickup in this article!)
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.
Featured Partners
Some of Furnishing Families’ partners have been part of this work since before we even became legally certified as a non-profit. Elyce and Bill Mouskondis have faithfully and generously given both in-kind donations and financial gifts through the years. Their faithful support and heart for their community continues to serve as pillars of this organization. Thank you, Elyce and Bill, for your friendship and for believing in Furnishing Families of
Texas, even since its small beginnings.
Have We Served Your Family? Tell Us How You’re Doing!
Have the items given to your family improved your and your child's quality of life? If it has been 1 year or more since your home transformation, please CLICK HERE to tell us how you’re doing! Your honest answers to this survey help us provide data that grant organizations desire to know to better measure impact. We hope your family is growing in connection, stability, and empowerment.
Annabelle’s Treasures Pop Up: September 25th & 26th
The last Friday and Saturday, 10am-3pm, of each month is Pop-Up Time! Come shop for a cause at Annabelle’s Treasures and discover vintage, collectibles, art, and more! Net proceeds support the work of Furnishing Families. New items are added regularly. We hope to see you there!
5600 Egg Farm Rd #430,
Fort Worth, Tx 76244
Thank you for joining together for this adventure
So much is evolving in the work of Furnishing Families, and we are glad to get to share with you some of the updates.
Also, thank you to all who have shared this work with others: both to those who need help and to those who want to contribute. People have also relayed that a couple AI platforms have begun recommending us in their chat portals! How amazing!
Seasons are changing in the natural and, for many, in the spirit, as well. May God reveal Himself to you and your family in a fresh way this Fall!
As One!
Annabelle and Lance