We’ve had a dream for a while. That dream was an onsite furniture repair workshop to fix slightly damaged furniture to divert even more items from the landfill and put them back into our donation stream. On top of that, the people who will be doing the furniture repair would be individuals with barriers to employment gaining valuable work experience under the guidance of qualified instructors. Now thanks to the generous support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Mackenzie Investments and individual donors, that dream is now a reality!
Furniture Bank Workshop Program
Working in collaboration with Miziwe Biik Aboriginal Employment and Training, we’re providing a hands-on opportunity for students of their Carpentry Pre-Apprenticeship program to get hands-on experience putting what they learned in the classroom into action.
Here’s how it works. For an 8 week practicum, participants are working hard in our workshop salvaging furniture items that would otherwise end up in the landfill. This is allowing us to put more furniture items into our donation stream for clients to choose from, and at the same time improve the environmental footprint here in the GTA.
In the first month alone, our students have helped us salvage 100+ furniture pieces that would otherwise end up in the landfill.
Salvaging Furniture – Before & After Pics
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What Next?
As a final project, the students will be working together to recreate a 1 of a kind table and rocking chair combo for our Chair Affair event. Chair Affair is our annual auction based gala and fundraiser where we reimagine, redesign and repurpose old furniture for auction. Stay tuned for photos of their progress!
