About Us – Our Mission

Household Goods provides a full range of donated furniture and household items, free of charge, to help people in need make a home.

Household Goods Founders, Ira and Barbara Smith

Our History

Household Goods began in 1990 when Barbara and Ira Smith offered to help a Salvadoran refugee who fled her country with her children and little else. The Smiths posted a notice asking for usable household items for the family and offered their carport as a collection point. The Smiths soon became aware there were many more families in the region that could not afford basic household essentials. They began appealing to surrounding communities for donated goods, which they used to help one family at a time furnish a home and begin new lives.

Household Goods has grown organically, from the Smiths’ helping one family, to a local church basement, to an expanded storage and operational space that now totals 28,000 square feet with space to store sixteen storage containers and trailers of donated furniture. Along the way, Household Goods has embraced the passion, skills, and commitment of volunteers to achieve the growth necessary to meet community demand. With a small staff and dedicated leadership from the Board of Directors, Household Goods maintains a lean operating budget that leverages every dollar donated to achieve maximum impact for clients.

Since it began, Household Goods has furnished 54,000 households from across Massachusetts and has provided families and individuals in need with 930,000 household items – large and small.

Learn more about our founders here.

The Need We Address

The people served by Household Goods have at least one thing in common — they need help during a difficult time.

Many in need are:

Recently homeless
Veterans
Fleeing domestic violence
Children, youth or elderly in need of services
Living with disability or illness
Victims of fire
Families trying to get by on minimum wage

Founders

Ira and Barbara Smith

Board of Directors

Executive Director – Sharon Martens
President – Mimi Deck Rutledge
Vice President – Brigid Bieber
Clerk – John Fallon
Treasurer – Priscilla Gannon

Directors

Susan Arapoff
Mary E. Bassett (Corporate Counsel)
Mike Broderick
Mike Coutu
Steve DeSandis
Janet Glidden
Tracey Guth
Patrick Harlan
Shuaib Ismail
Emil J. Ragones
Audrey Trieschman