Resources for Making the Most of an Appointment to Receive Furniture
Thank you for referring to Household Good to help people in need make a home. Your referrals are a key part of successfully giving people donated, gently used furniture and household goods they need but cannot afford to buy.
We want the process of visiting Household Goods to be a truly positive and worthwhile experience for you and the people you refer. Keeping you up to date about the referral process is the best way to do that. As always, we welcome your feedback, your questions and concerns, and especially any “success stories” about your clients and Household Goods.
Click on the orange heading to read our tips and advice for helping your clients get the most out of their visit to Household Goods.
What truck size will your client need? Advising your clients about securing the correct truck size is critically important; Household Goods does not provide trucks for clients. When in doubt, rent a larger truck.
Here’s a guide to various truck sizes:
Did you know that every two weeks a child dies when a television, piece of furniture, or an appliance falls on him or her? It’s easy, inexpensive, and only takes a few minutes to save a childAs part of a new safety initiative, we are now providing furniture anti-tip anchors with dressers, bookcases, and other large furniture. Thanks to the generosity of the Lee Nordblom Charitable Gift Fund and Hangman Products for making this possible.
We had a great response to our survey and request to join our agency advisory group. Our first meeting was held at the end of February. We discussed the challenges that arise from the need for clients to transport furniture from Acton to their homes. A wide range of agencies were represented, and many actionable ideas were generated. We have brought these ideas to our work with an Executive MBA consulting team from MIT, and hope to pilot some of them in the near future. This roundtable discussion also proved to be a way for agencies facing similar obstacles to brainstorm and share ideas.
We plan to host quarterly Zoom meetings with this group. If you would like to participate, or be notified of next meetings and proposed topics of focus, please email us your name here.
We have a standing invitation to workers from our referring agencies to come in for a tour and updates on the process of connecting their clients to Household Goods. Recently we welcomed 13 workers from a variety of programs at Community Teamwork in Lowell. Tracy Looney of CTI’s HeadStart program coordinated the visit.
After the visit, she wrote:
“A big thank you to you all! We really appreciate you taking the time to meet with us. Agencies such as Community Teamwork are very lucky to be able to work with organizations like yours to assist our clients with dignity and respect during very trying times.
I always have been, and always will be, in awe of the scope of the volunteer work at Household Goods and appreciate your dedication and commitment.
Thank you for being gracious hosts!
If you work for an agency and would like a tour of Household Goods, please contact us here.
When you fill out the online referral form please suggest at least two specific dates that the person you are referring can come in for an appointment. It will speed the scheduling process and get them what they need sooner!
It is extremely important to make sure anyone coming to Household Goods has a clear and specific transportation plan to get to and from our center.
There is no regular public transportation in Acton and it is a three mile walk from the South Acton MBTA station to Household Goods. There is very limited shuttle service from the MBTA train to “Town Hall/Library” stop (a half mile away from our center) that can be found here: Shuttle
Do you have new co-workers who may not know that Household Goods is available to them or who may be unsure about how to make referrals?
Sometimes when agencies have staffing changes, knowledge of Household Goods as a resource gets lost in the shuffle. Please let anyone in the “people helping” business know that we are here year round to give a full range of donated furniture, free of charge, to help people in need make a home. We have plenty of inventory to furnish even more homes.
People are allotted only one appointment to collect furniture from Household Goods, and all the items they choose must be taken on the day of that appointment. It is important to plan ahead and rent the right size truck. Moving into a studio apartment might only take a 10′ truck, but for a 2-3 bedroom apartment, a 20′ truck is needed. This Truck Size chart can help you plan which size is best for the move you are helping with.
