Chicago Furniture Bank - Volunteer

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The mission of the Chicago Furniture Bank (CFB) is to provide dignity, stability, and comfort to Chicagoans that face poverty by allowing clients to handpick an entire home’s worth of furnishings. With eight trucks, the CFB collects donated furniture and housewares to give to those leaving homelessness and moving into permanent housing. We serve the formerly homeless, victims of domestic violence, the mentally and physically disabled, recovering addicts, veterans, and other populations that face poverty through partnerships with 400 local nonprofits. In three years, the CFB has furnished 5,500 homes for more than 14,300 clients, distributing 6,000 tons of furniture that would have otherwise ended up in landfills. The CFB is currently the largest furniture bank in the country, furnishing around thirteen homes per day with a staff of 33 full-time employees that are primarily hired through nonprofit workforce development programs. We project to fully furnish 3,400 homes in 2021 with the goal of furnishing 5,000 homes per year by 2023.

The pandemic took away a valuable resource for us: volunteer work. Currently, we are looking to restart our volunteer program and are looking for your help. We can work with you if you have skills that we could use or if you would like to help without coming in person. Here are a few roles that we need filled:

Showroom Assistant

You will get to be the face of the CFB in the showroom and help the clients pick out their own pieces of furniture, ranging from a new loveseat to a beautiful lamp. Your shift will be spent seeing the client's excitement as they make difficult decisions between two couches and the happiness on their face when they sit in the chair they now own. This job is what makes people want to volunteer, it is one that will make you feel good about yourself while also making a positive impact on many people's lives.

Kitchenware Sorter

This job is perfect for someone who wants to come in and volunteer without having to interact with many people. You can sit in the warehouse and listen to music or a podcast as you assemble a pre-selected kitchenware set. Kitchenware boxes are perhaps the most requested item that we provide to our clients, rivaling even beds. Your work gives families cups, pots, pans and plates, allowing them to make and eat home cooked meals.

Administrative Assistant

Perhaps you are looking to stay off your feet and work by yourself. If so, we can make that work. Our database maintenance volunteer will take the paper forms that clients fill out and transfer them into our online database via Google Form. You will also transfer our client appointments from Calendly to Excel. After you have completed that, we will have you call the next day’s appointments and deliveries to confirm that they are still available.

Warehouse Sorter

All usable items that the Chicago Furniture Bank picks up will either be used by us or donated to a partner charity. To do this, we need to sort through the things that our movers collect and gather the usable items for our partner charities and dispose of the few things that we cannot use or donate. This job is perfect for someone that wants to work by themselves and on their feet.

Greeter

Some volunteers want to stay off their feet but still want to have interactions with the client. For those people, we have the perfect job. The greeter will sit in our lobby and help out anyone who arrives at the Chicago Furniture Bank. Your entire shift will be spent directing clients and other volunteers to wherever we need them, all with a warm smile on your face.

Furniture Repair

Some of the furniture we receive is lightly worn. We want to give our clients the highest quality furniture possible so we need skilled volunteers to help repair furniture with minor issues. This adds a lot to the CFB, since it allows us to redistribute even more furniture that we are proud of.

Furniture Movers

Furniture Movers help our warehouse workers efficiently move furniture in and out of the showroom and move our deliveries onto trucks. With a little sweat and hard work, they help the CFB load truckers quicker and organize the warehouse.

These are just a few jobs that we need. No matter your skill set or location, we are always willing to find a place for you. If you are interested in helping us out, please click here to fill out our survey. After completion of the survey you will automatically be sent an email containing some onboarding material. If you have any skills that you think we can use, we will email you to determine if and how we can best utilize you.