Forward in Faith | Summer 2024
On a weekday morning in a warehouse about 15 minutes from Perimeter Church, beautiful things are happening. The volunteers of Fully Furnished Ministries, many of whom are Perimeter members, are hard at work preparing donated furniture for families in need.
Some of the volunteers are dusting, repairing, and painting furniture. Others are re-upholstering chairs with donated fabric or sorting newly cleaned bedding. Others are ensuring that donated lamps work properly, while others are assembling welcome baskets. Every action is done with care. These volunteers want the families who will receive the donated items to understand that they are valued.
The ministry of Fully Furnished is about more than just accepting and delivering donated furniture. It’s about meeting a neighbor’s very practical need while giving them dignity and hope. It’s about living and sharing the gospel through the gift of furniture.
Perimeter members Don and Karen Edmiston are part of the volunteer team. Karen acts as an “assessor” working directly with the families who have been referred to the ministry from churches or nonprofits. She helps assess a family’s furniture needs. Her husband, Don, enjoys working with his hands and looked into Fully Furnished shortly after he retired. “Within 30 minutes, I had a sander in my hand,” he remembers.
Don volunteers in the furniture restoration area. “What we strive to do is to give the very best furniture we can because we know the situation the families are in,” he said. “We want to give them dignity and something that they can be proud of. We want to give them our best.”
