Having frequently been doing double moves on Saturdays thus far in 2023, we managed to furnish three apartments this past week with a formerly homeless, now employed and under a roof young male and two Domestic Violence families including 4 children. The real joy is that the former is already assisting us in the collecting and furnishing operations “paying it forward” and enthusiastically asked to continue do so. Wednesday ‘D’ and I picked essentials out of our warehouse and moved them to his efficient upper floor apartment by himself with ease. Saturday we had 13 volunteers to move a two trailer loads, pickup and car full of donated furniture and households to two very grateful moms. As always we transformed their bare (except for inflatable mattress) apartments into a model-home-like environment. Welcome home bags with beginning essentials were delivered to both the moms and children filling the kitchen and bath. One highlight was a younger daughter’s saucer-wide eyes as she saw her pink blanket with one of her heroes imprinted, grabbed, hugged, and ran up the stairs to put on her new bed. As always, the ShareFest-Texas “signature-light” perfectly epitomized the extreme amount of hope we try to bring with our deliveries and with that many volunteers, it was indeed loud and full of hugs once again. By the looks on the faces of all three recipients we could tell that a lot of yesterday’s darkness was pushed to the background, and we left signs to help remind them of that.
It’s important to also note that in the prior seven days SFT successfully moved 5 families with a total of 12 children with a welcome feeling of “home” where before they were in a shelter sometimes for months. We accomplished this despite the heat and second floor apartments, one of which presented a “access challenge.” And we couldn’t have done it without our persistent village of donors. We are still on track for furnishing 100 apartments in 2023.
If anyone is interested in assisting us on this incredibly fulfilling mission by donating needed items, hours or financially please reach out to us via email INFO@SHAREFEST_TEXAS.ORG.
