Compassion furniture bank delivers on the name | News

Compassion Furniture Bank is a nonprofit organization that helps families furnish their homes after a fire, or helps homeless get their start after being in a shelter.

“We primarily work with Pickaway County Community Action, Haven House, homeless individuals who have relocated,” Tammy said. “We also work with the VA in Chillicothe, who bring people to live in Circleville or Ashville to help them furnish their homes.”

One of the biggest needs they encounter is beds, something Tammy said they’ll use a recent $500 from the Fraternal Order of the Eagles to help purchase. That will allow them to get two twin beds that can be given to a family or families in need.

“We always need beds and dressers,” she said. “Everyone needs a bed and a dresser.”

Wendy Roeder, Circleville’s Chapter of the Fraternal Order of Eagles’ Secretary, presented the $500 check to Tammy late last week.

“We love to help the veterans, our youth and get to people as early in their life as we can before it leads to more problems,” she said. “If you show them compassion, nine times out of 10, it’ll spread.”

Tammy said they do pick up furniture from people who might not be able to bring it to their location on U.S. 22 East near the county line, but they ask for a $20 donation to help cover costs of the truck and insurance.

“Other organizations charge a lot more than that, but if people can’t pay it, we don’t turn them away, we make it work,” she said.

She said they made it through the worst parts of the COVID-19 shutdowns, but that their volunteer pool has been almost depleted. Both Tammy and Seth have full-time day jobs and work in the evenings.

“We’re all volunteer-based, so the more volunteers we have, the more we can serve,” she said. “We’ve had our ups and downs and at times, we’ve been emotionally and physically exhausted. It’s a lot of work, but it’s also very rewarding. To see kids get a bed warms your heart.”

The organization started in late 2018 and since its inception, it’s helped 620 families with furniture needs. They started after learning to make beds with Vineyard Church as part of the Bed Brigade in Lancaster and praying on how they could help families.

“God just laid it on our hearts that there was a need and we were to fill it,” she said. “That happened in May of 2018 and we started in December. My husband had a vision of a green building during a prayer and I felt compelled to do this during a prayer and when we came to each other, I said I knew what we needed to do.”

The Meyers then sold their house in Lancaster and bought the property that they now live on. The Compassion Furniture Bank sits on part of the property that’s zoned for commercial use while they live in the back.

“Seth was driving to a job here in Circleville and called me and said he saw the building in his dreams and it was for sale,” she said. “We had a buyer for our home in a day and everything went through so easily. We offered a cheap price than what they were asking and they accepted it. One thing after another, God opened doors to let this happen.”

A testament to the work their doing, in the first year of the organization’s existence, Tammy said that they delivered to a lady who was in tears, which made them think they did something wrong.

“She started to cry and we thought what did we do wrong?” she said. “We asked her if everything was okay and she told us that she was 31 years old and she’d never had her own bed. It was touching.”

For Tammy, she said that they have been just as blessed as the people they’ve been helping.

“We’ve gotten so much out of this,” she said. “As a nurse, I serve people all the time, but to meet them in their deepest need is life changing for us. It’s very rewarding. When you answer God’s calling and you say yes, he rewards you for that and blesses you. I think we’ve been blessed more than we bless others sometimes.”

To reach out to Compassion Furniture Bank for either a donation or to volunteer, the organization can be reached at 740-207-1528.