Our mission is to serve the community by providing a free furniture bank for local families and individuals in need.
MAP Furniture Bank provides free furniture to central Ohio residents who are dealing with severe life challenges ranging from previous homelessness to mental disability. Nearly 80 percent of the people we serve earn less than $10,000 annually and 95 percent earn less than $20,000 annually, leaving them unable to properly furnish their homes. MAP Furniture Bank helps these clients establish an improved quality of life and “turn their empty houses into homes.”
History of MAP Furniture Bank
Jeff Hay started what is now MAP Furniture Bank in 1998. After his experience working with social service agencies, including Columbus’ Open Shelter, Jeff knew he wanted to help people who were interested in improving their lives and founded Material Assistance Providers, Inc.
Working out of an abandoned church on East Morrill Avenue, Jeff was the entire operation and he served 75 families in the first year, collecting items four days per week and distributing them on Mondays.
The demand for service continued to grow and the church closed. MAP Furniture Bank moved its operation to a warehouse and office space donated by a local Culligan Company franchise.
As central Ohio’s only free furniture bank, our growth has been dramatic. Thanks to the combined efforts of generous donors, and dedicated volunteers and board members, MAP Furniture Bank has become an important provider in the social services network. We collect nearly 50,000 pieces of furniture each year and provide it to almost 3,500 struggling families. And we do this with a full-time staff of 12 and hundreds of volunteers.
MAP also acts as a valuable community partner by preventing usable materials from being sent to area landfills. MAP was awarded a 2007 Emerald Award in June 2007 by SWACO (Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio) for its recycling efforts. To put in perspective just how much MAP has prevented from going into landfills, if all of the furniture items collected and redistributed by MAP in just the past year were piled onto a one-acre plot of land, the pile would be 23 feet deep!That’s over 35,000 cubic yards of trash per year!
MAP is here to stay! On June 28, 2006, Mayor Michael Coleman cut the ribbon to MAP’s new permanent home at 118 South Yale Avenue in Franklinton. Along with the excitement of finding a new permanent facility for the organization, the Mayor also declared June 28th as MAP Furniture Bank Day.
