People with Purpose Partner Spotlight: Humble Dwellings
People with Purpose began volunteering with Humble Dwellings in July of 2024. Twice a month, participants work in Humble Dwellings’ storage facility where the organization collects and stores their home furnishings. They help sort and organize donated silverware and utensils into bags so that when they gather items for a home, the silverware is already bundled and ready to go. They also help with bundling hangers for easy transport as well as keeping the storage facility clean and tidy. Humble Dwellings offers a variety of tasks to do allowing each of our participants to use their strengths and skills to help.
Humble Dwellings is a volunteer-based non-profit organization whose mission is to restore dignity and hope to those less fortunate by transforming their living space into a warm and inviting home using donated gently used furniture and household items.
They collect donations from generous donors, store them, deliver, set up, and decorate homes for individuals in need throughout the Quad Cities. They provide these services to individuals and families who are often living at or below the poverty level and are referred by local social service organizations. These individuals are often transitioning to a new home after fleeing domestic violence, fleeing war-torn countries, graduating from rehabilitation programs (both substance abuse and penal), working their way out of homelessness, aging out of the foster care system or displaced due to poor living conditions.
“PWP greatly assists us in saving time and effort for our workers as they prepare to transform a house or apartment into a home. We consider them a valuable group of Humble Dwellings volunteers!” said Lisa McCraw, Business Operations Manager at Humble Dwellings. Lisa’s main responsibility at the organization is grants and referrals. She also meets with clients and leads a team of movers and decorators to help transform a house into a home.
Hand in Hand’s executive team had the pleasure of working with Lisa first hand in December. The team got together to help a local family in need of a new place to live. We met with the family to get to know them and determine what decor they liked best. Then we met at the storage facility to pick out household items for each of the rooms, keeping the families tastes in mind. We transformed their new apartment in under a day and were able to be there to show it off to the family and see how excited they were to start fresh and have all that they need to make a house a home.
The organization is always looking for volunteer to help set up client housing and are always looking for donations of furniture and household items. They also have various volunteer roles behind the scenes that help with collecting donations, managing the inventory of items at their storage facility, grant writing, and fundraising. They’ve just launched a brand new website that you can view to learn more about their work and to find ways to get involved.