Furniture First Donates Mattresses to Flood Victims

Furniture World News Desk on 10/15/2018

Furniture First Buying Group has announced that in cooperation with Serta, they will be donating a trailer full of their private label Mattress 1st product to flood victims in North Carolina. Serta, the manufacturer of the buying group’s private label, is splitting the cost of donation. Furniture First member Furniture Distributors is coordinating the distribution of the donations with local aide organizations.

“They are going out to the Marines affected by the storm that had no rental insurance, flood insurance and were very much in need,” said Jill Thigpen of Furniture Distributors. “The candidates are well screened to make sure that their need is dire. These will get divided up between our two military bases and communities that were affected - both Camp Lejuene in Jacksonville and Cherry Point in Havelock. The remainder of the mattresses I would like to go to other local groups to help support some of the families affected that are not military in our area. I have reached out to many groups and asked for recommendations so that they truly get to all the right people. It is truly a generous offer from Furniture First and Serta and I know my community will appreciate this so much.”

Two of Furniture Distributors’ locations in eastern North Carolina were classified as total losses by their insurance company due to the storm.

“Our clearance center took a big hit from Hurricane Florence,” said Thigpen. “The insides have been gutted, carpet and furniture have been totaled and removed. It is heart breaking to see it in such a state. The restoration team and our entire community have been amazing at helping us during this overwhelming time, but it is still going to be a long process.”

Furniture Distributors main location, and hub of their entire organization, sustained substantial damage but is still operational. The damage to Furniture Distributors business properties and merchandise lost is over a million dollars.

Collection boxes have been set up at their stores so that community members can make donations to benefit those impacted by the storm and subsequent flooding.

“Furniture Distributors has been a member of Furniture First for over 20 years,” said Andrew Kauffman, CEO of Furniture First. “They are part of the Furniture First family and while we are saddened by the damage to their stores and community, we are happy to provide support to help their community rebuild their lives. My son, Will, trained at Camp Geiger near Jackson, North Carolina after he entered the Marines. The owner of Furniture Distributors, Bill Luzadder, began his support of the Marines in the community with his own military service.”

More about Furniture First: Furniture First is a cooperative national home furnishings and mattress buying group serving full line independent retailers with sales over $2 million. The group represents 500 store fronts in 47 states, collectively generating $2.2 billion in retail sales. For more information, visit www.FurnitureFirst.coop/join or call 800-411-3477.