Slumberland Furniture Expands Annual Holiday Bed Give-Away Program

Furniture World Magazine

Slumberland Furniture will be able to help even more needy families sleep in beds this holiday season through its fifth annual Making Homes for the Holidays program. With new stores opened during 1999 and more charities participating, hundreds of families across Slumberland's six-state region will receive new bed sets. Slumberland purchases the beds directly from the manufacturers specifically for this donation program; beds sets include mattress, box spring and frame. In the Twin Cities, where Slumberland's headquarters are located, the company will partner with The Harriet Tubman Center, St. Anne's Place, Catholic Charities, The Union Gospel Mission and, newly on-board, the Minnesota chapter of World Relief. These and other organizations across Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska will match up families in need of beds with Slumberland's program. Last year, to help Slumberland continue to expand the scope of "Making Homes for the Holidays," the company changed the program's format from delivering the beds over several months to a one-day event with more hands-on help from the partnering charities. The charitable and volunteer organizations not only identified recipient families, they also drove their own cars and trucks to the Slumberland stores where Slumberland employees loaded the beds and served up breakfast or lunch to the volunteers. The volunteers then delivered the beds either directly to families or to the charities' storage facilities to be delivered over the next months as needed. This new format further enhanced the true community partnerships that have been developing since Slumberland's 1995 launch of the program: Last year, 28 stores worked side by side 65 charities and organizations including churches, Lion's Clubs, police officers, and the National Guard. In one community, the local school joined in and contributed bed linens. Nearly 300 Slumberland employees and as many volunteers across the six-state region helped roll out "Making Homes for the Holidays," donating 1,049 bed sets. Through the resulting media coverage, the stores helped raise public awareness that this need exists within their communities. "Charitable organizations told us of the great need for beds among families who had found shelter but had no money for the most basic of things, a good bed," said Slumberland president Ken Larson. "We work hard to help and support our communities-this is an important service Slumberland can offer. Through this program we can continue to help families, and especially many children, who are all deserving of a bed and a good night's sleep. I am especially grateful to our employees, who give their time and energy to help get these beds to the needy families." Slumberland was founded in 1967 in Richfield, Minn. The "Making Homes for the Holidays" program is just one of the many ways Slumberland gives back to the communities it serves throughout the year. Visit the company's web site at www.slumberland.com.