Two days and two tractor trailer trucks filled with 585 pieces of the finest home furnishings from the world’s largest furniture store, Furnitureland South (FLS) in Jamestown, to fill three homes at River Hill Refuge (RHR) located near Shelby in Cleveland County—this is the most recent culmination of a family’s commitment to help children through Baptist Children’s Homes (BCH).
“My grandmother Stella Harris always had her eye out for people in need, especially women and children,” FLS Director of Organizational Development Sydney Harris says. “It is my grandparents’ legacy and a heart for our community that drives the bigger Furnitureland South family to give back.”
FLS provided all the furnishings and the time and design
resources to help launch RHR and welcome The Westmoreland Family Home’s first foster family. RHR is part of BCH’s growing foster care ministry where each of the three BCH-owned homes will have a set of Christian foster parents who will care for as many as five children at a time.
“We were overjoyed to help make this project happen,” Harris adds. “It has been a true partnership with everyone who has worked to make RHR a reality.”
When approached about the project, Harris knew immediately who would take the lead for their company. She tapped longtime FLS sales and design consultants Sherry and Todd Needles. “I knew they would make this a project of the heart.”
The couple are members at The Summit Church in Kernersville and began the project by praying. “Every client and every project is important,” Sherry says, “but keeping in mind that the end user in this project would be foster children—we wanted everything we did to make a difference in their lives.”
FLS is known for its exceptional quality, and Sherry was intent that each piece they used would be sturdy and durable to stand the coming and goings of many children over the years.
“Knowing that we are helping needy children means everything,” Todd says. “I’m proudest of this project than any other in my 35-year career.”
The couple assert that the project was a team effort, involving top FLS executives to a variety of staff members to those who loaded empty boxes back on the trucks to be recycled. “Everyone came together with a big heart,” Sherry says. “To help children, we would do it again in a second.”
Learn more at riverhillrefuge.org
Written by Jim Edminson, Editor of Charity & Children
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