For the past year and a half, Happy Home furniture bank has been helping to furnish homes for those in need.The nonprofit provides things like bed frames, couches, coffee tables, chairs, and kitchen utensils to those in need. They also purchase new mattresses for each home.Christy Spence is the founder and executive director.”The majority of the folks are transitioning out of homelessness. Our second biggest number, sadly enough, are women escaping domestic violence. We also have refugees, people who have gone through the process after a house fire or natural disaster,” said Spence. “So now they have permanent homes; they just need to fill it.”Spence started the nonprofit in early 2023, mostly because she was familiar with the feeling of having a house, but not a home.”When my husband transitioned out of military life into civilian life, we didn’t have jobs to come home to yet. We did get a rental house, but we really didn’t have a whole lot of our own belongings, and it’s tough. We had two little ones, and it really didn’t feel like home,” said Spence.Now, she works to ensure others don’t have that same feeling. Laura DiTarano is one of the people Spence has helped.”It feels like my life is coming back to me. This is something that I wish I could do for somebody else,” said DiTarano.DiTarano was formerly homeless. After moving to Louisville in 2021 to be closer to her son, who has cancer, she found herself with nowhere to go. After spending two years in the Wayside Christian Mission, DiTarano was able to get connected to housing. She was then connected to Happy Home through the UP Center for Women and Families.”I really was struck by how she chooses these things, how she put them together, how they were matching and they were sets,” said DiTarano. “It really did make it feel like a home. I had an apartment, and then I had a home.”Spence said she takes her job personally, and always makes sure items that go out to the house in need are coordinated.”We only take gently used items. So no damage, rips, stains, tears or funky smells,” said Spence. “So if it’s not going in my home, I don’t want it.”DiTarano said she appreciated that.However, now Happy Home is the one in need. Spence said the furniture bank’s truck that they use to move the furniture broke down, for the fourth time, and they can’t afford to fix it.”I’ve been told it’s not repairable anymore. We’ve spent so much money on fixing this thing, and now it’s gone,” said Spence. “Right now, we have 29 families, 29 households on hold because I don’t have a truck and because we don’t have the funds to get more mattresses right now.””So we need a truck. It doesn’t have to be a brand new truck, but we need to be able to raise the money or find a truck that we can get to get all of this furniture to where it needs to go,” said Spence.If you’d like to help or are interested in donating furniture, click here.
For the past year and a half, Happy Home furniture bank has been helping to furnish homes for those in need.
The nonprofit provides things like bed frames, couches, coffee tables, chairs, and kitchen utensils to those in need. They also purchase new mattresses for each home.
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Christy Spence is the founder and executive director.
“The majority of the folks [we help] are transitioning out of homelessness. Our second biggest number, sadly enough, are women escaping domestic violence. We also have refugees, people who have gone through the process after a house fire or natural disaster,” said Spence. “So now they have permanent homes; they just need to fill it.”
Spence started the nonprofit in early 2023, mostly because she was familiar with the feeling of having a house, but not a home.
“When my husband transitioned out of military life into civilian life, we didn’t have jobs to come home to yet. We did get a rental house, but we really didn’t have a whole lot of our own belongings, and it’s tough. We had two little ones, and it really didn’t feel like home,” said Spence.
Now, she works to ensure others don’t have that same feeling.
Laura DiTarano is one of the people Spence has helped.
“It feels like my life is coming back to me. This is something that I wish I could do for somebody else,” said DiTarano.
DiTarano was formerly homeless. After moving to Louisville in 2021 to be closer to her son, who has cancer, she found herself with nowhere to go. After spending two years in the Wayside Christian Mission, DiTarano was able to get connected to housing. She was then connected to Happy Home through the UP Center for Women and Families.
“I really was struck by how she chooses these things, how she put them together, how they were matching and they were sets,” said DiTarano. “It really did make it feel like a home. I had an apartment, and then I had a home.”
Spence said she takes her job personally, and always makes sure items that go out to the house in need are coordinated.
“We only take gently used items. So no damage, rips, stains, tears or funky smells,” said Spence. “So if it’s not going in my home, I don’t want it.”
DiTarano said she appreciated that.
However, now Happy Home is the one in need. Spence said the furniture bank’s truck that they use to move the furniture broke down, for the fourth time, and they can’t afford to fix it.
“I’ve been told it’s not repairable anymore. We’ve spent so much money on fixing this thing, and now it’s gone,” said Spence. “Right now, we have 29 families, 29 households on hold because I don’t have a truck and because we don’t have the funds to get more mattresses right now.”
“So we need a truck. It doesn’t have to be a brand new truck, but we need to be able to raise the money or find a truck that we can get to get all of this furniture to where it needs to go,” said Spence.
If you’d like to help or are interested in donating furniture, .