BRIDGING INCORPORATED
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Mission Statement
Each year social service agencies refer over 4,000 families who are in crisis and need a helping hand to gain stability. Bridging aids them by furnishing their home with basic items: beds, a table & chairs, dressers, towels, and dishes. Over half of the families are transitioning out of homelessness. Eighty-five percent of the households have income under $15,000.Distributed product is donated by companies, hotels, restaurants and individuals. Bridging is the consummate champion of reuse. Each year we redistribute over 400 semi-trailers of furnishings, saving valuable landfill space. Bridging partners with over 140 agencies who determine a families need and make a referral. This collaboration improves an agency’s ability to serve by providing one piece of the puzzle for a family; they may go to a food pantry for food, to a job placement center for career assistance, and to yet another charity for utility assistance. But without Bridging agencies have nowhere to get furniture items families desperately need.
About This Cause
Bridging was founded in July of 1987 by the Outreach Ministry of a Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Bridging operated as a ministry for five years before becoming a separate 501(c)(3) non-profit in 1992. In 1997, after moving to various locations, Bridging took ownership of the Bloomington Minnesota warehouse and central offices location. Fueled by increased demand, Bridging expanded service by opening a warehouse in Roseville in November 2006. Between our current locations in Bloomington and Roseville Bridging operates 48,000 square feet of warehouse Bridging and is considered the largest Furniture Bank in the United States. Various organizations, such as churches, provide furniture to people on an ad-hoc basis. However, there are no other large scale furniture banks in Minnesota that provide an entire household of furnishings. As the largest furniture bank in the United States Bridging is a nationally recognized model that other cities call upon to replicate. Although various circumstances bring people to Bridging 54% of the clients we serve are transitioning out of homelessness. Of those 42% were homeless for 3 months or less, 31% from 4 to 12 months and the remaining 27% were homeless for over a year. Eighty-five percent of the population Bridging serves have household income under $15,000, 71% are female head of household and 79% are minority. A furnished home is a basis for improved job performance, better grades in school and healthy family interactions. Families referred to Bridging have limited incomes and face the exhausting challenge of finding affordable housing, employment, education and health care. There is no money to furnish their apartment. Without furniture families do not have a comfortable place to gather. Their interactions are reduced and they often sleep, eat and study on the floor. Bridging relieves the pressure of buying furniture and makes their surroundings into a comfortable “home”. With this burden taken care of people can focus on the other crucial matters in their life. After receiving their furnishings, many of our clients are able to sleep in a clean, warm bed for the first time; share a family meal around a dining table; and read, complete homework, play games, and relax on their comfortable living room furniture. Family time is much more appealing with furniture. Each year Bridging gives a helping hand to more than 4,000 local families - children and adults who are living in empty homes and apartments - literally living and sleeping on the floor, in a car or on someone else’s sofa. A shining example of how Bridging services impacts our community was relayed to us by a caseworker when she wrote: What an honor to be able to connect my families to your agency and give them an opportunity to make their very empty house a home filled with furniture that will create everlasting memories! My client has not had furniture in several years and is now overjoyed with the ability to sit on comfortable couches and serve her children a meal on their new table. I thank you so much for your services and the hearts and lives you touch for both my families and myself! The work you do is beyond wonderful! Know that you change lives every single day through your gift to families. Each year Bridging gives over 175,000 items that are good quality and ideal for reuse by a family in need; some 50,000 pieces of furniture and 125,000 household items like pillows, towels, dishes, pots and pans. The thrift shop value to each family averages $1,300; totaling about $6 million distributed each year. Saving a family $1,300 allows then to buy other basic needs. Currently a family of four receives: FURNITURE: 1 mattress/box springswith linens, blankets and pillows 1 dresser 1 kitchen table and 4 chairs 1 sofa 1 upholstered side chair 3 wood items, e.g. night stands, book cases HOUSEWARES: 2 pots/pans 4 place settings: dishes, silverware, glasses 1 lamp 2 mirrors or pictures 1 small appliance, e.g. toaster, coffee maker 2 boxes of misc, e.g. bakeware, serving dishes 4 towel sets: bath, hand and washcloth Programs • Environment Enrichment through Product Collection: Bridging demonstrates the ultimate in reuse and recycling by giving items that still have a useful life to a family in need. Each year over 16,000 area businesses, furniture stores, hotels, restaurants and individuals donate quality used furniture and household items to Bridging. Donations are dropped to our warehouses and collected through donation drives. Bridging has a fee for service residential and corporate pick up program, fees can be waived for large corporate donations. We seek a re-usable purpose for all items received; for example large hotel armoires that are too big for a home are cut to the size of a dresser. When items are donated that cannot be given to our clients we send them to another nonprofit agency. Annually, Bridging keeps 10 million pounds from the landfill, saving 2 million cubic feet of landfill space. • Furnish a Home: Each week Bridging provides the equivalent of eight semi-trailers full of furniture and household goods to 75 families. Depending on family size, clients receive 15–20 furniture items, including beds, sofas, dressers, tables and chairs and 4-8 boxes of household items, including bedding, pots & pans, dishes, silverware, cooking utensils, etc. For a shopping appointment fee of $70 (which is generally paid by the referring agency) the family will receive $1,300 of items priced at thrift shop value. • Delivery: Bridging realized that our clients have little money to move the items they receive so in 2007 we began a low cost delivery program. Acquiring four donated 26 foot trucks we now deliver to two-thirds of our clients, accomplishing about 3,000 deliveries each year. Items are delivered the day after their appointment for a delivery fee of $180. • Bed Purchase: In the 25 years that Bridging has provided furniture to families there has always been a shortage of mattresses. A bed is essential for restful sleep to regenerate ones physical and mental self. Because mattress donations are not adequate to meet the need Bridging launched a discounted bed purchase program in June 2012. We purchase direct from King Koil allowing us to offer prices that range from $135 for a twin mattress/springs to $210 for a Queen set. Metal frames are also available. In 2013 this program provided 564 mattress/spring sets and 848 frames. • Dresser Build: Bridging does not get enough dressers. People hold onto them, often moving them to the garage or the basement for extra storage rather than donating them. In 2011 Bridging tackled this problem by implementing a Dresser Build Program where organizations purchase ready to assemble dressers. It has proven to be a great team building and/or service activity for groups. A 5 drawer dresser kit costs $75. This program has experienced steady growth and allows us to provide another 2,000 dressers each year.