MANSFIELD — Many people head home at the end of a long day, hoping to relax in their favorite chair.
For Pamela Milligan, executive director of the Furniture Bank of North Central Ohio, that everyday comfort represents something bigger.
“When you go home tonight, what’s your first goal?” Milligan added. “You just want to sit in your favorite chair. I want everybody to have a favorite chair.”
To me, furniture is about comfort, security and dignity.
Pamela milligan, executive director of the furniture bank of north central ohio
Love Furnishings, a new consignment and resale furniture store at 113 W. Fourth St., celebrated its opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday.
The store will initially operate from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Milligan said she is prepared to expand those hours in the future.
Love Furnishings serves as a social enterprise for the Furniture Bank of North Central Ohio. Every purchase supports the non-profit organization’s mission of helping people rebuild their lives after crisis.
Milligan launched the Furniture Bank two years ago at 775 Springmill St. to serve people leaving prison, rehabilitation programs, domestic violence situations and homeless shelters.
“They need to start over, they need furniture,” she said. “To me, furniture is about comfort, security and dignity.”
The organization helps between 30 and 35 households each month. This week alone, volunteers will furnish 11 households. During the past two years, the Furniture Bank has served more than 650 households and provided more than 1,100 beds.
“You need to have a good night’s sleep in order to get up the next day and fight the good fight,” Milligan said. “Life is hard sometimes and it’s harder for people struggling to overcome crises.”
Turning furniture into funding
Milligan created Love Furnishings to generate revenue for the Furniture Bank’s day-to-day operations.
“It takes money to do that and I hate asking for money, so I decided I’m going to try and earn my own money,” she said. “All the proceeds will go to help the Furniture Bank.”
She said grants rarely cover operational costs such as staffing and infrastructure.
“I need to hire staff, but grants don’t want to pay for the operational needs,” Milligan said. “I’m always going to need outside help, this is to give the Furniture Bank that.”
Love Furnishings offers a curated selection of gently used furniture and home décor. The store also accepts consignments, allowing community members to earn money while supporting the Furniture Bank.
Milligan said the consignment was her idea to help residents who wanted to support the mission while earning extra income.
Those interested in consigning items can send a photo to Milligan, bring the item to the store and negotiate a selling price.
A downtown vision comes to life
Milligan said she never imagined opening a retail storefront when she started the Furniture Bank.
“I thought that would be the easiest thing,” she said.
After months of searching for a suitable location for the Furniture Bank, Milligan connected with Jim Oberlin. When the Springmill Street property became available, Oberlin purchased it and handed the keys to Milligan.
She later set her sights on the downtown building that now houses Love Furnishings.
“I really worked on him because these windows to me are everything,” Milligan said. “He did not want to give me this building because he loved having his cars here, but I worked him pretty hard because I just had a vision.”
Milligan said she wanted a visible downtown location where people could discover the store simply by driving past.
“I’m a downtown girl,” she said. “I just think if we’re going to be successful it’s going to be because people drive by and go, ‘Oh, I want to go in there.'”
She credits Oberlin and supporters from the Volunteers of America re-entry program for helping make both the Furniture Bank and Love Furnishings possible.
The re-entry program provides workers leaving prison who volunteer their time through community service.
“I operate on the backs of those felons coming out of prison who so graciously give me eight hours every day of hard labor for no money,” Milligan said. “Over 10,000 hours of community service the VOA has given me. Without them the Furniture Bank closes.”
Those volunteers moved furniture into the new store and will continue rotating inventory as items sell.
“Between the VOA and Jim Oberlin, all I had to do was say, ‘OK, do this, do that,'” Milligan said.
Community leaders show their support
Community leaders praised both the store and its mission during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Jennifer Wagner, director of member engagement for Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development called Love Furnishings far more than a furniture store.
“This is so much more than a furniture and home décor store,” Wagner said. “It is a business with a mission and we support, believe and champion this mission. Pam is amazing and an inspiration, I just know so many positive things are going to come from this.”
Richland County Commissioner Cliff Mears praised the quality of the inventory.
“I think this is great,” Mears said. “The quality of the furniture is really quite amazing. It’s like a new store. It’s really quite remarkable.”
Sixth Ward Mansfield City Councilwoman Deborah Mount thanked Milligan for investing in the community.
“Thank you for your mission and investment. It’s a very good, needed thing in this area,” Mount said.
Milligan said the need for furniture assistance continues to grow across Richland County.
“It’s not that we have such a high poverty level,” she said. “It’s just with the cost of everything going up, people are struggling.”
The Furniture Bank relies on referrals from social service agencies to identify households in need.
“We try to use the social service agencies as a vetting agency,” Milligan said.
Community members can support the mission by consigning furniture, volunteering or donating items.
“I’m just following the leadership of other furniture banks,” she said. “The need in this community is great.”
(Photos from the Love Furnishings ribbon cutting and inside the location. Credit: Hannah Martin)
