Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture “Friends In Need” Program Donates $250,000 in Furniture to Goodwill
Norton, MA, October 3, 2000 — Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture, the largest privately owned furniture retailer in Massachusetts, today announced that its “Friends In Need” program has donated $250,000 worth of furniture to Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries. The donation kicks off a newly formed relationship that Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture has forged with Goodwill to donate furniture on an ongoing basis to the organization. Donated merchandise will be used to support Goodwill’s many workforce development, youth, and community programs which serve thousands of people in Massachusetts.
Bernie & Phyl’s Friends In Need program was launched in April 2000 with the goal of donating furniture to charitable organizations and homeless shelters in need across the state. The program has since made numerous donations large and small. These include giving 125 new Sealy mattresses to The Salvation Army to replace all of the old, worn-out beds at the organization’s Harbor Light Center in Boston and donating a truckload of sofas, chairs, tables, and bedroom furniture to Pine Street Inn for their 14 lodging houses which were in dire need of new furnishings.
“It is our goal to touch as many people as we can through our Friends In Need program. Through Goodwill, we are going to be able to reach even more people in need,” said Bernie Rubin, co-founder and president of Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture. “This is a total win-win situation. Our donation helps generate jobs for people with disabilities, creates revenue for Goodwill’s many exemplary programs, provides Goodwill with goods to give to needy community-based organizations, and makes furniture available to many of our state’s working poor who may never have been able to afford it before. We are very excited about working with Goodwill, and know that we can really make a difference in many people’s lives through this collaboration.”
Bernie & Phyl’s Furniture will continue to make furniture donations to individual charitable organizations and homeless shelters, in addition to its ongoing contributions to Goodwill. The donations to Goodwill will be part of the organization’s “Inventory Express Program,” which has formed relationships with several major retailers in the state that have agreed to regularly donate merchandise to Goodwill.
“This donation, and our new relationship with Bernie and Phyl’s will be a tremendous benefit to the people Goodwill serves throughout eastern and central Massachusetts. We are very thankful to Bernie and Phyl’s for their generous support,” said Joanne Hilferty, president and CEO of Goodwill. “Goodwill’s Inventory Express Program gives every company an opportunity to provide a valuable community service, helping Goodwill provide not charity, but a chance.”
Goodwill’s mission is to provide exemplary job training and related services to help individuals with disabilities and other barriers to self-sufficiency to achieve independence and dignity through work. Not charity, but a chance.
