The Rotary Club of Burlington North Furniture Bank:
A shining example of Rotary ingenuity at its best.
The Rotary Club of Burlington North recognized a hidden, painful gap in our community: families moving out of crisis, escaping domestic hardship, or arriving as newcomers, frequently stepping into small apartments with absolutely nothing. Thanks to the vision of our members and leaders like Clinton Howell and Kate Johnston, we stepped in.
We turned logistics into love. By collecting gently used furniture, clean mattresses, and household essentials, we have transformed hundreds of empty spaces into warm, dignified homes. We aren't just redirecting physical items from landfills; we are restoring human dignity. When a child gets a proper bed to sleep on because of our furniture bank, that is the direct magic of Rotary Burlington North at work.
The RBN Furniture Bank's primary objective is to help people in need make a ‘fresh start’ by providing them with gently used, free furniture. The people we help are referred to us by social assistance agencies that specialize in helping marginalized people. Our end-clients tend to be women and children that have recently been unhoused. We also help Newcomers that have come to Canada to escape poverty and/or war. The project helps divert waste from our landfills and reduce the environmental impact of producing new furniture items.
The RBN Furniture Bank relies heavily on volunteer hours provided by members of Rotary Burlington North (and their friends and families). In the past year they have contributed nearly 1000 hours of volunteer labour, covering all aspects of the program’s operation.
Donors can visit rotaryburlingtonnorth.com, navigate to the "Furniture Bank" section, and complete the "Donate Furniture" form. Agencies supporting people in need of furniture can access the "Request Furniture" tab on the same website. As a result, the furniture bank is the single largest generator of traffic to our club website, which was developed last Rotary year by Kate Johnston and Clinton Howell. The donors submit an email with photos of the items to ensure suitability and quality of the items and also to supply their address and phone information. Communication with donors confirms their location and the logistics of our monthly schedule, which our volunteers who are picking up the items follow.
Our inventory is uploaded and tracked on an app called Bublup which stores photos and descriptions of the items on the app. It also gives us the ability to share our inventories with families in need (and their agencies) so that they can select the items they require. Within Bublup, recipient families can "heart" the items they want and after this happens, we have the ability to move the items into reservation folders. Once items are picked up, the reservation folders get moved into completed folders for our later review and records of activity.
Operated by approximately eight volunteers (Rotarians, Friends of Rotary and community volunteers), the program has assisted 254 families (including 406 adults and 411 children) since it began. In the last three years alone, it has provided over 2250 furniture items valued at close to $160,000.
Since 2020, the Furniture Bank has made a measurable difference—empowering vulnerable families, fostering dignity, and reducing waste in Burlington. In the future, we aim to serve more families by strengthening referral networks and volunteer recruitment. We seek to increase financial support and raise awareness of operations and impact. By sharing our experience, Burlington North Rotary aims to empower other clubs to replicate the success we have had with our Furniture Bank.
Story by: Hal Hirte
President - Rotary Club of Burlington North