His Way would not be where it is today without all of the amazing volunteers and ministry partners through the years. This goes for His Way Atlanta, too, even though it just launched last year!
When the leadership team began looking for ministry partners in the area, they stumbled upon Fully Furnished Ministries. The team jumped at the opportunity to get the residents involved in volunteer work that directly impacts the community.
We had the privilege of interviewing John Dance, Director of Operations at FFM, and he shared some amazing behind-the-scenes information about this ministry! Read on for more details about what they do and how they partner with us!
How Fully Furnished Ministries Began
This 20-year-old nonprofit started with Perimeter Church and two serendipitous phone calls on the same day.
Someone called and said, “Hey, I have a refrigerator to donate. Do you know anyone who needs it?” After saying no, another phone call came in just hours later asking if the church knew anyone who had a refrigerator they could donate.
It was a lightbulb moment of realizing that there are willing donators of gently-used goods and there are people who need those goods. Why not marry the two worlds together?
What Fully Furnished Ministries Does
FFM works with 32 other partner organizations in the area. It’s a very unique organization because it relies solely on other nonprofits to donate furniture, provide volunteers, and most importantly, let FFM know about all of the families who could benefit from their service.
“I would say 80-90% of the people we serve are single moms and their kids,” John told us.
Along with single mothers and their children, John said that they help foster parents furnish their homes, grandparents who’ve taken in their grandkids to raise, victims of house fires, and homeless people starting over in life!
But the number one goal with each family? Giving them back their dignity.
“We want to give them dignity; we want to get them off the floor…and I can tell you time and time and time again, people are just so thankful.”
John also wanted us to know that after they move in furniture, the staff and volunteers gather around and pray for each family. He calls it being part of God’s story, and that this is one of the most important things they do with the families and the volunteers!
Fully Furnished Ministries 20 Years Later
Fully Furnished Ministries has grown to include a standalone warehouse, two moving trucks, over 300 volunteers, a full leadership team and staff, and 32 partner organizations. The ministry runs 4 days out of the week and typically delivers to around 300 families each year!
Their biggest day of the week is Saturday on which they typically serve around 20 families!
How His Way Atlanta Became a Partner
Fully Furnished Ministries is always looking for volunteers! The His Way Atlanta team wanted to provide serving opportunities for the residents, so they began reaching out to local nonprofits. John willingly took the His Way Atlanta residents onboard! His Way Atlanta residents serve for about 4 hours twice a week, every week.
This volunteer work includes picking up furniture from partner organizations and delivering it. Then, moving the furniture into the homes of families in need!
When we asked John what he thinks the His Way residents learn from this experience, he told us, “They get to see an organization like ours, a ministry like ours, tied back to some of the stuff that they’re learning at His Way. It’s teaching them about sacrifice, about giving back, about how life is bigger than you. And they get to see that.”
He also talked about the blessing of the immediacy of seeing someone helped. This is part of why he loves working for FFM because he constantly gets to see people’s lives enriched by their service!
“I’ve been with Fully Furnished since ’05-06…I fell in love with it immediately, because you get to go back home, and you’re like, ‘Man, it’s a great day because I got to witness and got to see full circle how things came together!’”
Other Essential Ministry Partners
John told us that beyond furniture, they started partnering with a food pantry and a second-hand clothing organization. The food pantry called Cupboard Ministries puts together food boxes of frozen food, meats, bread, and other essentials, and they give this box of food to each family that FFM serves in a day!
Along with that, FFM refers families to Rosa’s Closet which is a free “thrift store” of sorts where the families can come choose all of the clothes they need!
With these partners and more, including local churches, FFM offers hope and dignity to families in need.
Do you want to partner with His Way Atlanta?
If you or your organization would like to partner with His Way Atlanta, please reach out to let us know! We look for life-enriching programs and tools for our residents including continuing education programs, life skills programs, volunteer opportunities, job opportunities, and more. We also have room for individuals with unique abilities like counseling, cooking, teaching, workout programs and coaching, and more.
Let us know you’re interested by filling out a form on our website: https://hiswayinc.org/his-way-atlanta/