The email read, “Greetings hard working Volunteers, Bed Frame Party Next Week!” The list of recipients was limited to a select group of workers experienced in bed frame construction, and refreshments were promised. It was an offer too good to refuse.
Household Goods is one of Acton’s most intriguing success stories. In 1990 Barbara and Ira Smith offered to help a Salvadoran refugee who fled her country with her children and little else. The Smiths posted a notice asking for usable household items for the family and offered their carport as a collection point. Recognizing that there were many more families that needed similar help, they expanded their appeal for donated furniture and household items. When the volume of donated items became too large to store in their carport, the collection was moved several times to ever-larger donated storage spaces. Monetary donations were also made, a non-profit corporation was established, and today Household Goods operates out of a 28,000 square foot facility located on Main Street in Acton.
It is estimated that the organization has facilitated the transfer of close to a million donated household items to needy individuals and families. Management of the organization is performed by a small team of paid staff, but most of the labor required to collect, repair, display, and distribute donated items is performed by hundreds of occasional and regular volunteers. Volunteer task categories include client assistant, showroom assistant, furniture mover, furniture repair, appliance repair, lamp processing, and bed frame assembly. When there is an unexpected increase in the demand for beds, a Bed Frame Party is announced.
Bed frame construction is a specialized job that requires mechanical skills, ingenuity, and physical strength. While some of the donated items are relatively new and easily assembled, most have been well used, require some repair, and have missing hardware. The volunteers are tasked to do whatever is needed to reconstruct a donated bed frame, verify that it is structurally sound, and then disassemble and label the frame components so that they can be easily transported by the client. To facilitate this work, Household Goods maintains an impressive collection of hand tools, power tools, spare bed parts, and a well-equipped machine shop.
Many of the people who volunteer for Household Goods had professional careers prior to retirement, but now donate time working manual jobs to improve the lives of people who are living in unfortunate situations. The members of the bed frame crew have a wide variety of backgrounds. Some examples:
Joe – age 67, formerly a software trainer, has been a volunteer for 2 years
Ted – age 72, retired engineer, has been a volunteer for 5 years
Ron – age 76, retired physicist, has been a volunteer for 1 1/2 years
Margaret – age 75, worked for a non-profit that assisted homeless people, has been a volunteer for 2 years
Andy – age 59, formerly in the biotech industry, has been a volunteer for 4 months
Shelton – age 75, retired software engineer, has been a volunteer for 3 1/2 years
All have had some experience with home repair projects, but assembling a 30-year-old trundle bed that is missing essential hardware presents a very different type of challenge.
The number of individuals and families that require assistance continues to increase, and new donations are always needed. While the list of active volunteers is impressive, Household Goods is constantly recruiting to increase its membership. Interested individuals can volunteer using the organization’s website, or by contacting the Volunteer Program Coordinator at kirsten@householdgoods.org.
Dr. Parenti is a member of the Town of Acton Water Resource Committee and the Acton Water District Finance Committee. He has been a regular volunteer at Household Goods for the past year and a half.