Johnson County nonprofit Houses into Homes creates sense of community

CORALVILLE — On a cold February day, the atmosphere inside the Houses into Homes warehouse in Coralville was warm and inviting as volunteers and staff worked to get various tasks done.

Volunteer Larry Jewell worked with volunteer coordinator Kristi Emick to put together a bunk bed to ensure it had all the parts and would be easy to put together come delivery day. Jewell, who has been volunteering for a year, said it’s been exciting to work with others toward a common cause.

“Larry has truly helped us get more organized,” Emick said as the two worked. Emick’s favorite part has been “all the people I’ve met” and the ability to see immediate impact of the work done.

In another corner, three volunteers and former teachers — Susie Thrams, Mary Linn and Bill Lamders — worked on filling bags with art supplies, toys and other items for kids. The three of them have been volunteering once a week for almost a year. Thrams said they enjoy the variety of activities and helping the community.

“With us in education, if kids come to school and they don't have a bed to sleep in or they don't have things for their house, then it makes it hard for them to learn,” Thrams said. “(Houses into Homes is) so good about … getting the whole family taken care of.”

What started as an organization providing beds for children in the Iowa City Community School District, has grown in the last five years to help Johnson County families furnish their homes.

Houses into Homes has helped furnish more than 1,000 homes since its inception in February 2018. In the process, it has diverted hundreds of tons of items from the landfill. In addition to helping families, the organization has created a sense of community among its staff and volunteers.

The group provides gently-used beds, furniture and household items for people in Johnson County exiting homelessness, domestic violence or other crisis situations. The mission is to “help people feel the comfort of home and to do so in a way that honors their experience and engages them with unconditional positive regard.”

It’s the only organization of its kind in the county.

“Furniture poverty is something that is not discussed very often,” said Salina McCarty, co-founder and executive director. “ … When some people think about furniture, it feels like a luxury and not a basic need, but it is a basic need.”

Increasing need year over year

When McCarty was volunteering with the Iowa City Community School District, she noticed some of the students who struggled with learning and behavior were tired. McCarty learned some of the students were sharing a bed with siblings or sleeping on the floor.

McCarty learned there wasn’t a service in the community providing beds and furniture to kids and families. She also learned that at the time there were, on average, 500 students in the district on McKinney-Vento status, meaning they lacked a regular and adequate nighttime residence.

“That's when we made the plan to deliver beds,” McCarty said.

McCarty and co-founder Lucy Barker, who knew each other because their kids went to elementary school together, started out by asking friends and family to help as they rented trucks themselves and operated out of storage units. Barker is also the organization’s director of development.

Word spread quickly as more people learned about their efforts, and local agencies started to reach out with referrals, prompting the group to broaden their reach from helping students to helping Johnson County families.

By October 2019, about a year and a half later, the small organization hit a 50-home waitlist, McCarty said. That same month the organization moved into its current warehouse location at 401 Sixth Ave. in Coralville.

In the five years, Houses into Homes has furnished 1,057 homes. McCarty said the need “skyrocketed” in 2022 with 373 homes.

“With the pandemic, we had a really huge increase for need last year,” McCarty said. “We don't know if it's specifically tied to that or if it's just that more people are hearing about us and utilizing us.”

Interested in volunteering or donating?

Individuals interested in donating gently-used or new items to Houses into Homes can find more information online at housesintohomes.org/donateitems. The website includes guidelines, what types of items are accepted and what is not accepted.

Financial donations can also be made online at housesintohomes.org/donate2.

Some of the most needed items are love seats, baking sheets, pots and pans, mattresses, box springs, lamps, comforters and small wastebaskets.

Houses into Homes has free pickups in Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty and Tiffin.

Questions about the organization or how to get on the pick up schedule can contact donations@housesintohomes.org or call 319-435-1075.

Individuals interested in volunteering at the warehouse or on delivery days can find more information at housesintohomes.org/volunteer.

Salina McCarty, co-founder and executive director, said Houses into Homes is always looking for more weekly volunteers, as well as delivery day volunteers.

“We are just five years old, and again, working towards sustainability,” McCarty said. “We want this to be here as long as it's needed.”

Giving households ‘good foundation to build from’

The gently-used items Houses into Homes has in its warehouse — which includes mattresses, bed frames, couches, tables, chairs, bedding, bathroom supplies, toys and more — are all donated.

“We don't deliver things that we wouldn't bring into our own homes,” McCarty said.

Households are also asked about their furniture tastes, as well as what prints and colors they like or don’t like.

“We want to make sure that we can give you a really good foundation to build from,” McCarty said.

McCarty and Barker both highlighted the “amazing skills” that volunteers have to help repair or transform items. The Houses into Homes warehouse has a workshop where volunteers use broken furniture to build custom pieces.

“Between our volunteers who can re upholster and reuse things, we send almost nothing to the landfill, which is wonderful,” McCarty said. “It's really awesome that they can take stuff like this and create unique pieces that are brand-new.”

Volunteers also help fold laundry, scrub stains out, test electronics to ensure they’re working and many other additional tasks to help operations run smoothly.

“We're able to share with them (volunteers) how much it means to the people in our community who are receiving the items,” McCarty said. “The effort that goes into making sure that homes are filled with basic things but also joyful and comfortable.”

Volunteers also help deliver items on delivery day, which is roughly twice a month.

Setting up for the long-term

To be able to respond to the community need, McCarty and Barker “wanted this to be sustainable” in the long-term and not feel burned out.

The organization was able to hire McCarty as the full-time executive director and first paid staff member in 2020.

The organization used pandemic relief dollars to help hire its second full-time staff member in July 2022. Natasja Schroeder, who was a volunteer for over a year, took the director of operations role to help manage the warehouse and coordinate deliveries.

Houses into Homes received $5,000 from the city of Coralville and $10,000 from Iowa City in American Rescue Plan Act dollars, Barker said.

Houses into Homes also has five part-time staff, who are the equivalent of two full-time positions, McCarty said. Barker donates all of her time.

The organization is currently hiring for a full-time operations manager, who will help Schroeder get deliveries ready, among other tasks.

“Having a second person running operations will then let volunteer coordinators build our volunteer program even more and then let the other two directors work on building the organization,” Barker said.

What’s next?

The nonprofit recently celebrated its fifth birthday. Asked what’s coming in the next five years, Barker said the focus is ensuring staffing capacity matches the need in the community.

“Hopefully the need doesn't keep growing, but we can sort of grow to meet it,” Barker said.

Part of this also includes getting furniture to households more quickly. As of now, it takes about three weeks to get furniture delivered to households. Barker said it would be great to get beds and furniture to families within a week.

Down the line, another goal is to expand more into rural Johnson County, Barker added.

“It's hard to imagine five years because five years ago we couldn't have imagined this,” Barker said.

McCarty added, “We just saw a need and wanted to take care of it, and then it turned into this really wonderful, amazing community. That's something that we value here so much.”

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