Events

At Matthew House Ottawa, a couch is never just a couch. It can be what turns an empty residence into a home.

This past February, the local charity moved its Furniture Bank into expanded space on Industrial Road, transforming the former manufacturing warehouse into a place where families facing financial hardships, including refugees and those leaving the shelter system, can find donated furniture and household essentials.

Matthew House has worked closely with Terlin Construction, which was the presenting sponsor of Thursday’s Furnishing Futures fundraiser and has been a major donor. 

Going into the event, the charity had just under $100,000 left to raise in its $450,000-capital campaign. “We’re not done yet, which is why I invited you here,” said executive director Kailee Brennan, smiling at the crowd.

Local business leaders, including restaurateurs Joe Thottungal and David Godsoe, and Carole Saad’s LouLou Lounge, pitched in, donating food, drinks and supplies for the party.

Attendees included former Matthew House executive director, Allan Reesor-McDowell, now leading the John Howard Society of Ottawa, and current Matthew House board members, including Kaite Burkholder Harris, executive director of Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa, and Deirdre Freiheit, vice president with Pourquoi Pas Coaching International.

Shepherds of Good Hope CEO Stephan Bartolo was there, as were such donors as Crosspoint Financial senior portfolio manager Brent Vandermeer with his team, and campaign fundraiser “extraordinaire” Sandra Pedersen.

Algonquin College’s second-year Interior Design students helped with the design and layout of the new warehouse space.

Director of operations and former refugee claimant David Botha, who started as a volunteer 15 years ago, received a special recognition. “I often joke he’s part of the furniture but he doesn’t get to leave,” joked Brennan.

Layne The Auctionista emceed the formal program. It featured guest speaker Nadia Ngotu, a mother who found herself homeless in 2014 after fleeing an abusive relationship. Her four boys were ages 12 and younger at the time.

Ngotu shared how the Furniture Bank helped her rebuild her life. She first spent a couple of years living in a women’s shelter, describing this period as “a dark and trying time”. Her family’s life improved once they moved into a place of their own. She recalled the excitement she felt when she saw the moving truck parked outside their new apartment. Her past moves had usually involved hurried exits with luggage, or even garbage bags filled with belongings in hand.

She spoke of the man leading the delivery that day, and how he treated her with a kindness and respect she’d not often experienced from the men in her life. She also recalled the joy of having a couch to cuddle with her boys on (or, from the boys’ perspective, something fun to jump on).

“We went from sitting on the floor to sitting on the couch. It was a big deal.”

Ngotu’s life now includes employment, supportive friends and an even better living space. “When reflecting back to that time of my life, I feel extremely grateful and blessed,” she said. “It’s not about the furniture but about finding my self-esteem and my pride, and that’s really important.” 

The audience responded with a standing ovation, led by Ottawa city councillors Marty Carr, Rawlson King, Steve Desroches, Ariel Troster and Jeff Leiper.

The crowd heard about the Furniture Bank’s humble beginnings out of an Alta Vista carport belonging to Marc Wyatt, one of the founders.

Wyatt shared a written memory from those early days, read aloud by Brennan “of moving mattresses stacked three and four high on top of our family minivan with a sofa, dresser, tables and chairs inside. Sometimes there was so much inside I had to open the back door and tie it all down, [the trunk] still open while transporting. We never got a ticket but we did have things fall out a couple of times.”

By 2019, the Furniture Bank was furnishing nearly 700 homes each year. That number has since more than doubled, with 1,599 families served last year. In its new space, it will be able to support up to 2,000 families annually. All furniture is donated by the public, with donors eligible to receive a tax receipt.

“What we’re celebrating tonight is not just this new space, which is amazing, but it is about what happens inside of it,” Brennan said of the help that’s provided to the many families who walk through their doors. Matthew House also runs a refugee services program.

As pledges for support poured in, volunteers quickly covered a large cardboard house with  paper bricks on its wall, each one symbolizing a donation. “This is not a Pink Floyd song,” joked Layne, recognizing her music reference might fly over some heads.

Layne thanked the crowd for exceeding the goal of $50,000, raising $78,000. “Folks, you came tonight understanding the mission, the purpose. You came with your hearts and you came with your intentions.”

After the formal program was over, Layne encouraged everyone to stick around for as long as they like. “Hang out. Mix and mingle, because we own the place now,” they joked.

Since 2012, Matthew House Ottawa’s Furniture Bank has helped furnish homes for more than 10,000 families, supporting 14,000-plus individuals. Referrals to Matthew House come from shelters, health centres and city systems. It also helps to divert more than 114,000 household items from the landfill.