LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) – Pennsylvania Furniture Mission provides free donated gently used furniture to families in need.
“Most of the people that are coming to our organization for this service, they have been sleeping on the floors. They have been sleeping outside,” said co-founder Pashk Sokoli.
Amanda Reilly-Sokoli and her husband Pashk Sokoli started their nonprofit in June 2023 because they both experienced financial hardships. Amanda grew up outside of Reading, Pennsylvania and Pashk is from Albania.
“When I moved into my fourth-floor walkup in Chicago, I had no furniture. Here I am, serving all day the community. But then I come home, and I literally had a futon on one barstool,” said Amanda Reilly-Sokoli.
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“I personally also experienced homelessness in my country with my family. I know the feeling of not having and then at the same time of the feeling of putting together your family and staying together and sharing that meal together on the kitchen table instead of on the floor,” said Pashk Sokoli.
The Sokoli’s also employ people who face employment barriers.
Did you know the City of Lancaster had a different name?
So far, the nonprofit has fully furnished over 150 homes across Lancaster, Dauphin, Lebanon, York, Berks and Cumberland counties.
“We guarantee a full household worth of furniture,” said Amanda Reilly-Sokoli.
Every family gets to choose a couch, armchair, kitchen tables with chairs, two end tables and a lamp. You then get one adult bed set, up to two twin beds and a maximum of three dressers per household.
“So that you can come home at the end of the day and be able to enjoy a couch, be able to share a meal at a kitchen table and turn on a light…and say ok I’m home,” said Amanda Reilly-Sokoli.
The nonprofit is a furniture bank meaning they collaborate with existing nonprofits in the area.
“And then their clients are able to be referred throughout partners to us for services,” said Amanda Reilly-Sokoli.
The Sokoli’s say so far they have saved 170 tons of furniture from landfills.
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