CHAPEL HILL – Saturday, your community stepped up and gave back to those in needed after the June 30th flood displaced many residents.

St. Thomas More along with other Catholic charities within the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh coordinated efforts to collect furniture. The Green Chair Project, a nonprofit in Wake County, collected all the donated furniture and placed it in a warehouse. The Red Cross will bring flood victims to The Green Chair to pick out furniture they need for their homes. Once flood victims are able to move back into their homes, Green Chair will deliver the furniture to them.

The drive started at 10:00 a.m. By 11:00 a.m., more than forty people had donated furniture, said Tish Galu, Outreach Coordinator at St. Thomas More.

“It is fantastic,” said Galu. “We started at ten o’clock this morning and actually before ten, we had some donations. We have sofas; we have bureaus; we have electronic equipment; we have household goods; we have everything people will need to get back into their houses, once they’ve determined a place to live.”

Each person that donated received a tax receipt for a tax deduction.

All furniture that The Green Chair cannot accept will go to The Furniture Project, a ministry within St. Thomas More Catholic Church. All household furniture, excluding sleeper sofas and mattresses, can be donated.

Tom Cavender, a parishioner of St. Thomas More and Chapel Hill resident, loaded an entire U-haul with furniture he had in storage. Cavender said he brought enough furniture to outfit an entire two bedroom apartment.

“As with most of us, we all have storage units, we have too much furniture for the houses that we’re in,” said Cavender. “When we knew about the flood and the issues with the flood we thought that was the perfect time to do what we have and give to others.”

Galu said she’s hoping to touch the lives of flood victims through furniture donations.

“We’re hopeful that it can be huge amount so that all of the victims will have ability to come and get furniture to make it possible for them to start their lives again,” said Galu.

If you’d like to know more about The Green Chair Project, you can click here.

If you’d like to know more about St. Thomas More’s The Furniture Project, you can call Jane Hathaway at 919-612-2759 or Jeff Hathaway at 919-612-0922.