Episcopal Impact Fund and Make It Home partner to transform shelter and office spaces into beautiful oases for clients and staff at Greater Richmond Interfaith Program
“At Make It Home, we’re not just giving furniture. We’re giving dignity, hope, and a springboard to something better. We’re grateful to Episcopal Impact Fund for bringing us into this community project. Working with GRIP staff and shelter clients has been so rewarding and meaningful.” —Carolyn Rebuffel Flannery, Founder and President, Make It Home Bay Area
Everyone deserves a dignified place to live.
But what makes a place dignified? When you’ve been unsheltered, it may be as simple as safe, stable, and humane living conditions. But sprinkle in some beauty and you can make shelter feel like home and get people ready to build a better future.
This belief that people finding shelter deserve spaces with beautiful, clean, and comfortable furnishings, led Episcopal Impact Fund to build a special collaboration with Make It Home Bay Area and Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP).
GRIP, the only dedicated family shelter in West Contra Costa County, serves up to 70 parents and children in their facility in Richmond. Since selecting GRIP as a Housing Security Grantee in 2021, the Impact Fund has built a deep and ongoing relationship through Christmas gift drives, holiday trips to San Francisco for staff and residents, and dining room volunteering. While at their facilities, the Impact Fund recognized that their shelter spaces needed some tender love and care. So, we reached out to our friend Carolyn Rebuffel Flannery, Founder and President of Make It Home Bay Area, to see what we could do together to make GRIP’s shelter feel more like home.
Make It Home, recipient of the 2024 Jefferson Award, provides furnishings to those formerly in crisis. They recycle new and gently used furnishings and design spaces to create a true home for their clients, which greatly increases their confidence and sense of security. With funding support from Episcopal Impact Fund, Make It Home redesigned and furnished private bedrooms for families as well as common areas to create spacious, clean, and open areas create a tranquil environment. They recognize that many people in the shelter system are exiting a variety of deeply traumatic situations and need somewhere to rejuvenate and breathe – mental health benefits of this are huge, and lead to being ready for permanent housing.
But they didn’t stop there. Make it Home saw how hard the committed GRIP staff worked and wanted to make sure they had the best spaces to do their work. They invited GRIP employees to their warehouses for a ‘shopping spree’ to select new furniture, fixtures, and art to uplift their spaces. Last but not least, they brought in professional organizers to arrange the entry way, mail room, and storage areas to increase productivity.
Episcopal Impact Fund is proud to support amazing, community-based organizations doing the hands-on, changemaking work of addressing poverty and housing security in the Bay Area. Your financial support, your voice, and your time will help bring strength, stability, and self-reliance to children, families, and young adults in the Bay Area in need of a decent place to live.
“Both our clients and staff were blown away by the beautiful work of Make It Home and the generosity of Episcopal Impact Fund. Knowing that people want us to have a beautiful space while we are doing the work of keeping families together and housed, that energizes us. Knowing we’re not alone – that we’re connected to other groups that have a similar outlook on how to support the community – it’s inspiring and empowering.” —Ralph Payton, Executive Director, GRIP
