GREENEST HELPS CLIENTS FEATHER THEIR NESTS
BY TOM GILLISPIE
Let’s say you’ve been living out of your car for six months. But you’ve just started a job, and you have an affordable home lined up.
Now you need furniture and everything else but can’t afford normal prices. If a partner agency, perhaps the United Way or the Salvation Army, has referred you, greeNest can help.
In 2015, sisters Jan Barbee and Joanna Britt started greeNest on Northwest Boulevard, and it's now in the former Contempo Concepts furniture showroom at 630 Brookstown Avenue. GreeNest is a non-profit that accepts donations of money or gently-used household items to help people transitioning into sustainable housing.
The sisters no longer run greeNest, although they remain on the board. With the aid of a grant from the Winston-Salem Foundation, greeNest was able to hire Julia Toone as executive director in 2019. She’s the only full-time employee, and her part-time staff includes Loree Armstrong, Terry Hyland, Sandra Lentz, Dave Perkins, Beth Blair and Josie Scott.
Blair, the community engagement manager, calls working at greeNest “an overwhelming experience,” and Toone adds, “As an employee, this is the most rewarding job I’ve had.”
GreeNest has nearly 100 partner agencies, among them Goodwill, the Salvation Army, Family Services, Positive Wellness Alliance and ESR (Experiment in Self Reliance). And there’s a small army of volunteers to sort, clean and display donations in the professional-looking showroom. Some volunteers move furniture, do repair work and test electronics, while others put together well-coordinated cookware, linen or towel sets for the showroom.
“Without our volunteers, we couldn’t do this,” Blair says.
Once a program participant is referred through a partner agency and has saved enough, the shopping commences. And their money goes a long way. A table might cost $10 or $12. A couch might go for $25, and the staff at greeNest say that $150 goes a long way toward furnishing the basics in a client’s home.
Toone is a fan of the Up Off the Floor, which provides new beds for Forsyth County children ages birth to 18 years. Case managers at Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools and other agencies can identify students who are sleeping on the floor or don’t have a safe sleeping place, and greeNest supplies new twin beds, pillows and bedding for children ages 3-18 and portable cribs for infants and toddlers at no cost to the family.
Blair says Goodwill provides sanitized and reconditioned mattresses for their Finally Home program. For the Up Off the Floor program, greeNest bargain shops online, often from Walmart.
Most of the donations come from individuals and are quality household items.
“What we provide helps make a house a home,” Blair says.
Toone says program participants enjoy their ability to choose what they buy, saying, “This is close to a regular shopping experience as the rest of us have.”
She says their eyes light up when they see the purchasing possibilities.
“When they select for themselves, it’s so much more respectful and dignified, and it supports them on their journey to self-sufficiency,” Toone adds.
Want to help?
Donations needed: Gently-used dressers, bed frames and headboards, sofas and loveseats, upholstered chairs, dining tables and chairs, kitchenware, microwaves and small appliances, side and coffee tables, lamps, bedding and bath linens, home accessories, small trash cans, shower curtains, skillets and can openers.
Hours: Tu-Friday 10-4; Sat 9-12
To learn more, donate items or volunteer, visit greenestws.org
Contact: 336-661-8091
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