Furnishing the future

World Market Center made the holidays a lot brighter for four Las Vegas-based charities during its annual Furniture Donation Day.

The home-furnishings trade complex in downtown Las Vegas recently donated hundreds of pieces of new furniture, accessories and artwork to Goodwill of Southern Nevada, HELP of Southern Nevada, Safe Nest and Foundation for an Independent Tomorrow.

The charities will use the donated goods for their shelters, fundraising purposes and to brighten the homes of local families, said Dana Andrew, vice president of marketing and public relations for World Market Center.

Andrew said the donated furnishings were originally inventory of several of the tenants in the wholesale mart building. The organizations were selected based on their immediate needs and ability to utilize the merchandise.

"This is our second Furniture Donation Day, and we are delighted to be able to take this vast inventory of new merchandise and put it to the highest and best use. Our goal is to spread the goods to benefit as many community organizations as possible, and yet still make an impact for each one," Andrew said.

Some of the donated merchandise included furnishings that transcend the norm in terms of items the nonprofits typically receive. In addition to traditional furniture like beds and chairs, some of the art pieces, light fixtures and modern accessories are very unique and will add warmth and character to the recipients' homes, she added.

"Small organizations like ours would not survive without benefactors like World Market Center," said Janet Blumen, chairman of FIT, which empowers motivated unemployed and underemployed Nevadans to obtain the skills necessary for self-sufficiency.

"It's wonderful for us to receive brand-new items, because so often we receive second-hand items, which do not last as long as those that are brand-new," said Estelle Murphy, executive director of Safe Nest. "We will use the donated furnishings in our shelter project for abused women and children and will pass some other items to families leaving our shelter and starting their own homes. These beautiful pieces will help them get a new start."

Terrie Stanfill, executive director of HELP of Southern Nevada, said the donations will be used to help homeless individuals off the streets and into warm homes. "This donation made by the World Market Center will put furniture and household items into these apartments where there would've most likely been nothing."

In addition to Furniture Donation Day, World Market Center partners with Nevada AIDS Project, Habitat for Humanity Las Vegas and Opportunity Village as beneficiaries of its semiannual premarket inventory clearance sale. The home-furnishings campus also partnered with Opportunity Village during its semiannual markets to create a furniture donation program to benefit people with intellectual disabilities and their families in the valley.

Information courtesy World Market Center