New Volunteers

Volunteer Information

Our Address: 16 Brent Drive, Hudson

Our Mission:

Fresh Start Furniture Bank helps restore hope, dignity, and stability in our community by recycling donated furniture and housewares for free to people in need.

About Fresh Start:
Fresh Start is a volunteer-based non-profit that collects donations of furniture and home goods from the public and distributes them for free, to people in need. To receive furniture, clients must obtain a referral from a social service agency. Clients then have 30 days to come in and select their furniture and housewares. Clients can have up to 2 visitshousewares, and must take all of the items they selected duringon athat visit.date. We do not store items for later pick-up.

Our Clients:
Every one of our clients has a storystory, and we may never know how they ended up in need. They could be escaping domestic violence, moving out of a shelter, in recovery from physical or mental illness, Veterans, refugees, immigrants, recovering from addiction, or working low-wage jobs.

Our clients generally have a lot going on in their lives, so our volunteers need to be patient and calm, making sure that every interaction is treated with dignity and respect.

Our Volunteers:
Along with our Donors, our Volunteers are our biggest asset. If you have a special talent that you would like to share, please let us know!

Store Hours:

Monday 8:45-1212:00

• Store catch-up day - No client appointments or donations accepted

Tuesdays and Thursdays 8:45-1212:00

• Donations of housewares and linens are accepted.
• Client appointments are at 9:15 and 10:15.

Saturdays Donations: 8:15-10:30

• All donations on the “what we take” list are accepted.

Saturday Clients: 9:15-12:30

• Client appointments are at 9:30 and 10:30.

What to Wear:

• Please dress comfortably and in layers. Temperatures vary quite a bit in different parts of the building.
• Be prepared to walk outdoors: you may need a warm coat, hat, gloves, or a raincoat.
• Keep in mind that you may get dirty.
• No open-toed shoes.
• Once you volunteer at Fresh Start 3 times, you will receive a green Fresh Start shirt! If you would like a second T-shirt, the cost is $10.

Where to Park:

Volunteers should park after the entrance on the left side. Parking spots close to the entrance are for clients and donors.

When you Arrive for a Shift:
Please plan to arrive 10-15 minutes before the shift.

• Check Check-in at the front desk.
• Hang coats on a rack in the front office or sorting area.
• If a problem should arise during a shift, please speak to Sue, Geoff, Bob, or the front desk volunteer.

Volunteers’ Donations:
Donations from volunteers have the same rules as any donors and will be inspected.

To Sign Up for a Volunteer Shift or to Cancel:

• Go to the FSFB Website: FreshStartFurnitureBank.org
• Click on Volunteers
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page to Current Volunteers, click here to logon
• Login / type inusing your email address and your password,password. The default password is fsfb. Click Submit.
• Click on Volunteer Scheduling
• Select the Available radio radio-button for the date(s) you want to sign up.
• A job list appears,of jobs will appear. This is based on your training,training. Select a job and click “Click here to sign up”.
• You’llYou will receive an email of the job role immediately & a reminder will be sent one day prior to that date.
• To cancel, select the Unavailable radio buttonradio-button, or in your reminder email, click the “I am NOT available” link.

Social Media:
If you are on FacebookFacebook, watch for our posts and share them.

Please feel free to take picturespictures, but ask permission first of any clients or donors.

We use #FreshStartFurnitureBank when tagging photos.

We also post toon Instagram.

Please join our private Facebook Fresh Start Furniture Bank Volunteer group!

Questions: Email: volunteers@freshstartfurniturebank.org