Lending a hand
Volunteer Kelle Wise, left, talks with Jodie Macchione, marketing director for CORE Furniture Bank. by Jacquie Mazziotta • Photos by Lisa Scalfaro
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ommunity service can carry a variety of meanings depending on who might be asked. For example, one person might be looking for a cause they can support as a civic duty, or another may be serving an obligation for a minor legal offense. However, those receiving support from a community service organization have a different view — one of need, sometimes desperation and gratitude. One Saturday in September, the Turner family, Akron area residents who moved from West Virginia a couple years ago, was finally going to get a bed 4
for Mrs. Turner. The Community Outsources Research Exchange (CORE) Furniture Bank warehouse was stocked with a variety of furniture items including beds and mattresses. During the family’s relocation, Latoya’s bed was broken, and she has been without since. Turner, with her eyes cast downward, says she is extremely happy and grateful knowing she will soon be getting a bed — complete with mattresses. She has been sleeping on her couch for more than a year. Her husband, Harvey Turner, slowly begins to share that he is unemployed
and unable to work, as he is on disability. Not to mention the couple has three children in school so buying a bed was an unaffordable luxury and wasn’t at the top of the family’s list of immediate purchases to be made. “We try to tell our kids they are lucky to get what they have now, and they appreciate it,” he says. “They deal with it.” For now the Turners are just grateful they will have the bed they have so greatly needed. Both husband and wife will have the dignity of sleeping in the same fashion as most Americans. For
Falls Magazine with Chamber of Commerce Membership Directory 2011