Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Karen Moore. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Karen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.
As you meet people where they are, I have found that people are in homes without furniture. They might as well be in a cave. It’s the same as a car with no gas, just providing shelter. Having your shelter become a home is as simple as adding furniture to make it useful.
We not only add furniture, we add art, lamps, rugs and accessories. Things that make your house complete. It truly becomes a welcoming space to have as a personal sanctuary.
As Oprah says, “Your home should rise up to meet you”. It should embrace you and give you peace.
Karen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Project Redesign started with Katrina victims that moved to Nashville, TN. As they got housing, volunteers of businesses furnished the dwellings they ended up in. Project Redesign was formed and we have been busy at work ever since. We have furnished up to 50 homes this year and that number is continuing to grow.
We work with other partner nonprofits to obtain clients. We ask many questions such as, floor plans and if they need rugs, bar stools, etc. We “shop” our warehouse, full of inventory we pick up all during the year.
Our clients range from Thistle Farms (who take women out of prison or addiction into recovery) as well as a sister program, Mending Hearts and our newest partner, Nashville International Center for Empowerment, a family Resettlement agency that has become about 50% of our business.
One client from the Congo lived for a seven year stint in a refugee camp. The father was killed in a war and the mom had 7 children. They had never seen a lamp, so the interpreter was showing them how to turn off and on. It made me realize how much we take for granted.(picture above)
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
This business relays on so many pieces coming together on a short time frame so the margin for error can happen. It is frustrating when you spend time preparing and loading furniture on the truck and all the other things that go into furnishing a house to get to the destination and find no one there or a problem getting in. We have had to pivot many times. We have had to regroup on our process and on occasion, we have gone to the next person on our list and made do with what was on the truck.
How’d you meet your business partner?
The story of how my partners and I, is a sweet story. First and foremost, we were all friends and had kids in the same class at school. We all started furnishing Katrina victim families from New Orleans that had moved to Nashville. Through the help of our families at the school, we started off on our journey and started Project Redesign.
Suzanne Snyder, Alison Douglas, Ellie Billington and I were the founding partners in 2008. Sarah Fleming joined in 2012. All have taken an honorary alliance status and help when they can.
To date, we had two amazing interns this summer, Mary Patton Murphy and Abi-Leigh Doss who connected us to new partners and inventoried our warehouse. Laurie Davis is our accountant and helps me install when she can. I could not continue this work without these incredible women!
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.projectredesignnashvill.com
- Instagram: Projectredesignnashville
- Facebook: Projectredesignnashville
Image Credits
https://www.google.com/search?q=jim+seabury&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari&dlnr=1&sei=XVYvY5muJoy6qtsPnpuAqAg#imgrc=jfV0PLlwdxA2qM