ABOUT US

Our Vision

We envision a Portland metro community where every neighbor can live with comfort and dignity in a furnished home.

Our Mission

Community Warehouse provides donated furniture and household items to neighbors seeking the comfort and dignity of a furnished home while overcoming adversity.

What We Do

We’re your friendly local furniture bank, serving the Portland area for over 20 years. How does a furniture bank work? In a nutshell, we collect donated home goods, and work with social service agencies to get those goods in the hands of those who need it most.

The stuff you no longer need becomes the solution for a family in need of essential home furnishings. Pretty simple, huh? At Community Warehouse, it’s the simple stuff – the extra dishes, towels, beds, and more – that changes lives.

A Brief History

It took a community-wide collaborative effort to create a Portland area furniture bank.

Community Warehouse’s origins trace back to the 1990s “Operation Exodus,” during which the American Jewish community committed to assistance for thousands of former Soviet Union Jews. In Portland, Jewish Family and Child Service (JFCS) drew volunteers into the Russian Resettlement program and started the Portland Community Warehouse, a program to collect donated home furnishings for refugee families. 

Roz Babener, the early volunteer coordinator, noted: 

“The incoming families had nothing, and when they saw their apartments filled with tables and chairs and dishes and beds, their expression of appreciation brought tears to your eyes.”

Within several years, a dilemma appeared. Although the refugee arrivals had diminished, and JFCS needed to return its focus to the Jewish community, donations of household furnishings kept pouring in, and agencies outside of JFCS were requesting furniture for their clients.

Volunteer Roz Babener organized a small group of volunteers to help tap resources in the community and formalize the Warehouse as a 501c3 nonprofit.

In 2001, Community Warehouse was established to meet the needs of a broader constituency, including those transitioning from homelessness, immigrants and refugees, survivors of domestic violence, veterans, children, individuals with developmental or physical disabilities, and other neighbors in need.

In those initial years, the Warehouse moved from borrowed space at the YWCA to rented spaces in SE Portland, NW, and North Portland. 

In 2007, Community Warehouse purchased its first truck for pick up donations. The Estate Store social enterprise opened weekly sales of antiques and collectibles to provide consistent operating revenue.

After a 2009 capital campaign, the organization purchased the building on NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Recognizing the need to expand furniture bank services to Washington and Clackamas counties, Community Warehouse purchased a second building in Tualatin in 2012, and later relocated its Westside services to Tigard in 2024. In 2023, Community Warehouse opened a donation intake center in Gresham, which will begin facilitating furniture bank appointments in 2025.

Community Warehouse now engages 200+ partner agencies to serve more than 7,500 individuals every year. Community Warehouse is currently the main resource in NW Oregon and SW Washington for low-income individuals and families seeking essential household furnishings. We engage over 25 paid staff and hundreds of active volunteers.

Our founders continue to be involved in the daily activities and continued growth of the agency.

Get Involved

Check out all the ways you can join us in fulfilling our mission. Whether you’re a first time volunteer or a group looking to make a difference, we’ll welcome you with open arms and a smile.

Volunteer

Events

We love gathering stuff. We also love gathering community. Check out our upcoming events to have fun (always!), learn about our mission, and connect with our ever-growing community of supporters.

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Success Stories

Behind every piece of furniture is a story. Read our impact stories to learn about how Community Warehouse is changing lives through furniture.

Success Stories

Our Financials

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Donors & Partners

Meet our Supporters

Careers

Join Us

Staff & Board

Meet Us

Together We Have Enough: Our Vision for the Future

Strategic Plan, 2023-2026

 

We’re here to tell a hopeful story. About a problem we can solve.

No home in our community should be empty. When it comes to furnishings, there are enough. And when it comes to people who care about their neighbors, there are more than enough.  

Equity Lens

Community Warehouse uses an equity lens when making organizational decisions, which involves reflecting on a series of questions to ensure equity is prioritized throughout its process and outcomes. 

Equity Lens Questions

1. What is our goal? Whare are the intended equity outcomes?

2. Who will be impacted by this decision/program/policy? How? Are they represented in the decision-making process?

3. Does this decision/program/policy advance equity? How?

4. What assumptions are we making – about people, systems, outcomes, intentions? Where might bias (conscious and unconscious) be showing up?

5. How will we know if we were successful?

6. What are our next steps?

Community Warehouse Non-Discrimination Statement

Community Warehouse does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), sex, gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations.

Please review our complete Space Agreement and Discrimination Complaint and Compliance Review/Grievance Procedure here.

Many deserving people in our community are striving to get back on their feet and create solid home foundations for themselves and their children. And yet, they can barely make ends meet. For these families, household furnishings can make a world of difference, and local furniture banks are the solution.
Dunetchka Otero-Serrano

Executive Director 2015-2020