More than $50,000 worth of office furniture that could have ended up in a landfill is instead getting a second life inside Milwaukee-area schools and nonprofits.
Creative Business Interiors is preparing to move after 14 years in its current facility. The move left the company with a surplus of commercial furniture — still usable and valuable, but no longer needed in its next space.
Rather than discard it, the company teamed up with Best Ed Business, a mother-and-daughter-owned business led by June Perry-Stevens and Krystle Rogers, to find organizations that could put it to use.
The response from some recipients was immediate.
“One of them said, 'this feels like Christmas,'” Perry-Stevens said.
The donations included bookcases, desks, conference room seating, lounge furniture, break room tables, filing cabinets and office supplies.
For schools and nonprofits operating on tight budgets, Perry-Stevens said some of those items may have otherwise remained out of reach.
“Um, they were just overwhelmed because these are probably things that they may have looked at and knew that they couldn't afford or it wasn't in the budget to get it, and here's somebody saying, take it, it's yours, it's free,” Perry-Stevens said.
Perry-Stevens previously ran a Milwaukee nonprofit herself and said she understands how difficult it can be for organizations to budget for furnishings while prioritizing the people they serve.
For Krystle Rogers, co-owner of Best Ed Business, the effort was also about making sure usable furniture did not simply become waste.
“There's something to say about us consuming but not being intentional about how those things, those items are then wasted later,” Rogers said. “We need to be intentional about that and if there's an opportunity for it to be housed and used elsewhere, why not?”
A full-circle connection at Milwaukee College Prep
Among the recipients was Milwaukee College Prep’s 38th Street campus, where the donation is helping transform a teacher's lounge into a dedicated place for educators to step away and recharge during the school day.
For Rogers, the school is personal.
Her son attended Milwaukee College Prep, and Rogers and her mother spent time volunteering there while he was a student. Rogers said the support he received at MCP continues to have an impact as he now attends Clark Atlanta University.
“It means the world to me. It's something that I've always wanted to do,” Rogers said.
She said giving furniture back to the school is a way of returning some of what the school gave her family.
“The benefits that he is still harvesting from his time at MCP, we want to make sure that we are contributing back to those that contributed to his upbringing,” Rogers said.
Messmer Catholic Schools, Rogers’ alma mater, also received furniture through the effort.
For Milwaukee College Prep Principal Devon Weber, the story is another full-circle Milwaukee connection.
Weber grew up near 34th and Wright streets, just two blocks from the school. He attended Milwaukee College Prep as a student before eventually returning as an educational assistant, then becoming a teacher, administrator and now principal of the 38th Street campus.
“I grew up right here, um, two blocks down, 34th and Wright. I actually went to Milwaukee College Prep as a student and then I came back as an educational assistant and then from there I became a teacher,” Weber said.
Now, one of Weber’s priorities is making sure the educators working inside the same school have a place designed for them.
“It was my goal to give our teachers a place where they can go and decompress and make it comfortable for them just like they do for our students every day,” Weber said.
Weber said educators regularly invest their own money and resources into making classrooms comfortable for students. He wanted the teacher's lounge to send a message that someone is also thinking about them.
Because Milwaukee College Prep is a nonprofit, the donation also means money that could have gone toward furniture can instead be directed elsewhere.
“With a donation like this, we're able to then take those dollars and pour them somewhere else in a, in another needed area,” Weber said.
Furniture with more life to give
Creative Business Interiors President Becky Gaylord said commercial furniture is often built to last well beyond the time one company needs it.
Without the donation effort, Gaylord said at least some of the surplus likely would have ended up in a landfill or recycling stream. Instead, chairs, tables, desks and other pieces are now serving organizations across the Milwaukee area.
Gaylord said seeing people arrive to pick up the furniture — and knowing where it was headed — made the effort worthwhile.
“My hope is that it just, it serves their day better and helps them, you know, go about and live their best day,” Gaylord said.
Teachers at Milwaukee College Prep return ahead of the school’s first day of classes on Aug. 26.
When they see their new lounge, Weber hopes what they notice goes beyond the furniture.
“I think that they're gonna be excited. I think they're gonna feel loved and cared about, and I know that they're gonna see that there are people in our community that value the work that they do every day,” Weber said.
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