Franchise Talk

Company Cast-Offs For A Cause

September 8th, 2008 | Author: Jack

For three decades, Karen Lewis sold office furniture across the nation. Now, through her charitable organization, she’s connecting corporation cast-offs with schools and nonprofit groups. Surplus items are sold, with the proceeds supporting research into pancreatic cancer, the disease her husband has been battling since last summer, and other worthy causes.

“We ensure that the furniture that they give us will not go into a landfill,” said Lewis, a 59-year-old Newton resident. “Furniture that has not been donated or sold is stripped down and recycled back to its component parts,” from wood to plastics to metal casters, she said. Among some of the 25 businesses partnering with her nonprofit charity, the Furniture Trust, are Bank of America, John Hancock, and Advent International.

The idea for the trust took seed 15 months ago, when John Riley, a close friend and furniture installer for Lewis, became disgusted with what was being thrown away at office buildings.

“John told me that there was a way to make this right by cutting down on landfills and donating the excess to nonprofits,” she said. Then in August 2007, two months after their son Ryan returned from the war in Iraq, Steven Lewis was diagnosed with cancer.

She spent the next few months at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center while her husband underwent surgery and chemotherapy. Read full story.

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