about find.
Find - Furnishing Hope
Find is a social enterprise of Homeward Trust Edmonton that provides essential furnishings free of charge to individuals and families who are transitioning out of homelessness, and supplies low-cost, quality furniture and housewares for sale to the public. Find is the largest of its kind in North America and we are proud to support our community every day by supporting local housing initiatives and our retail stores.
All items sold or used in the program are donated by the community and 100% of proceeds help those transitioning out of homelessness.
On average, Find furnishes 100 homes through housing supports every month.
The start-up cost for anyone moving into their first home is expensive, so imagine the challenges for someone moving out of homelessness. It can be a barrier for someone securing sustainable housing. By offering furniture free of charge, we are giving our participants the opportunity to build a safe, comfortable environment to start their new journeys. Our goal is to support an improved quality of life for all participants we help house. This experience helps turn a space into a real home with a kitchen table to enjoy meals, a comfortable space to share stories and beds for safe, sweet dreams.
Housing support teams across Edmonton assisting families and individuals transitioning out homelessness bring their participants to Find to pick out their furniture at no cost to them. Funded in part by the Government of Canada's Homelessness Partnership Strategy, we are able to provide each person with a mattress and bed frame, and other essential home goods not donated by the community.
In addition, the Government of Alberta Community and Social Services provides us with the support needed to collect community donations and provide quality used furniture to people moving out of homelessness.
Each item found at Find is generously donated through members of the community.
It takes a community to end homelessness.
If you want to shop and feel good about it, Find is the place for you! Whether you’re furnishing your first home or looking for the perfect item to finish a room, you know the items you get at Find are clean, high quality and unique. Plus, with each purchase, you are helping someone transition out of homelessness and into their new home. We provide exceptional collections of urban treasures. We sort through donations with much care and consideration for our customers to provide the best quality products we can. We are proud of the have very high standards of sanitation and cleaning methods we use for all donations. All donations are cleaned and inspected before being placed on the retail floor.
2009
Find is a social enterprise that initially started as
“The Furniture Bank” in partnership with Edmonton Emergency Relief Services (EERS) and Alberta Job Corps in 2009, when the development of the province’s and Edmonton’s plans to end homelessness identified access to affordable furniture as a key component in housing sustainability. We started collecting furniture donations to provide to people moving out of homelessness.
2010/11
In 2010, a retail location was secured and
Find was born. In 2011, Find opened its first location in a former grocery store in the Landsdowne neighborhood with a dedicated space for partners, Bissell Centre to accept clothing donations.
2012
Find is officially open to the public 4 days a week.
2013
Find adds delivery to their daily operations.
2016
Find celebrates its 5th anniversary.
2017
In 2017, Find opened its second location
- Find on Jasper Boutique.
2018
Find started Find Online, a new way thrift from the comfort of your own home 24 hours a day, 7 days week.
2018
Find furnished 1407 homes with community donations and helped over 2100 people move out of homelessness through Housing First.
2019
We have a newly renovated 22,000 square foot retail
space for people to shop, for Housing First
participants to select gently-used items for their
residences, and for thorough inspection of each
piece of donated furniture.
2019
Find furnished 1583 homes in 2019 with community donations and helped over 2500 people move out of homelessness through housing supports.
2020
Find Boutique on Jasper officially made the move to Find Online. Find furnished 1703 homes people moving out of homelessness with community donations.
2021 -2023
Find furnished 1581 homes helping over 2300 people move out of homelessness through housing supports with community donations in 2021 and 1480 in 2022 and 2023.
We recognize we are gathered, in collaboration and with joint purpose, on Treaty 6 territory. This territory is the traditional home and gathering place for diverse Indigenous peoples. The nêhiyaw (Cree), Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), Dene, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), Anishinaabe (Saulteaux/Ojibwe), Nakota Isga (Nakota Sioux), Inuit, and Métis, among many others cared for this land since time immemorial and continue to steward it today. As visitors in this territory, we honour the importance of the Treaty and our responsibility to these communities. Only in partnership can we create the changes necessary to end homelessness. It is vital we meaningfully engage and partner with Indigenous people and communities in this work while recognizing and addressing the conditions brought forth by colonialism. Displacement from traditional homelands, systemic racism, residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, and the ongoing overrepresentation of Indigenous people in child welfare, correctional systems, and homelessness are responsibilities we all share.
