City Furniture Creates a Home for SOS

Coconut Creek, FL- "I finally have a room of my own,” exclaimed big sister Julie, aged 10, when her family of one brother and four sisters arrived at their new home in SOS Children’s Village. The cozy home décor was courtesy of City Furniture and their in-house interior design service, the Academy of Design.

The five foster children, all under the age of 10 years old, arrived at the foster care neighborhood at the beginning of the month. When SOS caseworkers first heard that the sisters would be arriving, they scrambled to turn three rooms that previously belonged to teenage boys into rooms fit for little girls.

With only one week to prepare, SOS put the call out to volunteers and supporters to help collect new bedding and decorative items to furnish the rooms and the household. The answer came through SOS volunteer Nikki Overholt and her husband, Chris. Together they contacted the designers from City’s Academy of Design and set up a special visit to see the home.

Two days later designers Kristin Goff, Christina Merotto, Sheree Bergeron, and Fran Bernstein were back in the Village to spruce up the entire house with a truckload of bedding, towels, lamps, rugs, and wall hangings from City Furniture’s inventory and a few shopping expeditions. Without knowing the children, individualizing rooms was a challenge but the designers came up with themes for each room. Pedro, aged 5, has a sports-themed room complete with a baseball table lamp with a whistle pull chain, which turned out to be perfect for him since he arrived hugging a soccer ball.

By the time the children arrived at the end of the week, the house was ready to become home. When the designers stopped by for a visit with the children, Jayla, aged 7, asked if they wanted to see her room. She asked them to wait outside as she closed the door so she could get ready. A few moments later, they were invited in to see her lying on her bed, smiling.

“They all seem quite 'at home' already... such a pleasure to see and be a part of,” said designer Fran Bernstein after her visit. “Bless you and SOS!”