CHICAGO (CBS) — Turning a house into a home. That’s what a Chicago nonprofit has done for hundreds of families, all while keeping furniture and household items out of landfills.
Digs With Dignity has a dual mission: helping people and the planet; using decorations, furniture and household items to design and transform spaces, helping people in need get back on their feet.
Their warehouse has approximately 10,000 square feet of space, filled with donated goods to provide furnished living spaces for people recently homeless.
“It’s definitely a well-oiled machine in the warehouse,” said Kim Hannay, director of Digs with Dignity.
Their team starts with floor plans and wish lists from Chicago families moving into a new home after recently becoming homeless.
“They come to us through social service providers. So those case managers are the ones who help them secure housing,” Hannay said. “Then those case managers refer them to us. We go in, meet them, get to know them and design their custom home in about a week.”
A recent family they helped was a mother, father and two children, ages 1 and 6.
“They come to live here from a shelter where they have nothing,” Hannay said. “They move in with a few bags of clothes, maybe an air mattress.”
Digs With Dignity sources everything the family needs from their warehouse.
“From large pieces of furniture, like beds and dressers, to trinkets on shelves, and artwork for the walls, to linens for your beds, it’s really everything that makes a home,” says Hannay.
Then, repair and restoration specialist Jan Claiborne ensures that nothing ends up in broken or devastated families. He sands, paints, repairs – making the old new again.
“I fix things. That’s what I do. I fix things,” he said.
On move-in day, all the furniture and other items the Digs With Dignity team has retrieved from the warehouse are moved and set up while the family is away for the day, then return to their fully furnished home.
Digs With Dignity performed 47 such moves in 2024, and more than 200 since launching five years ago.
“A lot of these clients have been through things similar to what I’ve been through. I’ve been through domestic violence. I’ve been through homelessness,” said client liaison Okeisha Winston. “I was addicted to drugs since I was 18 years old, and one day I decided I had enough. I got tired.”
After going through substance abuse recovery, Winston and her new husband secured a stable apartment in 2021, and Digs With Dignity stepped in to transform it into a real home.
“I couldn’t believe it. My eyes were so big,” she said. “I wanted to pass out.”
Four years sober and sober, Winston now works at Digs With Dignity as a customer liaison.
“My adrenaline goes up knowing I’m doing the same thing they did for me,” she said. “A bed is one of the most important things that some clients never had because they had to sleep on the floor. They slept from couch to couch.”
Winston said that everyone should be able to say, “This is my bed, and I can go to sleep in peace.”
“This work impacts their lives. This work helps them move forward. This work helps them get back on their feet, get a job, keep their housing, keep their job,” Hannay said.
Even though the warehouse is full, Digs With Dignity is always looking for donations – especially pillows, bedding and lamps. And they always need volunteers to help with design, decorating and moving.
Digs With Dignity currently does one move per week, but they hope to do two per week by 2025.
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