Apartment firm's big gesture helps victims feel at home.

Furnished Quarters, one of the East Coast's largest providers of furnished apartments, has donated three truckloads of furniture to families in need.

Collaborating with the National Furniture Bank Association (NFBA), the charitable arm of the home furnishings industry, most of the donated furniture will be distributed to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

"The NFBA provided us with the perfect opportunity to make a difference by contributing to the dearth of furniture inventory for Katrina's victims," said Furnished Quarters' founders, Steven and Gary Brown. "We continually update our apartments with new furniture and now the pieces being replaced will go directly to those that need it most. We hope our efforts will serve as an example for the corporate housing industry."

Retailers and manufacturers within home furnishings industry support the NFBA not only because it helps hundreds of thousands of Americans each year, but also because it keeps used furniture off the secondary sale market. Additionally, thousands of tons of furniture that would otherwise head for landfills and incinerators are put to good use.

"Our new partnership with the NFBA provides the ideal outlet for our company," said Steven Brown.

"We are also grateful for the efforts of Bruce Natale, President, Triple Crown Moving and Storage who allowed for the transport of our inventory and assisted in the entire process. It's teamwork that made this all possible."

Phil Van Poetsch, executive director of the NFBA, says the donation by Furnished Quarters will provide much needed relief to Hurricane Katrina victims. "It's difficult to comprehend that nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina, there are still children sleeping on the floor," said Van Poetsch.

"We served 40,000 hurricane victims over the course of ten months, and are still receiving dozens of requests for assistance each day."

The NFBA and Furnished Quarters both stated separately that the companies believe this is the first of many donations to come in a long-term agreement.

"I'm thankful to the management of Furnished Quarters," said Van Poetsch, "and I'm hopeful that other companies will follow their example."