OUR NEW CAFE TABLES & CHAIRS
If you have been in our Community Cafe recently, you couldn’t help but notice our gorgeous new table and chairs! We thought it would be fun to share the story behind our new furniture.
THE SOURCE OFFICE FURNITURE ANSWERS OUR CALL
In early 2024, I was invited to join the newly formed Fundraising Committee at the Westend Seniors Activity Centre (WSAC). I was happy to join and later became a member of the WSAC Board.
I am one of the committee members who agreed to take on the role of corporate fundraising for various projects that our centre. Our Operations Manager, Barbara Jaffray gave me a list of priorities for the centre and one of them was the replacement of the chairs in the cafe. She told me that some of the chairs in the cafe were stained and beyond cleaning and also mentioned that they were quite bulky and heavy for some of our members to move around.
I started by reaching out to companies that manufactured or sold commercial furniture. Source Office Furniture responded right away and stated that they were interested in helping us out! A group of us met with their team and after a lovely lunch and tour of our centre, they agreed that they would indeed help us!
We outlined what we were looking for and they were kind enough to send us a number of chairs that we could get staff and members to try out. A week later, we let them know which chair we liked. Not only got all our chairs replaced, but Source kindly replaced our tables as well! What a wonderful donation and it has been gratefully accepted! Our cafe today looks so much brighter and welcoming. The new chairs are lightweight, comfortable, and very easy to keep clean!
Our committee will continue to try and get our centre updated with projects like replacing the blinds in the gym as well as the chairs in our games room. The Board and the Fundraising Committee are striving to achieve these projects by seeking ‘In Kind’ donations as well as raffles, 50/50 draws, and other fundraising projects. Our goal is to keep our Centre a welcoming, comfortable, enjoyable place for all of us!
Barbara Thompson
Fundraising Committee
Board Member
The Source Office Furniture team arrived with a full truck of furniture
The WSAC team clearing out the old chairs and tables
SHOWING SUPPORT TO THE WESTEND SENIORS ACTIVITY CENTRE
In the summer of 2024, the Westend Seniors Activity Centre here in Edmonton reached out to our office to see if we could donate furniture to their organization. A meeting was set up with their leadership team to see how we could best help them. After an enjoyable lunch with their team in their Community Cafe, we were given a tour of their facility where we saw firsthand that their centre is a busy hub for older adults here in Edmonton.
We agreed that a furniture donation would be the most valuable option and make the biggest impact to help their organization. The Community Cafe is the hub of their centre. After talking it over, Source and the WSAC team decided that updating the cafe should be the priority. We saw the need to replace mismatched furniture to make the space more welcoming, and we wanted to choose furniture that would be easy to clean.
Our team was more than happy to lend our expertise. We talked with them about the look and feel of the space, repurposing some of the current furniture, and staying within budget. After a few more emails to confirm colors, sizes, and other details, we finalized the list.
One big need was to replace the chairs. A couple of weeks after the meeting, our team sent 6 chair options for the WSAC team to consider making sure everyone was happy with the style and that the height and size would work well for an older population. The WESAC team had staff, volunteers, and members test all the chairs for comfort and functionality before making their final decision. Once the right chair was chosen, we worked with WSAC team to schedule the delivery and installation, making sure it fit around their Community Cafe hours.
It is fantastic to see the end result of a project like this and it makes all the hard work worthwhile. Our organization believes in giving back to our community. We have a history with WSAC so we were happy and honored to help an organization that serves the seniors in our community. We hope that when people visit their parents or grandparents at the center, they enjoy the new space as much as we enjoyed working on it.
Stan Dionne
Sales Manager,
Source Office Furniture
The Source Office Furniture Team putting the furniture together
Setting up all the new chairs
THANK YOU TO THE SOURCE
After weeks of anticipation, The Source Office Furnishings delivered a truckload of tables and chairs to WSAC on October 17th. The delivery staff began unloading immediately, followed shortly by the assembly crew. In just about two hours, the WSAC Team got their first look at the new Cafe. We were thrilled with how fresh, inviting, and clean everything looked!
The feedback from our members has been overwhelmingly positive. Members have expressed their gratitude for this generous donation from The Source Office Furnishings, appreciating the company’s recognition of the value it brings to our Centre.
Thank you!
The WSAC Team
