Since its foundation in 2019, Forward Space’s Milwaukee office has been dedicated to connecting with and giving back to their local Harbor District community. A stand-out organization in the area is Hope House. Hope House is a non-profit housing shelter and community center in Bayview that provides educational, nutritional, mental, and housing support to local families. While collaborating to donate chairs to Hope House, Forward Space’s showroom concierge, Julie Haas, learned that the furniture within their Shining Stars room had recently suffered substantial water damage. The Shining Stars room offers children after school tutoring, workshops, and enriching experiences. These activities are primarily focused on building academic skills and improvement of interpersonal social and coping skills. 

Concerned about the damage done to this vital community resource, Julie worked with Forward Space Director of Design and Experience, Cathy Wille, to brainstorm how they could help. As ideas grew, their warehouse team, upper management, and CEO pulled together to create a solution.  :

This massive transformation wouldn’t have been possible without all the steps Julie took to organize this effort. When asked what her favorite part of the experience was, she responded: 

The morning of our employee volunteer day, I could tell that Fred de la Rosa couldn’t comprehend what we had in store for him. That evening, I got a text, he was alone in the room taking it all in, he was overwhelmed by how special and uplifting the room looked and felt. Leading up to the room transformation, I spent time getting the rooms organized and ready for the furniture delivery. I spent several evenings with Fred and the kids of the Shining Star program and experienced firsthand how wonderful the program is and how special Mr. Fred is to these kids. He’s so patient and caring, I was so excited to provide him with a youth space that reflects the intentions of their programming.” 

We want to give a huge shoutout to Julie Haas for paying it forward and going above and beyond to support the kids of Hope House and a kudos to everyone on the team who gave their time and expertise to support this cause. What an amazing way to end the year!