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ROMEOVILLE, IL — As he pulled the rented moving van up to the warehouse a few weeks ago, Anthony Tanot said he had no idea the holidays were about to become just a little brighter. “But it ended up that I came away with much more than what I could have hoped for,” he said.

Disabled due to an accident a little over a year ago, and struggling to raise six children on his own, Tanot recently moved into a small home in Downers Grove. “Because I had rent to pay and other expenses, I didn’t have enough money left over to buy furniture for my family,” he said speaking with the Catholic Explorer in a telephone interview Dec. 5.

Approaching several social workers and organizations such as Catholic Charities and the Salvation Army, Tanot said he despaired of ever having his needs met as days turned into weeks, and his family was still sleeping on the floor of their new home. “Then one young lady at the Salvation Army asked me if I had ever heard of a group called Sharing Connections,” he said.

Taking a chance, Tanot said he made the initial call to the organization, based in Downers Grove. “I thought I would give them a list of what I needed and that would be it,” he said. Instead he found a staff of veteran volunteers, who worked with Tanot to make his house a home for the holidays.

Originally, Tanot said he had asked for nothing more than a couch and a few tables, when he first met with the staff at Sharing Connections. “But then they took me through the warehouse and we made a list of everything that I needed,” he said.

Because the staff urged Tanot to consider the needs of his children, he walked away with enough furniture to outfit his entire home, including beds, tables, a washer and dryer, and of course, a couch. “They really came through for me in my time of need,” he added.

Considering himself a modest man, Tanot said, he continued to ask for nothing more than the basics, while putting together his wish list. “But the staff kept sneaking other things in that I hadn’t asked for, but they knew that I needed,” he said.

When the day came to collect his entire set of furniture, the kindness and dedication of the Sharing Connections staff once again became evident. “They helped me to load the truck and gave me even more items that I hadn’t asked for, such as a big bucket of cleaning supplies and some bed linens,” Tanot said.

The grateful father said the generosity of the people at Sharing Connections makes it possible to raise his children in an adequate home. “This place is ours and no one else’s, and the people of Sharing Connections helped to make it possible,” he said.

Founded by housewife LeeAnne McGrath, Sharing Connections was established after she encountered difficultly trying to donate some of her gently used furniture to the needy. “She realized that there wasn’t a place that could handle something like this,” said Judie Caribeaux, who acts as executive director for the organization.

Working out of her home and trying to collect donations on her own, Caribeaux revealed the details of how McGrath came to realize that an organized effort could offer others an opportunity to donate household items with plenty of life left. “That’s when she decided to rent a warehouse and asked other people to volunteer,” she added.

Currently the organization is one of two furniture banks in Illinois and serves families from throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. The organization helps over 60,000 families, said Caribeaux, and accepts over $120,482 in donations each year.

According to Caribeaux, the furniture must be in good condition or gently used because the organization does not have the resources to fix battered or broken pieces. In addition to furniture, donations of cleaning supplies, bed linens and diapers are also accepted. “The main thing we need are beds, because so many of the families that come to us are sleeping on the floor of their homes,” she added.

“We also gather donations from special collections that various groups and churches hold for us,” said Caribeaux.

Among the holiday collections held recently, were several offered by churches within the Diocese of Joliet. In addition to Holy Spirit Catholic Community in Naperville, which offered donations in terms of money and volunteers, St. James the Apostle Parish in Glen Ellyn recently gave a donation of $2,500 to the organization. “And next week St. Joan of Arc Parish in Lisle will be holding a coat drive for us,” said Caribeaux.

The families that come to Sharing Connections are referred by social agencies, including the Salvation Army or transitional housing programs, such as Bridge Communities in Glen Ellyn. “We do not take individual families without referrals, because we want to make sure that they are really in need of our services,” said Caribeaux.

After a simple screening process to ensure income qualifications, the recipients are then escorted to the Sharing Connections warehouse. “We make a list of what they need and let them go through our inventory and pick out what pieces they want,” said Caribeaux.

While Sharing Connections does not deliver the pieces to a family’s home, the staff and volunteers do make the packing of rented trucks fun and exciting for the homeowners. “I remember one grandmother who brought a cargo van to pack her stuff in. We had no idea how we were going to get all that stuff into it, but we managed to do it and celebrated that accomplishment with her,” said Caribeaux.