From New York City to Fort Smith, Arkansas

ANEW works with our sponsor Teknion to steward their outgoing showroom furniture items back into the community. Upon meeting kindred spirit Ken Kupchik, we recently completed a multi-faceted project stretching from a Teknion showroom in New York City to Fort Smith, Arkansas. Ken worked for 30 years at ABF Headquarters in Fort Smith, then made a big change to work in hunger relief. He’d found out about ANEW and contacted us, wondering if we could provide furniture for the Antioch Community Food Pantry, part of Antioch for Youth & Family in Fort Smith. We mentioned the furniture from the Teknion showroom, now in a New Jersey warehouse awaiting a new home. Ken realized that the warehouse in New Jersey is only 5 miles from an ABF Freight Terminal in Linden, NJ. All the elements were in place; with one email he made it happen. The new Antioch building, providing 10,000 square feet compared to the current 3,000, is almost ready for move-in. The stewarded furniture from Teknion NYC, stored off-site during construction, will grace the new space as well as several other community organizations. Our heartfelt thanks to Ken & staff at Antioch and Camille Moore of ABF in Fort Smith for their diligence and good work!