West Hartford nonprofit Journey Home, which focuses on supporting individuals transitioning from homelessness, has signed a lease for new warehouse space in town.
Sara Wilson, the nonprofit’s deputy director, said Journey Home has signed a three-year lease with a two-year extension for space at 595 New Park Ave. in West Hartford. The building will serve as warehouse space for Journey Home’s “A Hand Up” program, which provides donated furniture for individuals transitioning from homelessness/
The building, formerly home to industrial equipment supplier Wellington Supply Inc., is 4,440 square feet overall and includes nearly 3,200 square feet of storage space, according to town property records. It was acquired from Wellington Supply by 595 New Park Avenue Associates LLC in November 2022 for $345,000.
The building is located less than half a mile from A Hand Up’s current warehouses at 635 New Park Ave., which Wilson said is important because it remains accessible for clients and donors.
“We love this location because a lot of our volunteers are from West Hartford, and it’s also on the bus line; fastrak is across the street,” she said.
The program has been in one of the warehouses for more than seven years, Wilson said, and added a second warehouse in the same industrial complex in June 2020 after receiving special grant funding.
That second warehouse, however, “was fine for a while, but we discovered an incredible amount of black mold, because it had been a rainy winter, and I think there’s a pretty significant leak in the roof,” she said.
When the mold was discovered, A Hand Up removed the furniture and rented three storage units nearby, but wanted to find a place where all of the donated furniture and other items could be consolidated under one roof.
Wilson said the lease for both spaces at 635 New Park Ave. end Aug. 31, while the lease for 595 New Park. begins Aug. 1.
“I wanted to be in a place on Aug. 1 to give our staff the time to move everything and adjustments that need to be made,” she said. “So we have this one month grace period, which is really nice.”
The new building is not only larger than the current warehouse space, it also has room for an office, as well as bathrooms and its own parking lot.
Wilson said A Hand Up has just one other full-time staff member and two part-time employees, while relying on volunteers to help. The organization also has three trucks, which are garaged overnight for security reasons at Lyons Auto Service located nearby on New Britain Avenue.
She added that the organization expects to be fully operating in its new space by Sept. 1.
“I started this program out of my garage eight years ago, and it’s amazing to see,” Wilson said. “It’s a very cool thing to see it growing and thriving.”
According to its most recent 990 tax form, Journey Home reported $6.3 million in revenue in fiscal 2023, which ended June 30, 2023, and a surplus of $332,587. It listed total assets of $2.8 million.
