The Mustard Seed of Central Florida

Specialties

The Mustard Seed helps rebuild the lives of families and individuals who have suffered disaster and personal tragedy by providing furniture, clothing, and other household necessities. This might be a family displaced by a natural disaster or house fire, or a woman who has summoned the courage to escape domestic abuse, leaving behind everything for the safety of herself and her children. It might be someone devastated by a lengthy illness, or simply parents who need just one item of furniture like a bed or dresser to retain custody of the children and keep the family together. Generally a family can only receive furniture from us as a one time benefit, so that we give families in crisis a helping hand up, not a continuous hand out.

The Mustard Seed distributes a significant amount of furniture and household basics to people in need. But perhaps the most important thing we give away is the assurance that someone cares enough to help, all while being treated with dignity and respect.

History

Established in 1984.

The Mustard Seed is a socially entrepreneurial non-​profit that has transitioned from being just a furniture bank to a green recycler that funds furniture distribution. Since 1984 The Mustard Seed has served thousands of individuals and families throughout Central Florida get back on their feet with clothing, furniture, and household items donated by the public. In July of 2010, The Mustard Seed began recycling mattresses and partners with local businesses, apartment complexes, and hotels to help our fragile ecosystem. This new program helps to gain access to additional product that we can also give away to families who come to us for help. We have been on a mission to be good stewards of the environment since our inception in 1984, while also providing a vital public service, so far saving over 138,000 cubic feet of landfill space with over 6000 mattresses recycled. Fiscal year end 2011 we will have tripled the number of beds we gave away and dropped our costs by almost half!

Meet the Manager

Michelle L.

Manager

Michelle Lyles is the Executive Director of The Mustard Seed of Central Florida, the première furniture and clothing bank located in the Maitland/​Eatonville area. She has non-​profit experience with the Heart of Florida United Way and The Florida Bar Foundation, and is a Magic Maker with the NBA Orlando Magic. However, it’s the team approach that lends to the current success of The Mustard Seed: with new faces representing the organization at meetings and networking functions, and diverse skill sets contributing to daily operations, the charity is stronger than ever creating new partnerships with businesses and other non-​profits with these efforts. We invite you to join «The Friends of The Mustard Seed» and follow us on Facebook and Twitter — or come by to see us! We’ll be happy to give you a tour of our facility so you can see how we help families get back on their feet with furniture and household items donated by the generosity of our community and local businesses.