Adopt A House Wins Ikea's $10K Life Improvement Award for Sandy Kids Bedroom Furniture

IKEA long Island CO-WORKERS AND CUSTOMERS CONGRATULATE adopt a house ON WINNING gift cards for their children’s room program ~ As part of The IKEA Life Improvement Co-worker Challenge, co-workers and customers voted for local non-profits to receive an IKEA makeover/donation     (IKEA LONG ISLAND) – ADOPT A HOUSE in LINDENHURST, NY is the winner of the fourth annual IKEA Life Improvement Co-worker Challenge. As the winner, they will receive IKEA gift cards from IKEA Long Island for the makeover of children’s room for those affected by Hurricane Sandy. Many recipients are not in their homes yet and will utilize the gift cards once their homes are repaired/rebuilt. Adopt a House is a non-profit organization that teams up families affected by Hurricane Sandy with support in the form of education, services, and/or products that will help them rebuild their homes and their lives. Many people cannot return to their devastated homes and are awaiting restoration. Recovery is more than rebuilding buildings; it is about getting lives back on track, getting kids back to school  back in their home again, restoring health, and creating safe environments. This donation will fund a Children’s Room Program. It will greatly improve the lives of children who were affected by Hurricane Sandy by helping out with financial difficulties to families who show a need and lack of insurance, as well as the social and emotional well-being of  children who've been through an emotionally traumatic experience.  All children qualifying for this program have lost all of their personal belongings. Being able to supply them with gift cards or furniture will give them a new sense of security. Allowing them to choose items will help them feel like the new space is theirs.  Children have anxiety moving into a new space.  Adopt a House and IKEA would love to help them.     IKEA co-workers throughout the country at 38 stores and two service offices nominated local non-profit organizations to receive an IKEA makeover of a space that helps to improve the lives of others. Over 100 inspiring nominations from IKEA co-workers were received. A steering committee from each location then selected up to three organizations for IKEA co-workers and consumers to vote for online between March 17 and March 31, 2014. Over 83,000 votes were cast and the winning charities were announced on April 4, 2014 for each location. This year a total of 40 community projects will be supported by IKEA. Runners up will also receive an IKEA gift card as a thank you for participating in this year’s contest. This is the fourth year for the IKEA Life Improvement Challenge. Over the course of this time, over 100 local non-profit organizations have won IKEA makeovers.   The current winners can be found at www.ikea-usa.com.   “We believe in creating a better everyday life for the many people and by making this contribution, IKEA Long Island and our co-workers are able to support the children of Adopt a House and help them get back to a home that makes them feel safe and secure” said John Achillea, IKEA Store Manager.   Our community has been through a lot over the past year and a half.  We have a tremendous respect for the members of Adopt A House and what they have accomplished for our community. Together we can help with improving the lives of these children who have been through so much.. Special thanks to Jen Mackie Aulino, Victoria Witchey Boye and Michele Insinga for their founding this special organization and for their commitment to rebuilding and supporting our community. We are very proud that this is the 4th year of our Life Improvement Challenge and that we’ve been able to work with many community members in their efforts to make lives better.   Quote from Adopt a House here……   Adopt A House wants to thank everyone who voted for us so diligently.  We also would like to Thank Ikea for this incredible opportunity to provide the children of our Sandy families with beautiful new bedroom furniture since so much was lost with the Storm. We can’t wait to see their faces when they pick it out knowing they will soon be going home with all new bedroom furniture. Thank You so very much.    approximate retail value of $10,000 of product and design expertise time     About IKEA The IKEA vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people. Our business idea supports this vision by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. There are currently 305 IKEA Group stores in 26 countries. There are 38 IKEA stores in the US. In FY 13, the IKEA Group had 135,000 co-workers, 684 million visitors to the stores and 1.3 billion visitors to IKEA.com.  IKEA incorporates sustainability into day-to-day business and supports initiatives that benefit children and the environment. For more information, see IKEA-USA.com">IKEA-USA.com">IKEA-USA.com">IKEA-USA.com">IKEA-USA.com">IKEA-USA.com">IKEA-USA.com">IKEA-USA.com, facebook.com/IKEAUSA, @IKEAUSANews, @DesignByIKEA, http://pinterest.com/IKEAUSA/, www.youtube.com/IKEAUSA,  www.theshare-space.com, www.theshare-space.com/en/Blog             Adopt A House was founded by Jennifer Mackie Aulino, & Victoria Witchey Boye, later joined by Michele Insinga, and finally Beth Henry & Kelly Harris Of Sandy Support Massapequa Style to help re-build our local communities by bringing valuable information, solutions and financial assistance to Long Island residents affected by Super Storm Sandy. We have become a pivotal force in providing support for area residents. Our collective vision was to help each and every home get back on its feet, and we are dedicated to making that happen.  Adopt A House continues its mission and has many more upcoming workshops, programs and events in the near future. Adopt A House, due to its wonderful volunteers and generous donors, has successfully run multiple projects around several needs.   We are a non-profit organization dedicated to our goal "To connect families that have been affected by unfortunate circumstances, with community members who are willing and able to help those in need.  Adopt A house in 2014 has recently opened its doors outside of survivors of Super Storm Sandy to include others of unfortunate circumstances as well.