Meridian furniture store helps Pine Belt tornado survivors

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Woodstock Furniture in Meridian joins the relief effort, as families in Hattiesburg affected by last week’s tornado begin to recover.

“One of our manufacturers came to us and said, ‘We want to partner with Mattress Express and Woodstock Furniture to see what we can do to help with the relief effort.’ So, I thought about it and said what do we need, what can we do,” said the owner, David Honeycutt.

The furniture company is donating furniture to children affected by the storm with the help of Christian Services, a non-profit organization in Hattiesburg.

Christian Services Executive Director Jim Prout said, “We are trying to get a sense of normalcy back to the children also, as the parents can figure what is going on their life, these children need to be able to go back to school and they need good rest in order to do that.”

“A lot of people are donating canned goods and their hard labor and time to help with the relief effort. But children need a place to sleep. They need to get back to some sort of normalcy, hence the reason we’re trying to do this,” said Honeycutt.

The company is also donating money. “With our Mattress Express location next door to Academy Sports in Hattiesburg, we have select models, that between now until the end of February, we are donating a percentage of sales back to Christian Services, to help them distribute as needed and help with the relief effort,” Honeycutt said.

He added that the company is glad to give back. “Sometimes you do things because it’s the right thing to do. It’s not always the easiest, but you do it because it’s the right thing to do.”