ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- One of the lingering effects of Hurricane Matthew is the loss of furniture. Some people lost every piece of furniture they own.
There is a grass roots effort to help those in need in St. Johns County.
The program is run out of a small warehouse in St. Augustine on Old Moultrie Road. The small warehouse is full of furniture. All of it has been donated, and all of it will go to hurricane Matthew victims.
"We need more sofas and love seats because everybody's couches got ruined," Thomas Long of St. Augustine told First Coast News Tuesday.
Long started noticing his friends, people online and folks in nearby neighborhoods really needed furniture.
"Gosh. All these people lost all their stuff," Long said, "and not that stuff is important but stuff is expensive."
So someone donated a warehouse to him and some of his friends. Now they've created a Facebook group called "Furniture Donations for Hurricane Matthew Victims in St. Augustine". The group takes furniture donations and gives out the furniture -- for free -- to hurricane victims.
Long remembers one woman whose home was flooded by Matthew. "It all gutted, but she cant' afford to fix it. She's still got to live in the house."
So she picked up some furniture at the warehouse this past weekend.
"We gave her an area rug and some furniture so she could at least have one comfortable space in her house to relax while she starts to fix the rooms one by one," Long explained.
In one week, he said more than 50 people have donated furniture and 28 families have received furniture.
"That need is going to grow because so many people don't have insurance or the right insurance."
Long has the time to collect and distribute because, "I'm on sabbatical," he chuckled.
He's a glass artist who has a flair for color and creativity. And now this break has him tapping into another craft: the art of helping humanity from inside a humble furniture warehouse.
The group needs a bigger warehouse, more donations and volunteers.