There are no costs, qualifications, or eligibility criteria to receive items.

Because of the high demand for furniture, we do not allow repeat clients within a 5-year period except under extenuating circumstances. Please call us so a member of our Essential Support can speak with you about your options. For information about other services we offer, see our pages about  Professional Clothing, Baby Items, and  Career Support.

You do not need a referral to use our services. Individuals are welcome to call us at 301-608-3504 for information and to schedule an appointment.

If you are a caseworker working with an individual in need of furniture, please either have your client contact us directly or you can contact us at the same number, 301-608-3504. Please be sure to mention your agency’s name and the name of your client.

Speaking to a team member on the phone is the only way to get an appointment, as this cannot be done via email.

Please note that we have a very high volume of calls and emails, and it may take up to one – two weeks before we are able to respond. We return calls in the order in which they are received. When we call you back, a member of our Essential Support Team will collect some information, schedule you for an appointment, and answer any questions you may have.

Since the furniture program is very popular, it can be several weeks or months before we can hold your appointment.  With the current high volume of interest, and our limited inventory, most clients are scheduled for furniture appointments between  2 and 8 months  from when they first reach out to us. We ask many questions to better understand individuals’ circumstances so that we can in turn find the best possible time and date to schedule the appointment.

You should bring: (1) a moving vehicle large enough to take items home in one trip, such as a UHaul, (2) the dimensions of your rooms to ensure that your favorite items will fit when you take them home; and (3) rope if anything needs to be tied down. Our expert team will take care of loading everything into your vehicle.

Please note that we cannot facilitate appointments for clients who do not bring adequate transportation.

You do not need to bring anyone with you. We recommend bringing one guest at most. If you bring your child, they can visit our toy and game area (and take things home with them), but we require either you or your guest to be with your child the whole time.

Your furniture appointment will take place at our Silver Spring location, at 9159 Brookville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910. If you use Google Maps, please enter in the full address rather than our organization’s name to ensure you are directed to the right place.

Coming From I-495: Take Exit 31 (Outer-loop) or Exit 31B (Inner-loop) for MD-97 S/Georgia Avenue towards Silver Spring. Turn right onto Seminary Pl, then left onto Brookville Rd. Proceed until you see our sign and building.

Coming from the District of Columbia: From northbound 16th St, turn left onto 2nd Ave, left onto Linden Ln, then left onto Brookville Rd. Proceed until you see our sign and building.

When you arrive, a member of our team will direct you to park your vehicle in a designated space. Please enter via our main entrance and check in for your appointment at the welcome desk. After you select your items, our team will direct you to move your vehicle into one of our loading docks.

Unfortunately, due to the high demand for our program, we cannot accommodate any visits outside the date and time of your appointment.

We ask all clients to arrive on time for their appointments with their transportation readily available. After you park, please enter via our main entrance and check in for your appointment at the welcome desk. A member of our Essential Support Team will then bring you to an intake room to review your contact and demographic information and complete a brief intake. You will then get a tour of our showroom and begin selecting your items. Please note that no items will be set aside for you prior to the appointment. As you select items to bring home, friendly staff will be nearby to assist you with anything that comes up. After your items are selected, our team will direct you to move your vehicle to a loading dock. Our team will expertly and carefully load your items securely into your vehicle so you can save your energy for unloading the vehicle when you get home. Once everything is loaded, you and your new furniture are free to go! The whole appointment takes approximately 75-90 minutes from arrival to departure.

Prior to your appointment date, we will review the list of items you would like to receive at your appointment. All of the items we offer are donated to us by neighbors in the community, so the items are in gently-used condition (free of any rips, stains, or damage). Our inventory varies day by day, so we cannot promise that preferences like color or style will be met – or that we will have everything that you requested. While we do our best to provide you with the majority of your requested items, we cannot guarantee that we will have everything.

Because we have many clients to serve in a day and a limited inventory, we typically do not allow additional items to be added on to your list at the time of your appointment. We recommend you give us a call if you need to make any additions or changes to your list prior to the appointment day.

We offer a range of furniture and household items, depending on the inventory available each day. Some of the items that we provide are:

• Beds (mattresses, boxsprings, bed frames)
• Sofas
• Armchairs
• Coffee tables
• End tables
• Dressers
• Dining Sets
• Lamps
• Rugs
• Artwork
• Kitchenware
• Linens

If this is the first or second appointment that you’ve had scheduled with us, just give us a call at 301-608-3504! We understand that things happen, and we are happy to help clients reschedule with us up to two times. While we will do our best to reschedule your appointment quickly, the wait time may vary as our appointments book up several months in advance. It is best to call and request a reschedule as soon as possible prior to your scheduled appointment if you know in advance that you won’t be able to make it. 

If you’ve already rescheduled with us twice, we may not be able to reschedule your appointment again. We have a high demand for this service with limited appointment availability. This reschedule policy is in place in an effort to ensure we have availability to schedule new appointments for clients who have not yet received services with us. Please give us a call to discuss further. 

If you are sending a friend or family member in your place for the appointment, please notify us of this in advance.

We have English and Spanish speaking staff members on site every day. We may be able to accommodate other spoken languages by getting another staff member or volunteer on the phone to provide interpretation, or using an app such as Google Translate. We always welcome clients providing their own interpreter, including ASL, if needed.

A Wider Circle offers a wide range of other services. This includes baby items appointments,  Professional clothing (PDC) appointments, a  Career Support program, the Partnership to Independence (P2I) program, and our  Ward 8 Hub.

We understand that sometimes you need furniture right away and the time it takes to schedule an appointment with us may be longer than you can wait. We want you to be comfortable and safe in your home above all else. Sometimes our clients use the following organizations, stores, and websites. A Wider Circle encourages you to do your own research, as we are providing this list only for informational purposes. Please note that the eligibility, fees, and wait-times may vary.

• Furniture-assistance organizations
• Homes Not Borders provides furniture to refugees in DC, MD, and VA who arrived in the last 6 months, who do not have furniture already, and who are not connected with another resettlement agency.
• Furnish Hope DC provides furniture to families in DC Wards 7 and 8.
• Secondhand stores
• Community Forklift operates a large warehouse in Hyattsville, MD, selling reduced-priced secondhand and salvaged fixtures, furniture, appliances, and more.
• Habitat for Humanity ReStore operates a number of reduced-priced secondhand stores in the DC area selling new and gently used furniture, appliances, home goods, building materials and more.
• Goodwill and Salvation Army operate a number of thrift stores in the DC area with a mixed selection of furniture and home goods.
• Websites
• Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist allow you to shop for items, sometimes free, and deal directly with other users in making arrangements.
• Freecycle and Buy Nothing are grassroots services connecting neighbors giving away free things to neighbors who need them.
• Many neighborhoods, wards, and small towns have community listservs or email discussion lists that you can join and to read and post about items. Search the internet for the name of a small locale and “listserv” or “discussion list.”

If you have any additional questions, call us at 301-608-3504 and our Essential Support Team will get back to you as soon as possible. If your call is urgent, please indicate this when you call. 

Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding and we look forward to connecting with you!