Under the direction of President and CEO Jake Jabs, American Furniture Warehouse (AFW) has been actively involved with our community for more than 40 years. We’re proud to support a variety of causes in Colorado, Arizona, and beyond, including education, youth, family, people in need, our environment, veterans, and agriculture. We give to hundreds of different non-profits, service organizations, K-12 schools, technical schools, and colleges on a regular basis.
Education
Education has always been important to Jake. AFW is committed to education, supporting schools over the years in a variety of ways, including:
- Donating furniture, money, and gift cards to schools
- Jake leading students on tours of our corporate location and travelling to schools to talk to students about business and entrepreneurship
- Housing JA Finance Park in our Thornton, CO location
- Giving money back to schools through our BETTER Your Home, BETTER Your School program
- Through donations to support business and entrepreneurship education at The Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship at Montana State University and the Jake Jabs Center for Business and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado Denver Business School
Youth
AFW supports campaigns like Toys for Tots, Project ReCycle, and EPIC Colorado Business Reads to collect, store, and/or transport items like toys, bicycles, and books to benefit the less fortunate children in our community.
Family
AFW sponsors many family-friendly events to allow either free or reduced-price community admittance:
- 9NEWS Parade of Lights
- Arizona State Fair
- Colorado’s State Fair
- Denver Parade of Homes
- Grand Prix of Scottsdale
- Many other holiday, county and city events and festivals
People in Need
AFW works with a variety of organizations to help people in need, both in our community and abroad, including:
- Easterseals Colorado, an organization that helps disabled people and their families with a range of services across the United States. AFW has given to Colorado Easterseals for more than 35 years, donating money to the organization and supporting the Colorado Easterseals Rocky Mountain Village Camp and the new InterGenerational Center.
- The American Red Cross and other natural disaster relief efforts to provide financial support and other aid. In 2017, AFW worked with a variety of organizations to help the Houston, Texas area in the wake of Hurricane Harvey by providing monetary relief and hauling donated supplies to the area in our trucks.
- Project C.U.R.E., the world’s largest distributor of donated medical supplies to resource-limited communities around the world. In 2005, AFW matched, dollar for dollar, up to $1 million to help build Project C.U.R.E.’s first warehouse and international headquarters. Today, AFW transports donated medical supplies in our trucks and sends AFW employees to volunteer at Project C.U.R.E.
- Goodyear White Tanks Rotary Club’s Crutches 4 Africa drive. Crutches 4 Africa is an organization that collects lightly-used mobility devices, including crutches, canes, walkers, and wheelchairs, then distributes them to polio survivors in Africa. AFW picks up the donated mobility devices in our trucks, boxes them, and stores them in one of our warehouses until they are ready to be shipped to countries across Africa.
- Global Hope Network International, an organization that works with communities in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East to help them lift themselves out of poverty. AFW adopted the village of Gem in central Kenya in 2016, committing $15,000 annually to support the village until it is self-sustaining.
Environmentally Friendly Initiatives
AFW hauls waste generated from furniture packaging—including cardboard, plastic, and Styrofoam—to a recycling facility. We also maintain our own fleet of efficient trucks that are equipped with air pollution-reduction devices, diesel-powered night systems that heat and cool the sleeper compartment without idling the engine, and features like low rolling resistance tires and air skirts to maximize fuel efficiency.
Veterans
Jake and his family have a strong military background, with Jake and two of his brothers having served in the U.S. Air Force and another brother having served in the U.S. Army. AFW has donated furniture to a number of veteran homes and provided sponsorships for a variety of veteran parades and events. We also collaborate with a local media partner to help place wreaths on the graves of veterans for Veterans Day, placing hundreds of wreaths in 2017. Patriotism is evident at AFW with our red, white and blue!
Agriculture
AFW supports agriculture through Jake’s participation in Colorado’s State Fair Junior Livestock Auction with the Denver Rustlers as well as AFW’s sponsorship of and involvement with the National Western Stock Show.
For more information about the ways AFW gives back to our community, you can read the full community report here or visit the AFW Giving Back page.
