Bridging: Growing to Serve More, Better
An Interview with Bridging’s Executive Director Mark Wilkening
In 2023, Bridging increased its number of weekly appointments to 120 across its Bloomington and Roseville locations to respond to rising demand. Even with this expanded number of appointments, the current wait time for a Bridging appointment is longer than desired. Now more than ever, Bridging’s mission is relevant and important in the community.
“There is an unprecedented increase in the demand for Bridging’s services,” says Bridging’s executive director Mark Wilkening. “In my nine years at Bridging, we have not encountered such a high volume of community members who are in housing transition and accessing our services.”
“Individuals and families are patiently waiting to come to Bridging to select a foundational home setup of furniture and essential household goods. With a furnished home, people find comfort and stability and feel empowered to thrive in their daily activities like employment, education, and family and social connections.”
As a large nonprofit furniture bank with a three-decade history of furnishing homes with hope, the Bridging team is taking a multi-faceted approach to listen, plan, and evolve to respond to the growing and diverse needs of the community.
“Change is a constant today. We cannot simply be content with where we are at. Our mantra at Bridging is Serve More. Better. We seek excellence, one of our core values, in all that we do, and inherent in excellence is a person-centered experience that offers dignity and a sense of belonging, in every encounter at Bridging.”
The 2021 Minnesota State of the State’s Housing Report describes a shortage of affordable housing units for renters who earn less than 30% of area median income (AMI) and median renter incomes that do not keep pace with rising rents. The study also describes how these disparities disproportionately impact people who are Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and multi-racial community members.
The Bridging team strives to actively eliminate barriers to equitable housing and resources in its own programs and in the community.
In the last five years, Bridging has concentrated on putting its Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging statement into action. The process has involved challenging staff and volunteers to reflect, engage in hard conversations, and take action to foster belonging and eliminate barriers in our programs and services.
“We firmly believe that a crucial element is giving a voice to all involved in our work, whether a recipient of Bridging’s services, a volunteer, a donor, or staff member. We ask what’s working well and what we can do better through surveys and other listening sessions. We seek to listen, learn, discuss, and implement,” Mark says.
“We also emphasize partnership, one of our core values, at Bridging,” he says. “We are continually seeking additional resources and strategic partnerships in the community that will improve systems, efficiencies, communication, and ultimately, our service model.
A multitude of partners contribute to Bridging’s impact in the community. More than 270 agency partners and 2400 caseworkers connect community members to our services. Agency partners give valuable feedback on trends and needs that help Bridging to improve its services.
Why doesn’t Bridging just increase the number of weekly appointments to meet rising demand?
“The main limiting factor to serving more people is the amount of quality furniture items — particularly the larger furniture items like beds, upholstered furniture, dressers, and kitchen tables — donated to Bridging from our community that are needed to meet increased demand.
Our values, put into action in every aspect of the Bridging experience, also guide our decision-making process around this important question.
At Bridging, our work is centered on dignity, starting with the dignity of each person who furnishes their home through our services. We also believe in the dignity of choice. This means that each person who comes to Bridging can choose the items that align with their unique needs and preferences.
We want to ensure we have plenty of furnishings for clients to choose from, especially for these larger items. As someone is walking down our aisles of couches, for example, they can find many options that fit their preferences, and other individuals who are shopping that day can also find a large selection of couches that they would love to have in their home.
Bridging finds that delicate balance between maintaining an optimal number of appointments that meets community demand and keeping an abundant inventory of choices available for individuals and families as they select a foundational home setup.
We are making a concerted effort to explore many creative initiatives and partnerships to meet rising community demand. Stay tuned!” – Mark W.
Corporate partners participate in dresser builds by sponsoring and building dressers. They also provide in-kind donations and financial support. Residential partners and corporate partners donate quality furnishings, getting items to our shelves and homes instead of the landfill. Individual donors and volunteers participate by giving their time and financial resources.
“By growing and leveraging our valuable partnerships and resources, we hope to rise to what’s ahead for Bridging, and that is GROWTH!”
To help meet the community’s increasing demand, Bridging’s board of directors and Bridging’s growth committee have developed a multi-phase approach that outlines the purpose, timeline, and staffing needs (both staff and volunteer) for a new warehouse location in the northwest suburbs of the Twin Cities.
“We are in the property search phase for an additional warehouse location in the NW metro area that will serve as a procurement hub for donation pick-ups and drop-offs. This third location will help us secure all the important furniture and household items that we need to increase the number of shopping appointments offered at our Bloomington and Roseville locations,” he says.
The Northwest location will initially serve only as a donation hub (drop-offs and pickups only) but may eventually offer shopping appointments for community members.
An Invitation to Engage in Bridging’s Mission:
Bridging is dependent on its many partners — an abundant and diverse collection of individuals and groups in the community — to help us get closer to our vision that everyone lives in a furnished home.
“We need more ambassadors to join us in Bridging’s work in the community. A furnished home is critical for everyone,” says Mark. And to make this happen we need more people to step into this work. There are so many ways you can participate. If you haven’t been to one of our locations, we’d love to meet you, share more of our story and show you around.”
Bridging’s engagement opportunities focus on three areas:
You can Give Stuff: We need your new or gently used furniture and household goods to keep our warehouses stocked!
You can Give Time: We have amazing opportunities to help further our mission as both individual and group volunteers which you can learn about at Bridging.org/Get-Involved.
You can Make a Financial Gift: It takes money to keep an organization running. You can support Bridging by joining us at or sponsoring an event, giving to one of our appeals, and considering a planned gift.
“We encourage everyone to please share your experience with Bridging formally and informally with your network and then invite them to join you in your engagement,” he says. “We are grateful for your partnership. Thank you!”
