Zurich North America donating old furniture to agencies in need
Now that 3,000 Zurich North America employees are settled into their new environmentally friendly headquarters in Schaumburg, they're making sure the hundreds of tons of furniture they left behind across town serve good causes.
A shipment of more than 300 chairs and 100 desks left Tower Two of the 20-story Zurich Towers Thursday headed for medical and administrative offices at four or five Illinois Department of Corrections facilities.
Among the other destinations of the 334 tons of furniture that previously left the tower were the Buffalo Grove, Addison, Bloomingdale and Lewis University police departments, Illinois State Police, Little City Foundation, Special Olympics, Aspire, Inner City Impact, New Life Centers of Chicagoland and a women's shelter in Ohio.
And the inventory of Tower One hasn't even begun to move yet.
"We try to keep it local because we recognize the impact," said Becky Hammer, EcoServe Project Specialist for Maryland-based InstallNET.
The agency won the contract for the removal of the Zurich Towers' old furniture specifically because it researches ways to donate, recycle and sell all the furniture it moves, said Linda Hendricks, zone facilities manager for Zurich North America.
The furniture being taken from the towers will be repurposed almost evenly among those three methods, Hammer said.
The furniture it will replace at Illinois Department of Corrections facilities is anywhere from 10 to 40 years old, said Corrections Officer Jason Ullrich, who was overseeing the delivery Thursday.
Though 300 chairs and 100 desks was expected, the department was able to get even more on Thursday.
"We just want to thank them so much for everything," Ullrich said.
Hammer noted that at some Department of Corrections facilities employees have been using egg crates for furniture.
"It lifts their spirits," she said of their ability to now sit in real chairs. "(IDOC) spend their resources on what they need now to protect us, not on chairs."
Moving the furniture got underway almost as soon as employees left for Zurich's new headquarters along the Jane Addams Tollway a few weeks ago, Hendricks said.
The work must be completed by the end of November, when Zurich North America's lease of the towers ends and Paylocity will begin to move its furniture and employees in, she said.