ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwired - April 06, 2016) - On May 10, Lamon Luther will give away a tiny house to launch its charitable foundation to provide housing for its homeless employees.
The socially conscious enterprise has been providing jobs for the homeless in West Atlanta since its inception in 2012 making custom, one-of-a-kind furniture pieces using new and reclaimed wood. Hiring its first employee, TC, who had been homeless for 15 years, taught entrepreneur and Lamon Luther founder, Brian Preston, how crucial job creation is for breaking the cycle of chronic homelessness.
Since its inception, Lamon Luther has provided more than 78,000 man hours of meaningful work. Today, the social enterprise has been hired to provide community tables for the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium and partners with one of the largest furniture retailers in the U.S., West Elm, which is owned by williams-sonoma, for a handmade line. The company is setting its sights on a different type of growth in 2016 and beyond: housing for its homeless employees and 100 new craftsmen.
"We believe that homeless people can add tremendous value to society," said Preston. "Craftsmanship is an incredible tool to restore dignity and hope for those affected. In addition to making tables and other furniture pieces, we get asked to build tiny houses all the time. What better way to share our vision for housing for homeless people than seeing the boom of the tiny house market and applying our unique skill and passion to a custom home giveaway?"
Instead of using popular crowdfunding techniques like Kickstarter or Indie-gogo, Preston and his team decided to launch a sweepstakes. From now until May 10th, residents of the United States can visit tinyhousegiveaway.co and enter to win a 20-foot, custom tiny house. Users can enter multiple times throughout the sweepstakes period by making a $20 donation. The tiny house is worth approximately $30,000.
"It dawned on us after seeing the success of Brother Moto give away a motorcycle last year to raise support for its expansion, that we could launch our foundation in a similar way," said Preston. "We couldn't be more excited for the enthusiastic response so far. But, we still have a long way to go."
Lamon Luther Foundation, Inc. has set a goal to raise $500,000 for its launch. Not only will the funds provide affordable housing for Lamon Luther employees, it will also create more work, help the company expand operations and purchase a permanent home. The company also has a goal to hire 100 deserving craftsmen by 2017.
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, approximately 564,708 people were homeless on a given night in the U.S. in 2015 and more than 75 percent were capable of work.