Make It Your Home

To create comfortable, dignified, and sustainable living spaces — at no cost to the families we serve — for survivors of domestic violence, young military families, veterans, and those transitioning out of homelessness, by repurposing donated furniture and décor, fostering both community resilience and environmental responsibility.

Make It Your Home was founded in Orange County by Eya Kane after witnessing the emotional reality many families face when transitioning out of crisis situations. Families escaping domestic violence, homelessness, or financial hardship were finally receiving housing assistance, yet many were moving into completely empty apartments without basic necessities such as beds, tables, dressers, or even a safe place for their children to sleep.
At the same time, large amounts of quality furniture and home décor were being discarded every day throughout the community. Seeing this disconnect inspired Eya, then only 16 years old, to create a nonprofit dedicated to turning empty housing into fully furnished, dignified homes for families rebuilding their lives.
Make It Your Home provides complete home transformations at no cost for survivors of domestic violence, families transitioning out of homelessness, veterans, and military families facing hardship. The organization repurposes donated furniture and décor to create warm, functional, thoughtfully designed living spaces that promote emotional healing, stability, and hope.
What began as a grassroots effort led by a teenager has quickly grown into a community-supported nonprofit working alongside domestic violence shelters, housing organizations, and military support programs throughout Orange County and Camp Pendleton. In addition to serving vulnerable families, the organization promotes environmental sustainability by rescuing quality furniture and household items from ending up in landfills and giving them a meaningful second life.
Make It Your Home believes that a furnished home is more than furniture — it is dignity, safety, comfort, and the opportunity for a fresh start.

In our first year Make It Your Home has proven that a community-powered model rooted in compassion and sustainability can meet urgent human needs — and grow quickly in doing so.
• Completed 35 full‑home transformations
• Mobilized 100+ volunteers
• Established 6 referral partnerships with Domestic Violence Shelters and Homeless Shelters
• Built a military partnership with Camp Pendleton
• Raised $50,000 in monetary and in‑kind donations
These results — achieved in our first year, led by a 16-year-old founder, and built entirely on donated goods and volunteer labor, reflect both the urgency of the need and the strength of the community's response.

Housing alone is not enough. For thousands of families in Orange County, the hardest moment does not end when they get the keys — it continues every night they sleep on the floor.

THE CRISIS IN ORANGE COUNTY

Orange County is home to one of the most significant homeless and housing instability challenges in California. Thousands of individuals and families experience homelessness each year, and many more live on the edge of crisis — one job loss, one act of violence, or one financial emergency away from losing their home. Survivors of domestic violence, immigrants rebuilding from nothing, and veterans and military families navigating the pressures of service and relocation face compounding barriers to stability that extend well beyond the search for housing.

THE FURNITURE GAP

When a family in crisis finally secures stable housing, the support systems that helped them get there — shelters, case managers, housing navigators — largely step back. What remains is an empty apartment. No beds. No table. No couch. No sense of home. The cost of furnishing even a modest apartment from scratch can run thousands of dollars, an impossible expense for families who have just survived a crisis and are starting over with little to nothing. This "furniture gap" is a widely recognized but chronically underfunded barrier to long-term housing stability and recovery.

WHO IS MOST AFFECTED

Make It Your Home serves four populations who face this gap acutely and consistently:

Domestic violence survivors - Leave with little more than their children and the clothes they're wearing. Furnishing a home is the last expense they can afford, but the first thing they need to feel safe.
Families exiting homelessness - Transitioning from shelters or temporary housing into permanent units with no possessions, no savings, and an urgent need for stability.
Veterans & military families - Facing frequent relocation, financial strain, and the emotional weight of reintegration — often without the community networks civilians take for granted.
Immigrants & new arrivals - Starting from nothing in an unfamiliar place, with limited financial resources and no established support system to fall back on.

THE COST OF DOING NOTHING

An unfurnished home is not a neutral outcome. For children, sleeping on floors and lacking basic comforts disrupts development, school performance, and emotional wellbeing. For adults recovering from trauma, an empty, unwelcoming space can reinforce feelings of hopelessness and undermine the progress made in shelter or transitional programs. Without intervention, families are at significantly greater risk of housing instability, re-traumatization, and return to crisis — placing additional strain on an already overburdened system of social services.

AN UNMET NEED AND AN UNTAPPED RESOURCE

At the same time that families are moving into empty homes, Orange County residents and businesses discard large quantities of quality furniture and home goods every day — items that are still functional, still beautiful, and still capable of giving comfort. This disconnect — between what families desperately need and what the community routinely discards — is precisely the gap that Make It Your Home was created to close.

The need is real, it is urgent, and it is solvable. With the right support, Make It Your Home can continue closing that gap — one fully furnished, dignified home at a time.

Rooted in Orange County, California — and growing to meet the need wherever it exists.

PRIMARY SERVICE AREA

Make It Your Home is headquartered in Orange County, California, and serves families across the county's cities and communities. Orange County is home to over three million residents and encompasses a wide range of neighborhoods — from urban centers with high concentrations of housing instability to suburban communities where domestic violence survivors, veterans, and immigrant families often go without adequate support services. Our work is concentrated where the need is greatest, guided by referrals from our partner organizations operating throughout the region.

MILITARY SERVICE AREA

Through our dedicated partnership with Camp Pendleton — one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States, located just south of Orange County in San Diego County — Make It Your Home extends its reach to active duty military families and veterans in the region. Military families at and around Camp Pendleton face unique challenges including frequent relocation, financial hardship, and limited access to community-based support services. Our partnership ensures these families receive the same dignified, fully furnished home transformations provided to all families we serve.

WHY ORANGE COUNTY

Despite its reputation as an affluent region, Orange County faces significant and growing challenges around housing affordability, homelessness, and family crisis. The county's high cost of living makes recovery from crisis especially difficult for low-income families, while its large military presence around Camp Pendleton creates a distinct population of service members and veterans with specialized needs. Orange County is also home to a large and growing immigrant population, many of whom face language barriers and limited access to social services. Make It Your Home is uniquely positioned to serve this diverse and underserved community — and to do so through a sustainable, volunteer-powered model that scales with the generosity of its neighbors.
Every family we serve lives, recovers, and rebuilds in this community. When they thrive, Orange County thrives. That is why we are here — and why we are growing.

When I started Make It Your Home, my goal was simple: to make sure families going through some of the hardest moments of their lives could walk into a space that felt safe, comforting, and truly like home. I saw how many people were moving into empty apartments after escaping abuse, homelessness, or hardship, while beautiful furniture and home items were being thrown away every day. I knew there had to be a better way.
This mission is deeply personal to me because a home is so much more than furniture. It is where families heal, where children feel safe, and where people begin again. Through Make It Your Home, we want every family we help to feel seen, valued, and supported during a time when emotional and financial stress can feel overwhelming.
I am incredibly grateful to every donor, volunteer, and community partner who has believed in this mission and helped us turn empty spaces into homes filled with dignity, comfort, and hope.
— Eya Kane

As the Director of Operations for Make It Your Home, I have seen mothers break down in tears when they realize their children finally have beds to sleep in. I have watched families walk into an empty apartment feeling overwhelmed and hopeless, only to leave that same day feeling safe, comforted, and able to breathe again.
Many of the families we serve are rebuilding after unimaginable hardship — escaping domestic violence, surviving homelessness, losing everything they owned, or trying to stay strong through military and financial struggles. While housing may provide four walls, it does not automatically create a home. Walking into an empty space with no furniture, no warmth, and no sense of comfort can feel heartbreaking for families already carrying so much emotional pain.
This mission is deeply personal to me because I understand what it feels like to start over with very little. When my family immigrated to the United States, we arrived with only $40 in our pockets. We knew what it felt like to face uncertainty, to work endlessly to build stability, and to dream of creating a better life for our family. Those experiences shaped who I am and gave me a deep compassion for families going through difficult transitions.
That is why Make It Your Home exists.
We do not simply provide furniture. We create spaces filled with dignity, peace, and love.
As a mother and interior designer, I truly believe a home affects the way we heal. Children deserve a comforting place to sleep. Parents deserve a space where they can finally feel stability after chaos. Families deserve to gather around a table and feel normal again after everything they have endured.
Watching Eya Kane build this organization from the heart has been incredibly emotional and inspiring. At such a young age, she saw pain in her community and chose to act instead of looking away. What started with one young girl wanting to help families has grown into a movement powered by compassion, generosity, and people who truly want to make a difference.
None of this would be possible without our donors, volunteers, and community partners who continue to believe in our mission. Together, we are not just furnishing homes — we are helping families heal, rebuild, and find hope again.
— Stacey Kane