The Mustard Seed

The Mustard Seed of Central Florida was established in 1984 at a time when homelessness was just beginning to emerge as a community-wide epidemic. It grew from the personal commitment of the founder, Carol Kane, who saw all homeless individuals, regardless of race, creed, or social status, simply as God’s children in need of assistance. The Mustard Seed is the only furniture and clothing bank in Central Florida.

The Mustard Seed collects donations of furniture, appliances, household items, linens and dishes, as well as anything that could make a house a home. We grant the donated items to pre-qualified families and individuals to help them re-establish a home.

The Mustard Seed is a critical resource in establishing stability and creating a home. By serving families who are suffering from domestic abuse, drug rehab recovery, homeless transition, returning veterans, medical hardships, fire , natural disasters and the economically disadvantaged.

Our Facility

The beautiful building, which houses the Mustard Seed Furniture and Clothing Bank, was built entirely by the hearts, hands and generosity of our caring community partners. We can never thank them enough for their gifts and support. By July 1999, they built a beautiful 20,000 square-foot building with separate areas to house our clothing and furniture departments, four individual air-conditioned areas to house our dish and linen rooms, housewares, as well as the administrative offices. In fall 2005, the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation gifted The Mustard Seed with a beautiful visible sign for the warehouse to make it easier to see from Keller Road and Kennedy Boulevard.

During the 2017-2018 fiscal year, The Mustard Seed served 1,223 Central Florida families, including 1,259 children. More than 97 percent of those served are economically disadvantaged, according to the Federal Poverty Index. The other 3 percent are disaster victims whose circumstances left them without financial resources to create new futures.

The Mustard Seed has accomplished much in its 30 years of service!

With the addition of an entire recycling department, The Mustard Seed uses and re-uses every single item donated. The Mustard Seed is able to recycle the unusable items through their individual parts: metals, cardboard, sheet plastics, fabric, foam, wood and electronics.

Since 2011, The Mustard Seed’s recycling program deconstructed more than 120,753 mattresses and sold their components, diverting 2.6 million cubic feet from the landfill and protecting our environment. Our recycling efforts generate income to help fund the furniture and clothing programs.

After 30 years of service, The Mustard Seed is still growing and evolving into a non-profit for the future, one that is self-sustaining and able to adapt to the growing needs in the community.