The Evolution of Up Off the Floor - It’s about Relationships!

Jan Barbee has often said, “greeNest is all about relationships” and she certainly knows. As a co-founder of the organization, Jan has been part of greeNest since 2015, when she and her sister, Joanna Britt, learned that families transitioning from crisis to housing lacked the resources to furnish their new homes. With the help of friends and family, they strategized, researched, and learned everything they needed to build a long-lasting and sustainable organization that could address this need. One of those friends was Beth Smoot, co-founder of The Green Chair Project in Raleigh. The Green Chair Project offers gently used donated furnishings from the community to assist families experiencing a housing crisis. Based on this model, Jan and Joanna built an organization dependent on a volunteer workforce and initially recruited volunteers from their friends, family, and church groups.



In 2016, a year after greeNest began furnishing homes for folks in crisis housing situations, Jan was contacted by a friend who was an ESL teacher. She had a student in need of a bed. At that time, greeNest did not provide mattress sets for families. State regulations prohibit used mattress distribution without costly professional cleaning. The plea from a friend for help and the idea of children sleeping on a cold, hard floor motivated the sisters to find a way to provide beds for children. With support from their community, cold calls to donors, and substantial collective effort, Up Off The Floor was born to provide free beds to children.

Jan and Joanna connected with Sharon Frazier, the District Family/Community Engagement Program Manager at Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools. With Sharon’s help, they wrote a grant to The Kate B. Reynolds Foundation to help fund their new program. As a former teacher, Jan knew how important the relationship with the WSFCS was to connect to children sleeping on the floor. They also needed help to track and measure the need and the impact on the children in our community. Sharon’s commitment to children and belief in the program cemented a relationship that continues today.



Thanks to those early relationships, Up Off the Floor has blossomed. As of 2023, Up Off The Floor has provided new beds and bedding to more than 1500 children in our community. What started as a pilot, grant funded project that served only children in Title I Elementary Schools, has grown to include children of all ages, referred by any of greeNest’s 106 partnering agencies and funded by individual donors and local churches in our community who recognize the importance for children of a good night’s sleep.

According to a study by the American Psychological Association, children who get a good night's sleep will do better in school, have fewer behavioral problems, and overall be happier and better adjusted. 1 in 5 children lives in poverty in the US, and children often have to share a bed, sleep on a sofa, or sleep on the floor.



Poor sleep affects children’s grades and academic performance and adversely affects behavior up to two years later. Other effects of poor sleep can include lower immune system function, mood swings, lack of concentration, memory problems, and in some severe cases, hallucinations.