Organization Helps Families, Military Veterans Furnish Their Homes

(CBS) -- A Downers Grove organization, celebrating its 30th anniversary, is helping struggling families and veterans in Illinois make their houses feel like homes.

Through partnerships with several furniture companies, Sharing Connections provides things like beds, kitchen tables and sofas to those in need.

Deb Rickert, the organization's CEO and the mother of two veterans, says many of the people they serve have just returned from service and struggle to adjust.

"I've watched it," Rickert says. "I've watched it with the veterans I've worked with, I've watched it with my own sons. It's a different world these days."

Rickert says providing them with proper furnishings is just a small way of saying thank you.

"There's just never enough we can do for our veterans," Rickert says. "I love the fact that when they come to us, we're able to really, fully support them and give them what they need."

The organization provided furniture and other items to nearly 7,000 Illinois residents last year -- a number Rickert says they hope to increase by the end of this year.