Today we’d like to introduce you to Danni-Lynn Carter.
Danni-Lynn, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Pen + Napkin was started in San Diego in 2014 by Catie and Corey Bouchard, a couple who wanted to take responsibility for a need in their community. The need they encountered every day was people experiencing homelessness. They wanted to be apart of the solution but didn’t know where to start. They went to a local transitional center that helped families and individuals transition out of homelessness to learn more. They found that those graduating the program were in desperate need of furniture. After further digging they learned that thousands of families a year in California are transitioned into housing without furniture, and statistics show that those who transition into empty homes are 40-50% less likely to end the homeless cycle in their life. Catie, having a background in furniture design, embraced this need naturally. Since then Catie and Corey moved from San Deigo to Glendale and most recently decided to headquarter Pen + Napkin in Lancaster in 2018.
My name is Danni-Lynn Carter and I came on board at Pen + Napkin in 2018, after the non-profit had already served over 70 families by fully furnishing and decorating their homes. I was first introduced to them as a volunteer opportunity to earn hours for Cal-Works. As a single mom, the county of Los Angeles helps me support my son and I financially so I can attend college, pay for day-care and afford my rent. Part of my program required service hours in exchange for college funding. During my hours, I became very close with Catie (President & Founder) and Ellyn Molzer (VP), helping with the day to day operations, installs and coordinating activities for the families to enjoy while we furnish their home. I love being apart of a nonprofit that has so much impact on the community, transforming houses to homes for single moms just like me. Ultimately, a transformation like this installs more than furniture, it installs hope for a better future. While doing community outreach, it is easy to realize that homelessness could be a reality for all of us but to really understand it is to have lived it. Not long after beginning this journey with volunteerism, I was faced with difficult times myself. My son and I had to find housing and there seemed to be no options available in our budget. When I was searching for a new home for my son and I, I was faced with the thoughts of dropping out of school and finding a full-time job instead. This saddened me. It brought me to a place of wanting to give up completely.
Pen + Napkin helped connect me with resources in the area to find a safe home for my son and I. I walked into my new home to find that Pen + Napkin, went ahead and fully furnished it with everything we could need, they even added a brand new kitchenette. I witnessed what this was like for other families, having worked on installs, but having it be my own reality was an entirely new level of joy. We often cry or are overcome with joy when we witness a family enter their new home, but for me, I was speechless. It’s hard for me to describe the feeling of walking into a home we could finally call our own, a space where I could finally breathe, a room where we could make new memories and start again, just the two of us. It was more than we could have imagined. It was an answer to a prayer that I didn’t have the courage to really pray. I still consider it our own miracle.
Since then, I have been hired on to the team as Secretary and I am still working at a degree in Sociology. I can’t wait to give back all of the things I have been blessed with. My dream of forever impacting peoples lives in the community has finally become a reality. Through our mission and drive as a team, we hope to inspire more people to love their neighbor and take responsibility for the needs in their community.
Please tell us about Pen + Napkin.
Our company consists of a small team of 3 ladies. Each of us manages the day to day operations while also holding down other part-time jobs to make ends meet. We are most proud of how intentional we are for each family home and how loved our clients feel. What sets us apart from a typical interior design firm is our clients, our budget and our goal. Our clients are transitioning out of homelessness, domestic violence survivors starting over, formally incarcerated mothers reunifying with their children, aged out foster youth and neglected veterans. A common question we are asked, is where do we find our families? We come in as a supportive resource to transitional centers like Union Rescue Mission, Door of Hope, Alexandria House, Upwardbound House, P.A.T.H., LA Family Housing and Family Promise. The families and individuals we serve have graduated a transitional program and have the supportive resources they need to make a successful transition.
Our budget is limited as a non-profit, which is challenging but also opens us up to community partnership to make an install happen. We partner with companies like Lamps Plus, Home Depot, Poly & Bark, Nest, Leaf Group, Helix Sleep, Tuft & Needle, Rene’s Van & Storage, SirReel, Easy Peasy Films, The California Beach Co., Oh Joy, Jungalow and more. We are beyond grateful for our design partners that allow us to deliver a standard of excellence that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to. In 2018 we were approached by a friend of ours who wanted to take on a Pen+Napkin install. It was the first time a designer outside of our team was willing to do what we do. Maegan Swabb from M. Swabb Interior Design in San Diego accepted a family and performed an install and inspired us to reach out to more professional designers to accept families in their local community. Since then we have had the honor of working with Small Victory Design, Fairly Modern Design, Amber & Honey, Emily Henderson, Justina Blakeney, Studio Life/Style, The Brown Design Group, Studio Other and Lori Dennis Designs.
Pricing:
- Bedroom Sponsor – $800
- Small Family Home Sponsor – $2500
- Large Family Home Sponsor – $5000
- Bed Sponsor – $100
- Dining Room Sponsor – $250
- Living Room Sponsor – $650
- Personalized Bedroom Sponsor – $450
Contact Info:
- Website: penandnapkin.org
- Phone: 661-206-5232
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @penandnapkinorg
- Facebook: facebook.com/penandnapkinorg
- Twitter: penandnapkinorg
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
