Brandi Curtis got the treatment she needed through Heritage Behavioral Health Center and is ready to get her life back on track.

She also was able to get new housing for her and her five children.

And through the blessing of one church's ministry, she received a house full of furniture.

Several men broke a sweat delivering a queen bed set, three bunk beds, five dressers, a couch, six chairs and a table to Curtis' house this week.

The men, who are with the Sharing Hope Every Day Ministry with New Day Church, had a hard time getting the couch inside the house and contemplated taking the hinges off the door. But they settled on putting the couch in a garage alongside the house until Curtis could arrange all the other items delivered to her home.

"A lot of people don't have anything, so this is nice," she said about the ministry. "I like how the church is here to help people."

Earlier that day, the men gladly huffed their way up two flights of stairs carrying a sofa bed and love seat to a couple at Timber Cove Apartments.

"Everything is going up but our wages," resident Travis Homan said. He said he and his wife lost the majority of their stuff; he wouldn't go into specifics, but he was grateful to get furniture from the ministry.

The concept of the ministry started 20 years ago, when the Rev. Bruce Jacobs began getting items that Eastern Illinois University was throwing away. He would just pick them up and give them to people.

It started out with a few kitchen items, which were taken to homeless shelters and soup kitchens, and then some beds, Jacobs said.

"We ended up purchasing trailers and other storage places as the ministry grew. After getting 500 beds a month, we still weren't saturating the need. I think within this last year, the need has gone up because of the economy."

Jacobs said one of his church members is often notified by an employee of a hotel chain about items the hotels are getting rid of.

In the next few weeks, Jacobs said they'll be traveling to pick up beds from a hotel in Peoria and deliver them to people along the river areas in Quincy who had their homes flooded.

Last month, Illinois State University salvaged beds and other items from old dorms that will be torn down this summer. The university donated almost 900 bunk bed frames and mattresses and 700 desks to New Day Church.

The church delivered a majority of those beds to a church camp in Evanston, Ind., and another 80 were sent to a church mission in Mexico.

In February, the ministry picked up beds from a hotel in St. Charles, La., to bring back and give away.

Construction of a warehouse to store furniture and other items began on church grounds off Greenswitch Road in January, Jacobs said. The warehouse was completed in March and provides plenty of storage space.

"We have never got any grant money; people just like what we do and feel it is important to the community," Jacobs said.

The ministry has become a fellowship for the men of the church. They not only volunteer their time making deliveries but use their own trucks with a trailer attached for hauling the furniture, and they pay for the gas out of their own pockets.

People continue to support the ministry financially.

Jacobs cited the gas cost for the trip to Louisiana. It was around $1,800. He said a church member wrote them a check for $5,000 to cover the cost.

"Sometimes it's hard for men to find a place in the church. And these guys are a pretty tight group who has found a role in mission and ministry," Jacobs said.

The men active with the ministry include Jim Wogoman, Dave Doss, Dave Ripple, Dale Shawgo, Tom Long, Tom Pritts, Ken Tracy and Delmar Deurdorff.

Just before heading out to deliver every Wednesday and Saturday, the men gather at the church to pray and then eat.

Tracy's young son, Ben, 6, likes to tag along on the delivery runs. His job is to deliver a stuffed animal to children at the homes. However, Ben tends to fall asleep on the job, the men said and laughed.

"All the items we deliver are free and not sold; that's the big difference," said Ripple, who helps coordinate the deliveries.

Ripple said all the people to whom items are delivered have been referred by agencies such as the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Northeast Community Fund, Webster-Cantrell Hall and Youth Advocate or by churches.

David Hinkle, associate director for the Northeast Community Fund, said he appreciates Jacobs and New Day.

"I count on him and his ministry on a weekly basis. I get asked daily from people wanting beds who are sleeping on floors. So I call the ministry about a family, and they'll deliver a house full of furniture to them," Hinkle said. "The ministry is essential to this community."

After delivering a bed set to a woman off Wellington Way, Dale Shawgo handed stuffed animals to her toddler son and another infant in the apartment.

"I think we benefit from doing this as much as the people who receive the furniture," he said.

Sheila Smith can be reached at sheilas@herald-review.com or 421-7963.