Ashley Turnbo’s gift was made possible by The Studio, a Dallas pop-up store run by Dwell with Dignity.
DALLAS — It’s been about five months, but Ashley Turnbo still can’t believe she’s here: making breakfast with her own pans, in her own kitchen, in her own heaven on earth.
“I just woke up and God was like, ‘here you go,’” Turnbo said.
Her divine delivery, came, in large part, from The Studio, a pop-up design shop in Dallas.
Open only a month, The Studio is operated by Dwell with Dignity, a non-profit that seeks to improve the lives of the vulnerable.
“A lot of the families that we are serving are moving out of the shelter into their home with just a blow-up mattress and very bare necessities,” said Dwell with Dignity’s Teresa Charnock. “Sometimes, not even the items they need to be successful.”
It’s the kind of situation Turnbo, a single mother of four, never expected.
A few years ago, Turnbo lost her marriage and her job all within about a year and a half.
Eventually, she and the kids found a new place, but had almost nothing to their name.
Like her home, Turnbo felt pretty empty.
“I need some help,” she said. “I feel like I’m stuck. I feel like, I’m just in a bad place.”
She couldn’t afford to fix or furnish anything, afraid that doing so would take resources away from her kids.
So, at times, they lived in unfavorable conditions with rats and ants.
Then, late last year, Dwell with Dignity showed up at her door.
“It was just right on time,” Turnbo said. “It was at a time when I felt like I needed to get out of here. It didn’t feel like home any more.”
Dwell with Dignity brought life to the living room and warmth to the walls, cookware for the kitchen and bedding for the bedrooms.
Floor to ceiling and wall to wall, they filled every room and every need all for free.
To fund this work, every year, for one month, Dwell with Dignity opens The Studio, selling designer furniture to the public at half the cost.
It’s the non-profit’s biggest fundraiser, paving the way for even bigger blessings.
“We’ve never had nothing this nice,” Turnbo said. “I’ve always felt like my kids deserved this kind of stuff, but I haven’t been able to give it to them.”
Turnbo said they’re all happier and healthier and it’s given her the courage to make even bigger changes.
She plans to enroll in college to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher.
“Even when I’m not looking for happiness, I just feel it,” she said. “There’s something different about our space. It just feels like love and happiness.”
All made possible by people who chose to give, because changing the lives of others is no accident. It happens by design.
The Studio is open through May 9. For more information, visit their website.