Ashley Furniture helping displaced Realty Tower residents

As work continues to demolish the Realty Building, organizations are coming together to help those who lived there and now can never go back.

Tenants lined up their vehicles in front of Ashley Furniture in Boardman Thursday afternoon to receive free mattresses, pillows and bases.

Ashley Furniture decided to offer help to all 43 displaced tenants after speaking with members of the non-profit the Persayus Way Project. The store manager hopes the donation will help residents rebuild their lives.

"Whenever it comes to mattresses, I mean everybody needs to sleep. You spend a 30 year life on that thing. I can't imagine losing everything and having to sleep on a couch or having to sleep with a pillow on the floor," said Tyler Edwards, Ashley Furniture sales manager.

Ashley Furniture was the first business to get back to the Persayus Way Project about the displaced tenants.

"If you don't have anywhere to sleep, that's the worst thing ever, so to be provided with brand new bedding, beds for them and their children is a blessing. So on behalf of the Realty Tower, the tenants that I have reached out to and have reached back out to me, I just want to say thank you," said Rosa Baker Shaw, Community Outreach Director for The Persayus Way Project.

Both Ashley Furniture and the non-profit hope these donations will inspire other businesses to step up to help those displaced and putting their lives back together.