From left to right: Rodney Johansen - President & CEO, Dan Lentz - Operations Personnel Manager, Kelly Kuehl- Customer Operations Director, Carl Nyberg - Vice President/C.O.O., Wayne Johansen - Chairman of the Board, Lynn Noren - Rise President, Jerry Newton - State Senator

Coon Rapids, Minn. (November 9, 2017) – HOM Furniture has been named an outstanding employer by Minnesota Organization for Habilitation and Rehabilitation (MOHR), a major state disability organization, for their partnership with Rise. The award presentation took place at 2 p.m. on October 11, 2017, at HOM Furniture’s Corporate Offices in Coon Rapids, Minn. The presentation occurred in conjunction with National Disability Employment Awareness Month in October.

MOHR’s mission is to advocate and support its nonprofit members in providing meaningful services to persons with disabilities and communities served. “We cannot overemphasize the importance of employers in our efforts to provide meaningful services to people with disabilities in Minnesota,” said Mike Burke, president of MOHR.

HOM Furniture was nominated for the MOHR recognition by Rise, an organization that supports more than 2,500 people with disabilities in Minnesota with a wide range of employment, housing support and personal growth services. Employees from Rise work in HOM’s Coon Rapids facility, performing a wide range of tasks, including collecting and recycling more than 2.5 million pounds of plastic, cardboard, and Styrofoam annually, running the floor scrubber and kitting.

“Rise is fortunate to have HOM as a business partner because from senior management and throughout the entire company, they have supported Rise’s mission and sought out additional work opportunities for us,” said Rise President Lynn Noren. “HOM includes Rise workers as valuable members of their team. It’s a great partnership.”

“For the past 11 years, Rise’s work team, as well as their trainers and supervisors, have proven to be a valuable addition to our organization in so many different ways,” said Dan Lentz, operations personnel and safety manager for HOM Furniture. HOM employees view the team from Rise as an extension of the HOM team, not as a separate organization, he added.

Rise workers are included in HOM’s annual awards presentation and are personally acknowledged for their individual and collective good work. In addition, HOM was the winner of an “Excellence in Business Award” from the Metro North Chamber of Commerce, in part for the work it performs with Rise.

Celebrated every October, this year’s theme for National Disability Employment Awareness Month is “Inclusion Drives Innovation.” It celebrates the contributions of workers with disabilities and educates about the value of a workforce inclusive of their skills and talents. The national observance began under a different name in 1945.

About HOM Furniture

HOM Furniture ranks as one of the nation’s largest furniture retailers serving customers in the upper Midwestern states of Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Stop in yourself and find out why “There’s No Place Like HOM.”