Andrew Witherspoon
“Churchill is a special place. You are learning skills and strategies that will help you for the rest of your life. School is not always fun, but I can assure you it gets easier. If you believe in yourself and you have the tools you need to succeed, you can do anything. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!”
ANDREW WITHERSPOON ’08
Andrew Witherspoon, Churchill Alumnus ’08
Andrew Witherspoon is truly carrying on the Churchill spirit of making a difference by creating meaningful impact in the lives of others through his everyday life. We are thrilled to recognize and honor him as the inaugural winner of the Sandra K. Gilligan “Making a Difference” Alumni Award!
Andrew was a student at Churchill Center & School from 2003-2008. He went on to attend Crossroads College Preparatory High School before graduating from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2018, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Business.
Andrew gratefully shared,
Churchill is a special place. You are learning skills and strategies that will help you for the rest of your life. School is not always fun, but I can assure you it gets easier. If you believe in yourself and you have the tools you need to succeed, you can do anything. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!
In 2018, Andrew co-founded the Chicago Furniture Bank (CFB) whose mission is to provide dignity, stability, and comfort to Chicagoans that face poverty by allowing clients to handpick an entire home’s worth of furniture.
From left-to-right: Andrew Witherspoon, Griffin Amdur and James McPhail. Photo courtesy of the Office of the President at University of Pennsylvania
Andrew, with his two co-founders and partners, Griffin Amdur and James McPhail, started the non-profit by themselves, with only a single used truck and some donated warehouse space. The CFB now has a fleet of more than 10 trucks, one warehouse, a junk removal company and plans to furnish 4,000 homes for 10,000 clients in 2022!
Chicago Furniture Bank partners with over 400 social service agencies throughout Chicagoland that provide supportive services to people in need. In just four years it has become the largest furniture bank in the country, and to date, CFB has furnished over 7,200 homes for over 16,000 people and given away furniture weighing over 5,000 tons.
Furthermore, CFB impacts the Chicago community in four unique ways: furnish homes for people in need, to “turn empty houses into homes”, create jobs for at-risk youth, reduce environmental waste and provide a convenient removal service to donors.
Andrew shared,
My parents, Janis Good and Brian Witherspoon, instilled in me the belief that everyone deserves the same opportunities, regardless of their financial situations. I am where I am today because of the sacrifices my parents made for me and the leadership and guidance they showed me.
Andrew continues, “I was driven to create the Chicago Furniture Bank, with my co-founders, Griffin Amdur and James McPhail, to try and help others live with dignity and create a new page in their own book. Being homeless and other hardships are experiences. They do not define who you are or your worth. I want to help.”
Learn more about how CFB serves and impacts their community HERE.
Andrew’s Alumni Award Nominator and Champion shared that Churchill taught Andrew two very important things: organization and how to advocate for himself and others. He went on to share that, “Andrew uses these skills in all that he does, on a daily basis. Churchill changed his life and, through that, he is able to touch any number of lives.”
With gratitude, Andrew said, “To all the parents and supporters, I want to thank you for making the sacrifice you are making to send your children to Churchill. It was not until I transitioned out of Churchill and back to a traditional school that I was able to fully understand and appreciate Churchill and my parent’s dedication. I would have never been able to create Chicago Furniture Bank without my parent’s amazing commitment and encouragement. By sending your kids to Churchill, you are setting them up for success in many different ways!”
Andrew was presented with the inaugural Sandra K. Gilligan “Making a Difference” alumni award in 2022.
