From the outside, the Southwest Lending Closet is a small, friendly looking building in west Avondale. You might not guess that every year, this modest 1,800 square-foot building supplies thousands of Arizona residents with the durable medical equipment they need at no cost.
The Lending Closet’s Executive Director Ann DeVlaeminck describes the organization as a library, but instead of renting books, they rent crutches, knee scooters, wheel chairs and bedside commodes to name just a few.
Inside the building is a room filled with durable medical equipment. Crutches line the walls, and walkers are neatly stacked on shelves up to the ceiling. Bedside commodes and shower benches line the walls, and wheelchairs are folded and stored neatly on racks. The tidy storage room contains a wide variety of supplies, but much of their inventory is stored off-site.
