Good honest value. Quality name brand mattresses for less. Community-minded Discount Mattress is now participating in the CitizensMatch trade exchange program.

Discount Mattress, only in Amherst, has been working together with Highland Valley Elder Services on an initiative that motivates civic engagement among elders. The initiative, known as CitizensMatch, is a program that rewards elders for participating in acts of caring. The reward comes in the form of Citizen Dollars that can be spent at participating businesses, including Discount Mattress. Amy Farber personally helps elders in a local apartment complex come to know the true meaning of being a good neighbor.

Norman Tuttle, a resident of Washington House in Westfield, volunteered for several years in the building’s dining room by washing dishes. Day after day he ventured to the lunchroom and cleaned the several dishes left behind by residents who had enjoyed a meal together. He did this of his own free will, without the promise of any reward, because he wanted to help. Years later, however, the good will that Tuttle had put forth was returned ten fold when he was the person needing help.

In August of 2007, 89 year-old Tuttle fell out of his bed in the middle of the night. Because the bed was too big for his room, the accident wedged him between the side of the mattress and the wall for hours. Even though he called for help, he remained in that position until a neighbor found him the following day. When Farber heard this news, she was not only alarmed but she was called to action. She accepted the Citizen Dollars that Tuttle earned by washing the dishes and she delivered to him a brand new bed that is a much better fit for his room.

Since last August, Discount Mattress has delivered several additional beds in exchange for Citizen Dollars to residents participating in acts of good will. She and other business owners participating in CitizensMatch, serve as perfect examples of how kind deeds, both large and small, eventually lead to enhancing the quality of others’ lives.

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