“Habitat for Humanity ReStores provide bargains — and homes | Video” |
| Habitat for Humanity ReStores provide bargains — and homes | Video Posted: 26 Sep 2010 09:45 AM PDT Score great bargains on home-improvement materials, appliances, furniture, lighting fixtures and designer decor at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The four ReStores in South Florida have everything you need to build and decorate a house — for up to 60 percent off retail. Plus, purchases come with an added bonus: What you buy helps build a South Florida home for someone who needs one. The aptly named retail concept helps support Habitat for Humanity's mission to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness. "We make enough to build a house a month," says Nancy Daly, the volunteer chairwoman of the Fort Lauderdale ReStore. It also is the ultimate recycling program. Individuals and businesses donate materials that are used to build Habitat houses. What isn't used is sent to ReStores to be sold and reused by someone else who needs it. This cycle keeps perfectly good building materials and housewares out of landfills and offers people a way to make inexpensive home repairs and improvements. It's a recurring theme: reuse, resell, recycle, rebuild … ReStore. On any given day, construction workers stop in to grab plywood, drywall, paint or grout. There also are used doors, windows, screens, cabinetry, washers, dryers, stoves, refrigerators, sinks, medicine cabinets, water heaters and air-conditioning units. The list goes on, with merchandise turning over quickly. Fridges and tables were rolling out the doors in a continuous stream on a recent visit. "We cover the needs of everyone, from someone who needs a $10 table to designers who want $3,000 chandeliers for $400," Daly says. Daly, a cheerful bundle of energy tucked into a neat red work shirt and blue jeans, is the full-time volunteer in charge of the Fort Lauderdale ReStore. Along with store manager Jayna Butcher, Daly oversees 10 to 30 workers a day, many of whom are fulfilling court-mandated community service hours for nonviolent crimes. Daly says her favorite part of the job is working with the store's volunteers. "It's about touching a life every day. I feel like I'm doing something good for someone every day," she says. "If I can get ahold of someone tough and show they are needed and are important, they work twice as hard for us. Some volunteer for us after they're done with their community service." The ReStore gets two trucks a week from City Furniture, which donates damaged goods, Daly says. On the second floor is a furniture repair workshop, where volunteers turn some of the damaged donations into like-new goods. The workers fix broken table legs and make other minor repairs to chairs, couches and just about anything that needs fixing. The shop has rows of neatly organized table legs, tops and hardware so volunteers can turn would-be trash into treasures. Tiffany Maldonado, of North Lauderdale, is working on cleaning up donated glass mosaic tiles in a work area downstairs so they can be sold for $5 a sheet. She's fulfilling her 500 hours of "sweat equity" to qualify for her family's Habitat house. "I'm so excited about getting a house," Maldonado says. "I like working in the store. This has been a great experience, plus you get a house at the end of the road." On this day, she's already cleaned two palettes of tiles and has two more to go. "It's a lot of work, but it's worth it." There are nearly 60 stores in Florida and hundreds of ReStores throughout the United States. Each store's offerings are slightly different. The big attraction at the Fort Lauderdale ReStore is the furniture. In Liberty City, it's roofing and floor tiles. In Boca Raton, it's the high-end decorative items. "People come here and they can't believe the finds," says Hans Reide, manager of the Boca Raton ReStore. "Consignment stores buy from us and resell in their stores on a consistent basis." The Boca Raton ReStore gets high-end decorator items and furnishings donated by Sklar and Robb & Stucky, Reide says. On a recent visit, there was a $799 Canon copy machine for $299 and a new $2,000 oval Jacuzzi bathtub for $1,499. Word about the goods gets around. "They have lots of good stuff here," says Tyshona Morgan, who drove to the Fort Lauderdale ReStore from Miami with her husband, Joe, in search of a bedroom set. "They have higher-quality furniture here." Sally Shrago, of North Miami Beach, agrees. "My friend told me about this place. She has found amazing things here. I'm just browsing the furniture today." Doreen Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4807. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Content Keyword RSS To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment