Why is everyday Earth Day at the ReStore?
by: Kevin Pelkey
I recently read a statement in one of Habitat For Humanity International’s marketing materials that read:
“Every day is Earth Day at Habitat.” How true a statement!
Why is that? The first and most obvious answer is the ReStore! While many view the ReStore as the best place to shop for value pricing, it’s really far more than that.
The ReStore is STEWARDSHIP. There are finite resources in this world and, unfortunately, for far too long we’ve been trained to throw away our things when we are done with them. That’s fine for a whole host of reasons and not so fine for a whole host of other reasons. When an item has reached the end of its useful life, then throwing it away (or better yet, recycling, what can be) is fine. But, there are so many things that still have a useful life. The ReStore is a great place for people to find treasures and continue to give life to the used couch or window or door or flooring or….the list goes on.
By donating items to the ReStore, you are practicing stewardship – caring for the resources we have in thoughtful ways.
What you may not realize is what the impact of your donation added to all the other donations makes. From July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, we diverted 1,539 tons of material from the local landfills. That’s equivalent to 109 dump trucks that didn’t have to go to the landfill. And, that’s good for all of us! That’s stewardship in practice every day.
A second less obvious answer is embedded in what we build: decent, affordable houses throughout the Lakes Area. Because we are committed to a simple floor plan that is compact but effective, we use less materials to build our homes than typical industry standard homes. An interesting statistic (dating to 2010) showed that the typical home built in the US was around 2,600 square feet. The typical home we build is around 1,200 square feet. That means we can build more than 2 homes with the same materials that it takes to build one typical home in the US. That is stewardship!
As you think of the “things” you plan to replace this year, please also think about what you are going to do with the “things” you are replacing. Give us a call and ask if we’d accept your “stuff.” We even offer a pick-up service for larger items. Let’s see if we can divert more garbage trucks from the landfill this year. Together we can practice stewardship and by doing so we can keep our landfills open longer for all those things that have come to the end of useful life.
Ways to get involved:
Thank you for all you do,
Kevin Pelkey, Executive Director
