Habitat for Humanity’s mission includes encouraging the reuse of building materials and tools
by Frank Barnett

(Plain Press, July 2010) Habitat for Humanity conjures up an image of enthusiastic volunteers rolling up their sleeves to build houses. While that kind of passion is inspiring, it is only part of the overall Habitat mission.

Jeffrey Bowen, executive director of the Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity, sees as part of his mission “to put into all hearts and minds issues of housing, access to housing, issues of poverty that exist in America and Europe that shouldn’t be there. As the wealthiest country on the planet, we should not have poverty. And we should be able to help everyone else in the world. While it seems to be a lofty goal, it’s not, because we started from nothing. Thirty years later, nearly 2 million people live in Habitat for Humanity housing around the world.”

They do build housing, but also holistically examine the politics, attitudes and ways of thinking that cause the problems in the first place. Not only changing people’s attitudes about recycling and sustainability, but also recognizing that corrupt governments and multi-national organizations around the world don’t always have the best interests of the people at heart.

A relatively recent local function of Habitat for Humanity has been the ReStore located at 2110 West 110th St. between Berea Road and Lorain Avenue. Over the last several years, ReStores have cropped up in every major city in the country, most grossing over a million dollars a year.

A huge old Cleveland warehouse was set up as a ReStore a couple years ago. The ReStore sells donated used and new construction materials and tools. Though currently nowhere near the volume of inventory of a Home Depot, Bowen and his largely volunteer staff are determined to see just that, shelves stacked high with merchandise, a goal he sees as just a matter of raising awareness so that people know where to contribute what they don’t need or stores learn where to donate their overstock. And it’s a way volunteers can do work other than construction, more like the Habitat version of working a soup kitchen. Though they always take donations, a Tool Drive ran through June to raise awareness. Some area businesses and banks took tool and money donations. Solid Waste District, community development organizations, County Commissioners, and the City of Cleveland and suburban municipalities supported and helped to promote the tool drive.

The inner city and the suburbs have different priorities. Poorer people put up with less furniture, whereas the more affluent may accumulate old stuff they don’t need anymore in their basements. They eventually have a garage sale, more to try to make more room than for the few dollars they might make. Instead of a yard sale, residents are encouraged to make a donation to Habitat for Humanity. Habitat can make use of money from sales of the old tools, and furniture, as well as get the items to people who can really use it.

The biggest contributors have been contractors. When people have their kitchen remodeled, once it’s paid for the old fixtures very simply have served their purpose and, for expedience sake, would often just end up in a landfill. “Sledge hammers are the tool,” says Bowen. “The contractors pry off the cabinets, rip sink and drawers off the wall. And since you’re getting a granite or stainless steel counter, the one that you had that’s perfectly good goes into the dumpster.” The ReStore became the perfect alternative to trashing, as somebody can certainly use the inexpensive hand-me-downs at 25-30 cents on the dollar. And municipalities appreciate the effort because they’d rather not fill up their landfills or pay more to maintain them.

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