Audubon’s ‘Toyota Together Green’ programme is building bridges in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
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When it comes to strengthening community, tearing down is sometimes the best way to build — which the Habitat for Humanity affiliate is putting into practice at its newest Harrisburg, PA ReStore, a nonprofit home improvement and donation center operated by Habitat. The nonprofit ReStore centers sell new and used furniture, home accessories, building materials, architectural salvage and appliances to the public at a fraction of the retail price.
So critical in economically depressed areas like Harrisburg.
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The ReStore accomplishes two goals at the same time: Raising money to build affordable, decent housing or rehab run-down homes, while protecting the environment via recycling tons of building materials rather than dumping them in landfills. Even more important, they are working together to salvage materials and this builds communities – so critical in economically depressed areas like Harrisburg.
With the help of a generous grant of $10,000 from Audubon’s Toyota Together Green program, the Harrisburg ReStore (of which I am the manager) is putting in place the plan to build a diverse, inclusive volunteer group – by reaching out to under-represented minorities, low-income groups, and others who typically have not been the focus of volunteer recruitment.
…have an incredible desire to do community service..
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In fact my graduate school thesis, Using Architectural Salvage to Stimulate Neighborhood Revitalization, dealt specifically with using deconstruction and salvage projects as a means to provide green job skills to residents of economically disadvantaged communities. I have been in discussions with the local LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Center of Central PA – which is always looking for ventures to involve LGBT youth with the community – it’s all about working together and volunteering. The center’s executive director Louie Marven told me:
“The youth who are participating in LGBT Center programs have an incredible desire to do community service. For them, creating more opportunities to be together in community, having fun while helping others, and showing the broader community a positive portrayal of LGBT people are all interests that sit at the forefront of their minds.”
We are also reaching out to the Camp Curtin YMCA branch in Harrisburg — which recently completed a new youth and teen center, among other improvements – about engaging its Teen Achiever group on ReStore projects. Obviously young people under 18 are not permitted on ReStore job sites because of safety reasons, but we are looking at other ReStore volunteer opportunities, including recycling cans of leftover latex paint.
Harrisburg has been down on its luck for some time.
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In addition, we’re also in discussions with Harrisburg’s YouthBuild program – funded by federal Department of Labor grants, out-of-school youths earn their GEDs while learning critical occupational skills in construction and other fields. In the Harrisburg program, many participants are people of color, and fully one third are female. YouthBuild participants in my project will learn “Green Job Skills” to aid in their future employment in the construction industry.
Harrisburg has been down on its luck for some time, and has a high unemployment and crime rate. A new city government is determined to turn this situation around, and one of the key parts of the mayor’s new budget provides funds to remove abandoned, blighted buildings. One of our former board members is on the new mayor’s transition team, so we exploring ways to work together. More immediately, we are also participating in Habitat for Humanity’s annual Collegiate Challenge – which “enrolls” college students on Spring Break in helping to salvage, build or rehab housing for local communities.
Audubon’s Toyota Together Green program.
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In March, we will be cycling through student volunteers from institutions such as Boston College, Providence College, University of Maine and Lord Fairfax Community College. I previously worked with Toyota when I was the manager of the Lexington, KY ReStore. I started out on a ReStore salvage crew learning to tear buildings down by hand in 2003. After I completed graduate school at the University of Kentucky, I realized I’m actually much better at deconstruction than construction, so I helped start Lexington’s program. In 2008, Toyota helped Lexington Habitat salvage a convent located outside of Bardstown, Kentucky. We utilized two full shifts of Toyota volunteers to salvage the building!
…an environmentally-friendly strategy..
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That experience working with Toyota was excellent, so it was only natural that when I became the manager of the new ReStore in Harrisburg, PA, I would apply that experience to Audubon’s Toyota Together Green program. I specifically came to Harrisburg with the job of opening and running the new ReStore, which included rehabbing the former successful hometown brewing company and pub (that had moved) with community and Habitat for Humanity volunteers. A great deal of my work, of course, is securing donations of building materials from individuals and local corporations, which have been very generous.
We’re also working with local developers to help them deconstruct rather than demolish buildings, an environmentally-friendly strategy that also provides them with a tax deduction. Recently, for example, we salvaged from an old factory some 29,235 board feet of pine. That’s almost 30,000 board feet that won’t end up in the landfill, which, when sold at our ReStore, will fund building or rehabilitating affordable housing for the community.
Local affiliates of the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity have built or repaired more than 600,000 houses and served more than 3 million people worldwide. Proceeds are used to build homes and community. Just as important, ReStores are environmentally friendly, helping to prevent salvage and recycle literally millions of tons of building materials, preventing them from being dumped in landfills.
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-Photo: Toyota Together Green/Flickr
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