D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
December
2008
A Win-Win-Win Situation
Silver City's Re-Store supports Habitat for Humanity, keeps discards out of the landfill and gives buyers bargains.
Story and photos by Donna Clayton Lawder
"Well, that's Christmas over there. And over there, that shed, that's 'Paint World.' Do you need a washing machine?"
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Re-Store manager Bob Morton checks
out a donated basketball hoop, while the donor looks on. |
His hands on his hips, Bob Morton gives a good-natured laugh and surveys the wide-ranging mix of items at Silver City's Re-Store.
Just then, a pick-up truck backs in behind him, a freestanding basketball hoop jutting out the back. Morton makes a humorous show of dodging out of the way of the incoming vehicle.
"Maybe you need a basketball hoop!" he adds with a laugh and a game show-style sweep of his arm to show off the merchandise. "Hey, I've got a ping-pong table back there, too. About a week ago, I had a pool table! Can you believe that?"
Morton is the manager of the Re-Store, the non-profit resale operation that supports Habitat for Humanity. He and his wife, Barbara, retired to Silver City from the Lake Powell, Ariz., area about two years ago. Not satisfied with their completely recreational lifestyle and eager to do some more good in the world, the husband-wife team — which at one time had worked together for the Forest Service — found a new hand-in-glove opportunity to work together. A year ago, she took on the part-time executive directorship at Habitat for Humanity; in September, he took over the reins at the Re-Store.
From the Re-Store's big front doorway, Barbara Morton chimes in, laughing. "Bob was my boss at the Forest Service and here I am, working for him again. I work 25 hours a week over at Habitat and then I come here and volunteer," she says, then turns her attention to assisting a customer.
On this sunny Friday morning, one of the Re-Store's busier days, the place is positively bustling. Bob Morton sets about unloading that basketball hoop, with help from the donor, while answering the questions of a small handful of customers milling about, looking for goods. He calls to one of his volunteers to set up a delivery — a young couple is buying a couch, but they have no way to get the item to their home. They'll take the desk they are buying with them today; delivery of the couch is arranged for the weekend.
"Never a dull moment," Morton says with a laugh, describing his role. "My first order of business, I guess, was just plain cleaning the place up, organizing."
Indeed, though the yard holds an amazing variety of items — from window frames and building materials to sinks, toilets and appliances — the goods are up on pallets, neatly organized and grouped by type.
"It's pretty much straightened out now. People can find stuff," he says with a satisfied smile.
Appliances and furniture are the Re-Store's most popular items. "Every one of these works," Morton says, gesturing to a small group of dishwashers and clothes dryers. "I had a guy come and check them out. He fixed the one with parts from another. Now it runs and we still have that other one we took the parts from in case we need a different part to fix one that comes in down the road. Nothing's wasted."
The price tags on the items make it easy to overlook the occasional scratch or dent. There's a refrigerator marked at $40, a dishwasher for $25. Morton says he determines prices on the basis of the item's condition and with the aid of Lowe's and Home Depot merchandise books.
"Everything's priced at least 50 percent off new prices," he says. "It's all good values."
Many items come from local homeowners who are remodeling, Morton explains. "You know, people pull their old appliances out of the kitchen. When they bring them here — and we can pick some items up, too — then someone else gets a good deal and they can have that fridge or that stove, whereas maybe they couldn't afford those things. They're big-ticket items."
Contractors also donate building supplies at the end of a job, he says, and a number of local businesses have been quite generous with donations.
"When the Workshops of Carneros closed down, they gave us all these paints and finishes," he says, indicating the small shed with shelves of cans. "That's nothing now — we've already gone through so much of it. It was stacked up several cans high on every shelf. And they gave us all their unfinished furniture, too." He points out a grouping of brand-new chairs, tables and bookshelves inside one of the Re-Store building's huge bays. "That room was full!"
Barbara Morton gestures toward boxes and boxes of tile.
"That's all from Syzygy Tile," she says. "They give us all their extra tile each week. People love to go through that stuff and find just the right thing." When Don and Lawanna Beems sold their business, Western Stationers, they donated a bunch of shelving and filing cabinets, she notes.
Bob Morton mentions that since Habitat for Humanity and its Re-Store arm are a 501(3)(c) non-profit charity, donors can get a receipt for their donation, handy at tax time. Most individuals and businesses don't even ask for one, though, he says.
Inside the Re-Store, items run the gamut, ranging from hardware to toys to electrical wiring supplies. There are household items — vacuum cleaners and everything for the kitchen, from everyday dinner plates to holiday china, pots, pans and utensils — all priced for a song. Nails, screws and hardware. Picture frames and photo albums. A section of everything to do with lighting includes fluorescent bulbs, chandeliers and glass globes for any size lighting fixture, it seems, some priced as low as 50 cents.
Barbara Morton helps a woman examining an electric typewriter.
"I'm a regular shopper here!" the woman exclaims with a bright smile. "They have great deals. It helps me and it helps them, too, with the house building. I just feel good about coming here."
In another section of the store, a gentleman looks over the myriad doors offered for sale. He's looking to replace a couple in his house, trading out his hollow-cores for solid wood.
"The price is right and I'll have a better door," he says with a smile.
Nearby are rows of mirrors in all shapes and sizes, bathroom medicine chests, a grouping of couches and tables.
Bob Morton says the Re-Store's clientele varies. He has many repeat customers, people pleased with a good deal who come back looking for more as they feather their nests, renovate and upgrade their homes.
"We see a lot of young couples starting out, like that young family taking that couch and the desk. Artists come and get stuff for projects. It's a way for them to get materials, some pretty unique stuff, for cheap," he says. "We get retirees who are trying to save some money, too. A lot of people are remodeling these days, working with the house they have instead of buying new or building, and with the way things are with our economy, I can't say I blame 'em. Makes sense."
Barbara Morton chimes in, describing a three-fold, win-win-win situation created through the Re-Store, bringing in its relationship with Habitat for Humanity.
"Helping people is number one. It's a wonderful service to the people who live here, that they can come here and get good, quality things for their homes. Also, just think about it. Look at all this stuff," she says, gesturing with a sweep of her arm over the outdoor yard and the building behind her. "All this stuff would've been in landfills, no good to anybody! Instead, people can use it and it doesn't go to waste. And third, of course, is that it supports Habitat, and its work building houses for people."
Founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller in Americus, Georgia, Habitat for Humanity has built some 300,000 houses around the world, providing more than 1.5 million people in more than 3,000 communities with decent, affordable homes. Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat for Humanity builds and rehabilitates simple dwellings, with the prospective homeowners — called "partner families" — contributing hundreds of sweat-equity hours of labor. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans. The homeowners' monthly mortgage payments to Habitat for Humanity are used to build still more Habitat houses.
Habitat houses are affordable for low-income families because there is no profit included in the sale price. Mortgage length varies from 7 to 30 years. Throughout the world, the cost of a Habitat house varies from as little as $800 in some developing countries to an average of just under $60,000 in the US.
The worldwide, grassroots movement operates in all 50 states of the US and in 90 countries around the globe. Though the charity is Christian-based, neither race nor religion is a factor in choosing the families who receive Habitat houses.
Barbara Morton looks around the yard, surveying the items and people who make this hand-in-hand mission between the Re-Store and Habitat for Humanity work. She mentally puts on her Habitat for Humanity director's hat and clicks off some facts and figures on the successful program, locally and around the globe.
"Yes, we've just built our 300,000th house worldwide today," she says with a broad smile on this sunny November morning. "And we have had impressive accomplishments here in New Mexico! Last year we marked our 500th home in the state. And on Nov. 22, we are having a house dedication for our newest homeowner and her two children right here. That's our 15th house within a 30-mile radius."
She notes that next year, the local program will celebrate its 20th anniversary, and coyly mentions plans for "exciting" growth.
"But I can't say much about that yet," she says. "I can tell you this, though — we need more donations! Gently used household goods, working appliances and construction materials," she says, ticking off on her fingers. "Those are the things that make all this happen. We need to get this yard full again, full of things that people here at home need and can afford. That's what completes the circuit and builds those houses!"
The Silver City Re-Store, 704 W. Market St., 534-9727, is open Wed.-Fri., 1-4 p.m. and Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Volunteer opportunities abound and goods are needed.