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Joining our mailing list gets you in on deals and hot items. It also helps you see what the work that we do at the ReStore contributes to. To date we have raised over $450,000 for Habitat, our goal is to raise at least $100,000 this year. |
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Our Habitat Affiliates |
Willamette West HFH
Mt Hood HFH
Evergreen HFH
Our affiliates have built over 200 homes in the Portland Metro Area.
Check out their links to to learn more about the great work they do. |
| Our Business Sponsors |
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Please consider joining our sponsor team!
List your business here and get your name on our truck too!
Contact Joe at jconnell@pdxrestore.org
Visit our site for more information: www.pdxrestore.org.
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| Oregon Remodelers Association Home Tour Coming October 13-14. |
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COMING THIS WEEK-END! Need some fresh ideas? How about a knowledgeable professional to talk to? The Oregon Remodelers Association's 6th Annual Remodelers Home Tour is coming Saturday and Sunday, October 13th and 14th. This year the Tour will showcase 19 creative residential remodeling projects in Portland and Salem by members of ORA and NARI (the National Association of the Remodeling Industry). On view will be kitchen and bath remodels, as well as whole homes, additions, and more. Participants will have the opportunity to meet with remodelers to discuss ideas for their own projects.
Tickets for the Home Tour are $15, and are available at Safeway TicketsWest, and www.oregonremodelers.com. Volunteers (see signup information below) receive two complimentery tickets. |
Hot, New and Featured Items
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Carpet & Linoleum on Sale for $3.00 per sq yard!
 8-piece
Pickled-finish Cabinet Set Only $300
 
Tons of New Doors & Windows
Arriving Daily!
Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!
This Kohler toilet is a Steal at $200!
Thunder-gray,
French Curve,
Quiet Close,
Elongated Seat
2 Elegant Green Brocade Armchairs
Priced to Sell at $40 (for both!!)
Handsome Antique Dining Table
Seats 15 with Leaves in Place
For the Unbelievable Price of $400!
 
277-volt T-5 high output Stains are On Sale
Fluorescent Lights w/ $2 per qt. or gal.
aluminum diffuser (usually $5-15)
Just $10 each
 
T I L E Door Edge Silicon
Fresh off Sealing System
the Truck! Only $2.00/package
Many Sizes
and Colors
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We Hope to See You Soon!
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News from the Portland Metro Area ReStore
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There are few pleasures in life that equal working hard and seeing your work pay off. And so these past couple of weeks have been extremely satisfying. We all work hard at the ReStore and to see it reflected back by the faces of families receiving their homes, a wonderful article in the Oregonian, and by the best sales month we have ever had, is a delight.
September was an incredible month. Even with a lot of staff turnover we broke our previous sales record easily. We've had great donations, lots of volunteers, and an amazing amount of dedication by our staff and regular volunteers. Everyone involved in the ReStore should be proud. And I believe that more record breakers are on the way. Every day new faces are walking into the store; new customers, new volunteers, and new donors. And our phones are ringing off the hook. It seems our biggest challenge right now is to manage our success. A challenge we gladly take on.
Both Portland HFH and Willamette West HFH dedicated homes this past week. WW dedicated the Linsay Lane project and Portland dedicated their last three homes in New Columbia. It was wonderful to be at both these dedications and realize that the work we do at the ReStore helped build each and every one of those homes. It was especially wonderful to see so many families who have worked at the ReStore receiving homes. The Huang's, the Christian's, and the Wasongola's all have put many hours in at the store. This is perhaps the piece of what we do that I love most; bringing people together to help a family with a little bit of a hand up, so that they can make a significant difference in their own lives. As HFH likes to say; "a hand up, not a hand out". These families are some of the hardest working folks I've ever met, and it is a priviledge to be a part of their homes.
And it was absolutely great to see all this reflected so clearly in an article in the Oregonian. This was probably the best press to date for the ReStore, and pretty good press too for the Affiliates. People and businesses are beginning to see our work, and beginning to understand how simple and significant it truly is. Take unwanted goods, and with a lot of good will and some hard work, turn them into homes instead of garbage.
Thanks for supporting our ReStore!
Joe Connell
ReStore Director
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As you all know the ReStore has a very small staff and we rely heavily upon volunteers to make it all possible. We are truly a volunteer driven organization. And so of course we always need more volunteers.
Please consider supporting the work of Habitat by volunteering at the ReStore!
Our most pressing need is for help with the Home Tour:
ORA Home Tour - we still need folks for several shifts this weekend. Please sign up to help us make this event a success. To sign up or for more info email jconnell@pdxrestore.org.
The ReStore also needs:
- Driver Assistants - our Driver Assistants go out with the truck to help navigate, load and unload, and help the driver backup. You don't need special skills, just a willingness to help and a strong back.
- Backup Drivers - most of our drivers are on a regular shift but of course everyone gets sick, goes on vacation, or just needs a break now and then. So we need folks that can fill in at those times. Drivers must be able to drive a large box truck and have a clean driving record, and also must have a strong back.
We also always need help out in the store from individuals or groups. Let us know if your workplace, church or school has programs for volunteering that we could invite to join us!
Visit our website to learn more about volunteering at the ReStore.
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| Meet Molly, Our New Customer Service/Volunteer Coordinator! |
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The ReStore has a new Customer Service/Volunteer Coordinator. She is Molly Enright. Her job is an important one, given that the ReStore depends so heavily on the active participation of many many volunteers to keep the place running.
Molly was born and raised in Eau Claire, a small city in northwestern Wisconsin. Her father is a lawyer and her mother a nurse. Her only living sibling, a brother, is a sustainable construction technician. While Molly's parents knew at an early age what careers they would pursue, she and her brother's lives so far have been more winding journeys. Molly spent five years at Pacific Northwest College of Art, where she majored in sculpture. While a student at PNCA, she worked part time at Wacky Willy's surplus store. It has since closed. She left Portland after graduating in 2005 to return to Wisconsin, and only moved back here a couple of months ago. While in Wisconsin, she helped care for her 2-year-old nephew, and worked as volunteer coordinator for events at a group home for mentally disabled men.
These days Molly finds a number of creative outlets for her talents when not at work. Having decided that sculpture required too much fabrication space and unwieldy tools, she instead focuses on sewing, baking and cooking. She has sold her hats at First and Last Thursdays. She also designs dresses and soft sculpture babies. And she's already demonstated her baking prowess by bringing in a delicious plate of cinnamon scones to share with surprised and delghted co-workers and volunteers at the ReStore. Encore!
"The ReStore brings together several interests of mine, including reusing materials and having a shared space for people to come and all benefit. My job is to spread the word that we are here in order to find people interested in participating."
Fortunately for us, Molly knows that home baked goodies are a secret weapon for reaching people through their stomachs. Welcome Molly!
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| ReStore History |
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The first U.S. ReStore opened in a former laundry processing building in East Austin, Texas, in 1991. It started out selling mainly used building material donations without offering much that was new. As more people became aware of the ReStore, close-out products, manufacturing over-runs, and discontinued merchandise got added to the mix. Today the ReStores offer a wide selection of both new and gently used goods from both home remodelers and commercial donors. The atmosphere is that of a big on-going garage sale. First come, first served. If you don't buy it when you first see it, chances are that it will be gone when next you stop by.
There are 500 ReStores nationwide, with 13 in Oregon. Our mission has always been to provide financial support for the local affiliates of Habitat for Humanity. In addition, we make it possible for people to purchase building materials at major savings, and, at the same time, serve as an outlet for reusable discarded items. The volume of home improvement material that is thrown away in this country is mind-boggling.
The Portland Metro ReStore opened in June, 2001, on Columbia Boulevard in Northeast Portland, with Jamie Coward the original Manager. We moved into our present space under the Morrison Bridge in August, 2004. Joe Connell, the current ReStore Director, took over in August 2005. We are presently working on a longterm plan that may lead to the opening of another store or two in the next few years. We started with just one person on staff. We now have 5, plus an average of 800 volunteer hours a month.
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Book Review: Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash by Elizabeth Royte
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Science writer Royte shows readers what happens to our trash after we've thrown it away. She talks with an odor chemist about why garbage smells so bad, with neighbors of massive dumps, CEOs making big bucks from both trash and recycling, scientists trying to revive our most polluted places, adventurers who kayak amid sewage, paper people, steel people, aluminum people, plastic people, and more. By leading us on this exploration, she reminds us that our decisions about consumption and waste have a very real impact--and that unless we undertake radical change, the garbage we create will always be with us in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. One of the book's four parts is on "Avoiding the Dump." Published by Little, Brown and Company in 2005.
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October 2007
