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Donation Pick-Up Assistants needed to represent Habitat for Humanity out in the community. We could use your help from 9am until 3pm(at the latest) Tuesdays, Fridays, or Saturdays. No driving is required of you, just an ability to follow directions, move a variety of materials in efficient ways and be willing to help the driver when maneuvering our large box truck. This would be considered a regular volunteer position which means we would ask you would dedicate to a particular day weekly, but if you can't do a certain day every week you could also be considered a back-up in case some one else can't make it.
Warehouse Volunteers! Come in and get fit for the summer. We have more workout equipment (merchandise) than ever and at every level. Very informal membership, and it's free!
At the moment ReStore needs a little afternoon assistance. Come in after the rush and have a relaxing afternoon at the register, on the phones, or in the warehouse organizing. Most volunteers leave at 2pm so we could use a little help from 2pm until 5pm to get the store in a good place to start the next day.
To learn more about the best way to spend your day please contact via email molly@pdxrestore.org , call 503-283-6247 and ask for the volunteer coordinator, or just stop by and introduce yourself. |
| New Clark County ReStore Coming Soon! |
| The Portland Metro ReStore is excited to announce that we are planning to open a second location later this year. We are aiming for Fall, 2008 with a new store in Clark County!
Our present store is a great success, and we see tremendous potential in Southwestern Washington. Clark County is growing fast, with both suburban development and downtown redevelopment. Clark County and the city of Vancouver are both fully committed to recycling, and re-use and the city has recently hired a Sustainability Coordinator. We have been receiving a great amount of support from folks at various agencies at both levels. Our thanks to all of them for tier support in helping to get this idea off the ground.
Currently 12% of our customers are from the Vancouver area, and we look forward to expanding our reach in Vancouver and out to the rest of Clark County. Though there are many Habitat ReStores in Washington there are none closer than Yakima or Olympia, nor any similar type store in the area, meaning we will have little competition. So we feel that we can easily replicate our Portland success in Clark County. We are also looking forward to even more closely collaborating with the Evergreen Chapter of HFH, located in Vancouver. We anticipate that the new ReStore will help increase Evergreen's visibility and encourage greater volunteer participation from throughout the Clark County Community.
We have created a terrific Development Committee so far, but need more people to get involved from within the Clark County community. We need help locating a building, help with fundraising and marketing, as well as help getting the word out to the business community. For more info or to get involved please contact me at jconnell@pdxrestore.org.
If you have friends or associates in Clark County, please forward this newsletter to them. Please spread the word that a new ReStore is coming soon!
Thanks to all of you for making our present ReStore a tremendous success. We look forward to expanding this great work of ours, and we look forward to the help that we know you all will continue to bring.
Joe Connell
ReStore Director
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Rain Water Harvesting
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Did you know that the average roof sheds 160 gallons of water an hour during a moderate rainfall? While it is true that rain water is a renewable resource, many of the underground aquifers that serve our cities are overstressed. That is because wasteful water practices, such as keeping lawns green in the summer, often draw out more water than can be replenished naturally.
Want to help turn this situation around? Collecting rain water for later use is an ancient practice, going all the way back to Thailand 2000 years ago. Rain Water Harvesting can be as basic as a barrel aided by gravity, or a more advanced system using cisterns, pumps, and flow controls. To different degrees, both methods are a start at reducing our impact on the municipal water supply, and you will save money, too.
More than 70% of the Earth is covered by water. However, only 2.5% is fresh water, and most of that is locked in glaciers and the ice caps. 3/10 of 1% is found in lakes, rivers, and streams. Much of that supply is in danger of becoming too contaminated for human use.
For more specific information on setting up a rain collecting system, check out this link: Rain barrel.
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Fork it Over! A Metro program that rescues edible food "waste"
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Oregon is the only state with a food rescue program. Fork it Over! is about reducing both hunger and waste in the Portland Metropolitan area. 190,000 tons of food are thrown in the landfill each year, even though some of this discarded food has nothing wrong with it and would be safe to eat. Through the Fork it Over! program, Metro connects food-generating businesses, such as groceries and restaurants, with food rescue programs in the tri-county area.
This is neither risky nor dangerous. Federal Good Samaritan laws protect donors from liability. Surplus food is a valuable resource. According to Oregon Food Bank, Portland area charities served more than 2 million emergency meals last year. Nearly 50,000 of our local residents needed food--40% of them children.
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| Book Review: Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine M. Benyus
In school we all learned about how the Industrial Revolution transformed society, unleashing human creativity in pursuit of dominance over nature. Today we are discovering that there is a limit to nature's tolerance of all our abuse.
Biomimicry is about learning from nature, instead of extracting and using up her resources. It's about developing sustainable practices by looking at nature's solutions.
Plants harvest solar energy with great efficiency.
Both plants and animals have waste-free packaging mastered:
ie. seed casings, tree bark, beetle exoskeleton
Biomimicry was published in 1998. Its message is even more urgent today. To save our species, and the others we've impacted, we need to drastically change course. The book suggests our industrial designers and other business innovators get mentoring from some of the 10 million plus other species who have lived and evolved much longer than we have. It's a call to emulate nature's many inspired examples. Everything is recycled: waste equals food. Nature fits form to function. Nature runs on sunlight. And nature uses only the energy it needs.
Want to learn more about this fascinating subject? Contact the Biomimicry Institute, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote the transfer of ideas, designs, and strategies from biology to sustainable human systems design |
| Half-Day Conference: Creating, Growing, & Marketing a Vibrant Sustainable Local Economy |
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Wednesday, March 19th, 8am - 1pm
Friendship Masonic Center, 5625 NE Alameda
Organized by the Sustainable Business Network of Portland (SBNP)
$75 ($60 for students and SBNP members)
Register by phone, 503-232=2943, or on-line
The purpose of the conference is to bring together locally owned businesses to share and clarify their vision, inspire action, and provide practical tools. Topics covered will include Sustainable Employee Practices, Growth Strategies for Small Service-based Businesses, Enhancing Local Food Networks, and Community Capital--Sustainable Financial Options.
SBNP is a non-profit alliance of locally-owned independent businesses, service providers, community organizations, and individuals committed to building a sustainable local economy. For more information, visit their website. |
Please Give Us Feedback!
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Please let us know what you think of the ReStore Newsletter. Are you finding useful information and/or resources? Do you have ideas for articles you would like us to do? Are there aspects of the newsletter that you think need improvement. Please help us make this newsletter better. Contact robin@pdxrestore.org with your thoughts. Thank you!
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RESTORE HOURS
Tuesday through Saturday
9am-5pm | |
March 2008
