| Greetings!
When most people think of Second Chance, Inc., they think of a store. That's understandable, considering we operate one of the largest public retail salvage centers in the nation. Inventory changes over daily, due in no small part to a host of generous donors eager to support our job training, keep reusable items out of the landfill and gain a tax deduction in the process.
At the same time, a lot of the goodies in our store come from deconstruction. Truck after truck delivers material our crews carefully extract from buildings that are being leveled to make way for a new structure. To get a little insight into this eco-friendly, job-creating and money-saving practice, here is a recent article by Bridget Balch in The Free Lance-Star that captures a slice of what it's all about, entitled: "Nonprofit Recycles Old Fredericksburg House."
The house at 1504 Winchester St. in Fredericksburg may have reached the end of its life, but parts of it will live on as recycled material to be used in new buildings.
It is being demolished, but not before Second Chance Inc. strips it of everything reusable.
Second Chance Inc. is a nonprofit corporation that deconstructs buildings, salvages usable materials, including wood, doors, windows, ironwork, kitchen appliances and bathroom fixtures, and resells them from its 200,000-square-foot warehouse in Baltimore, Md.
With profits from the sales, Second Chance provides job training in the Baltimore region for individuals with employment obstacles, including those with criminal records.
"Our goal is to get them prepared for the work force," said Chris O'Brien, a deconstruction program manager.
 | Photo by Robert A. Martin
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Barry and Holly Clark purchased 1504 Winchester St. in February with the intention of demolishing the existing house and building a new one on the 10,000-square-foot lot.... With many downtown houses running on the expensive end and open lots hard to come by, the Clarks decided that demolition and building from scratch was the answer....
The Clarks decided to bring in the crew from Second Chance under the recommendation of their builder, Allen West, president of Westbrooke Homes.
West pointed out the good work the corporation does.
In addition to providing training and jobs for crews, their work reduces the amount of waste going into landfills and allows the property owner to take a tax deduction on the value of the materials being salvaged.
So far this year, Second Chance has put people to work for 110,148 hours, saved consumers $2,349,556, and diverted 8,076,716 pounds of waste from landfills, according to the corporation's website....
Please call us (410-385-1700) to learn more about the multiple benefits of donating your home to us for deconstruction rather than merely demolishing it and dumping it in the landfill. Three full-time staff are poised to introduce you to how deconstruction is truly a win-win-win proposition!
-Your Second Chance Team
P.S. For more on deconstruction, catch our seminar at 4 p.m. at the MD Home & Garden Show October 18th. See the ad to your right.
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