Dear Friends,
Last month we sat at home feeling helpless as the Sandy waters rose, knowing our newest reuse center in Gowanus was at serious risk. We had put up flood barriers and sandbags four feet tall, and moved material. Unfortunately the flood surge would end up over five feet high inside the store, smashing open the walls from our neighbor's side.
The next day I crawled in through a second story window (the doors were blocked with debris) and saw the damage first hand:
our store was totally devastated. We lost 80% of our inventory, plus our computers, tools and, worst of all, one of our only two trucks. The total loss including the three weeks we spend cleaning and rebuilding will be close to $300,000.
BIG!NYC had over a hundred amazing volunteers come out to help us clean everything and set our center back up. It was such an amazing outpouring of support that I had to ask Vinnie to thank the volunteers because I kept getting choked up.
We were depending on our extensive insurance policy to cover our losses, but recently found out that it will only cover half the loss because of a flood rider. Now we are close to $150,000 in the hole--a serious and debilitating loss. I've never asked for monetary donations before, proud as I am of our sustainable business model. We work hard to keep our not-for-profit business running from revenue generated from our reuse centers. But now I have no choice but to come to you, hat in hand. We need money.
Consider the community service we provide. Just in the last calendar year, we have diverted about 1,200 tons of waste while saving New Yorkers over $1,000,000. That's almost four tons a day! To give you an example, in 2012, our Astoria center has kept the following out of the landfill:
- 1,383 doors
- 1,503 lighting fixtures
- 3,146 pieces of furniture
- 532 windows
- 162 toilets
- 37,000 feet of old scaffolding lumber
In addition to the environmental benefits we provide, consider the community and economic help. We provided thousands of hours of job training this year and we've doubled our staff size to twenty-five full time jobs: we are creating the actual green jobs that people are always talking about.
With our BIG!Gives Back program, we have given more than $25,000 worth of materials this year to over 80 different non-profit groups, including environmental conservancies, libraries, foundations, parks, churches, schools, gardens, artists, boy scout groups--the list goes on. Through our BIG!Blooms program, we donated lumber to build 1,000 raised garden beds in NYC-- we supplied 300 different neighborhood and school gardens with scaffolding boards worth over $40,000. Our BIG!Compost program doubled in size this year, diverting 150,000 lbs of organic waste, distributing 40,000 lbs to community groups, and accepting food scrap drop offs from 7,000 Queens households.
We know there are numerous organizations in need after Hurricane Sandy but we know that BIG!NYC customers and donors specifically support our mission and want to see us keep growing. Have you saved a lot of money by shopping at Build it Green!NYC? Did you receive a tax write off when you donated to us? Do you work for a non-profit that received free materials from us? Think about the service that we provide to you and to New York City. Can you make a tax-deductible donation to help us recover from Sandy today?
In 2013, we are determined to keep developing New York City's green economy with your help. We have plans for DIY classes in the Gowanus center, a wood mill at Astoria, and expanded compost programs. But in the aftermath of Sandy, we need your help to keep Build It Green!NYC on track.
Please consider a year end donation.With sincere gratitude,
Justin Green
Founder & Director
