ReStore Road Trip
Burlington, Ontario
Find: The right building blocks for a room renovation
On a mission to maximize space in his laundry room, Jay Warburton often visited his local Habitat Halton ReStore in Burlington. A stackable washer-dryer unit, four cabinets, a stainless-steel sink, countertop and a shiny new coat of paint later, Warburton had transformed his laundry room from cramped and dull to efficient and bright.
After finishing the project, Warburton submitted before-and-after photos to Habitat Halton’s inaugural “ReStore’d Photo Contest,” and he won. Now’s he’s got a gift certificate to use for his next undertaking: renovating his basement.
“I have saved hundreds of dollars by purchasing my materials here,” Warburton told local media during his award ceremony at the ReStore. “The stainless-steel sink alone for my laundry room was a $250 savings.”
Saint John, New Brunswick
Fact: Habitat ReStores rely on the generosity of donors who bring in new and gently used items.
A large home-improvement company might have surplus supplies. The couple down the street could be remodeling their kitchen. And sometimes a 147-year-old chapel and Catholic convent might be scheduled for demolition.
That was the case this January in Saint John, where Saint Vincent Chapel and Motherhouse Convent were deemed not up to code. The Sisters living there decided to move instead of gutting the building and paying for repairs. Before the bulldozers arrived, the Sisters invited dozens of volunteers from Habitat Saint John Region’s Deconstruction Crew to salvage items that could be resold at their local ReStore, including pews, antique light fixtures and wooden doors.
Photo by Steffan Hacker
West Norriton, Pennsylvania
Find: Twenty-five thousand shovels, rakes, hoes and other lawn tools
The donor was Ames True Temper, a lawn-and-garden-tools manufacturer based in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Six Habitat affiliates in Pennsylvania and New Jersey received the goods, including Habitat Montgomery County in West Norriton. Each affiliate made most of the items available for purchase in their ReStores and used the remaining tools in post-disaster construction efforts after record-level flooding caused by Hurricane Irene in 2011. The total value of the gifted items exceeded $620,000.
