Once upon a holiday season:
On one side of a leafy Portland street, a family’s washing machine just broke. They also have a leaky faucet, an aging and inefficient dishwasher, a door with a big dent, and old, particle board cabinets that are falling apart. They cannot afford to fix all of this stuff, and on top of all of the stress of the holiday season they feel stressed about the condition of their home.
Down the block, their neighbor is an avid gardener who wants a greenhouse in his backyard, to keep his plants warm all through the chilly winter, but can’t afford to buy one. He has seen pictures of cool DIY greenhouses made out of reclaimed windows, but he doesn’t know where to buy them or how to build with them.
On the other side of the street, a home remodeling contractor is renovating another family’s home. The renovation includes new appliances, new cabinets, new windows, and new exterior doors. This family has some financial resources, so they are replacing appliances, cabinets, and doors that are still fairly new and in good condition. This family loves to give back to their community, participating in food and toy drives, but they don’t know what to do with those items, so their contractor puts them in the huge dumpster outside.
These stories are playing out all across the city, in all of our neighborhoods, all the time. It’s why our work at the ReBuilding Center is so important!
At the ReBuilding Center, we work to connect all three of these people in a beautiful web of low-cost, community-based reuse. We make it possible for neighbors to help neighbors by accepting more than 2 million pounds of used materials like these every year, and making them available to people who need them.
And yet there is still so much stuff that ends up in the landfill because many new Portlanders do not know about our work. They don’t know that we will pick up their materials for free and make them affordable for their neighbors who are replacing critical items or building something that will give them great joy. They don’t know that we offer classes to teach people how to fix their leaky faucets and the holes in their drywall, or how to build something awesome out of reclaimed wood and windows.
By making a gift to the ReBuilding Center this December, you can help us grow our community and spread the word!
Your gift will support our growth and strengthen our ability to reach these new neighbors, so they can join you in supporting our community, empowering homeowners, artists, and DIYers to do more with less money and far less waste.