How to love our planet with the Habitat ReStore
More and more of us are wondering how we can use our power to make positive changes in our community, like supporting local businesses and sharing resources with our neighbors.
When the world asks more of us, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. From the foods we eat, the clothes we wear, and how we get around, there are so many choices to make. On Earth Day, you might find yourself asking what more you can do to help build a better world for us all to call home.
Loving our planet with the ReStore and local thrift shops
Choosing secondhand first helps reduce your carbon footprint through decreasing production resources and transportation emissions required for new items.
Extend the life of our local landfills, keep waterways cleaner, and make room for what matters.
Repairing and up-cycling gets you in touch with your creative side, helping you to rest up to solve bigger problems (like climate change and affordable housing 😉).
Choosing secondhand first is an easy action you can take for our planet. With local landfills slated to reach capacity within the next five years, and with global waste increasing exponentially, our daily behaviors and habits related to what we throw away, what we reuse, and what we choose to purchase all become vital to the planet’s sustainability as a whole. Every year, your ReStore donations and purchases keep millions of pounds of usable goods out of our local landfills. (Check out our annual reporting here.)
Locally, ReStore sales have supported the construction of more than 130 homes and have helped thousands of households afford quality, second-hand home improvement materials and furnishings. When you choose second-hand first, you prioritize the health of our planet over the wealth of a few corporations.
Many of our local secondhand stores are run by nonprofits to raise money for missions and work that support our neighbors and make our community a better place for everyone to call home. Luckily for us here in the Capital District, there are many thrift and secondhand stores for you to shop — some are online now for you to support and others will need your support now more than ever once businesses reopen.
The Habitat ReStore in the Capital District has an online store for you to shop now and pick up when the we reopen. Browse select inventory with new items added weekly!
A new kind of economy for people and planet
As we move forward into a time of great upheaval—from both the Covid-19 outbreak and the worsening global climate crisis— the ReStore serves as a model for a new economy driven by caring for people and our planet. As we stay at home in order to save lives, we know with certainty that a decent and affordable home has never been more important. As we wrestle with self-distancing and isolation, supporting and creating community has never been more meaningful.
Donors often give us special items from family members who are downsizing, moving into assisted living or who have passed away. These donations are more than just items to be resold; they are memories and legacies. By donating gently used or new items to the ReStore, you extend their useful life in someone else’s loving home. The ReStore also donates surplus merchandise to other local agencies or families in need, including victims of devastating fires or domestic violence, which provides people a hand up in rebuilding their lives after tragedy strikes.
One final piece of the puzzle—and one that often stitches all of this together—is the role of the volunteer at the ReStore. ReStore volunteers support our staff in running daily operations and they are an invaluable thread weaving together staff, customers, donors and the community at large. By giving freely of their time in service of Habitat for Humanity, volunteers become important ambassadors for both the ReStore and our shared vision of community where everyone has a decent place to live. Volunteers are the key to widening and deepening the sense of community that is at the heart of Habitat for Humanity’s mission.
As the economy fluctuates unpredictably, spending our money wisely in ways that support small businesses and local economies of scale has never been more crucial. And as the world struggles under the weight of a disposable consumer mindset, our purchasing habits and our resourcefulness have never had more impact.