SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Last December, Onondaga County officials called Bill Dolan, the volunteer coordinator at Syracuse Habitat for Humanity.
The county had purchased roughly 40 homes in Clay and planned to demolish them to make room for Micron’s new plant, which is expected to begin construction late next year.
The county’s question: would Habitat for Humanity be interested in salvaging materials from some of the homes to resell at the organization’s ReStore on Genesee Street?
Dolan’s answer: Absolutely — Habitat is always looking for donations or additional materials for the store, which sells household items at a fraction of typical retail price, and is the “lifeblood” of the organization.
After several months of waiting, Dolan helped round up 10 groups — over 100 volunteers in total — to harvest windows, doors, cabinets and other furnishings from the homes before construction crews began demolition. They worked through the summer, wrapping up in September. And everything brought back to the store sold almost immediately, helping the organization fund its next home build on Syracuse’s West Side in partnership with a single mother.
“In a lot of cases what we see here is we barely get things off the truck and they’re sold,” Dolan said. “So when we get something good, it’s gone that day.”
Habitat’s vision is a world where everyone has a place to live, said Sarah Bruce, the organization’s executive director. The organization cheaply builds homes for first-time homeowners using primarily volunteers and donated materials, Dolan said.
That’s why Onondaga County’s call was so critical for Habitat for Humanity. It gave them access to a series of items that could resell well in their store and funds that could help others.
Dolan recruited and helped take 10 volunteer groups from various local organizations including Carrier Corporation, National Grid, and local banks and financial institutions up to Burnet Road in Clay. The groups ranged from 5-6 people in a group to 10-12. The materials they salvaged were temporarily kept in an old church nearby that, before its eventual demolition, served as a storage facility. Then, a box truck transported materials to the ReStore.
“The volunteers were incredible. They did excellent work. They came together on short notice because we didn’t have a lot of time in there to do the work, but they came together, a couple of days were brutally hot, but they pushed through, they did a ton of great work,” Bruce said. “They got more done than we could’ve envisioned they would and enabled us to sell even more in the store.”
Habitat’s customer base consists of landlords, homeowners and DIYers who repair their homes. Bruce is unsure how much money the organization generated from items found at the Clay homes, but noted everything sold out within a few weeks after it arrived at the store.
All of those profits went into the Westside home build. The organization just started the project a month ago and plans to work on it through the summer, Dolan said.
The single mother, like all other future homeowners that Habitat works with, had to meet the three criteria the organization sets when it considers applicants for new home builds. They have to earn 60% or less of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s median income based on family size and location; have a need such as living in overcrowded, substandard or overly expensive conditions; and must put down a $1,000 deposit and work 300 hours on their futures house, other houses or in Habitat’s store.
The rewards to homeownership, Bruce said, are significant. Kids can do better in school, and families can build generational wealth.
When Habitat finishes the home on the Westside next year, Bruce will hand over a key to the family moving in. She says days like those are her favorite ones of the year.
“Just to see the smiling faces of the families is incredible, and I hope that in the coming years we’re able to continue to build more so we’re able to help more families,” Bruce said.
