SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A new, cheaper source of lumber and building goods is now open in town and all revenue from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore will go back into the charitable organization.

Tamlin Gilbert, manager of Habitat for Humanity's ReStore location near the city landfill, inside the newly opened location offering construction material for sale to support the charity that builds homes. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo

"The ReStore is kind of a community opportunity, it's set up to raise funds to help the Habitat for Humanity which is mandated to build buildings or construct houses for people of limited means," said store manager Tamlin Gilbert.

"The shops are there to take new and gently used items and then find them new homes."

Prices at the ReStore are set by a board structure, starting at 50 per cent of the retail price for brand new items, followed by a sliding scale for all other items depending on their condition.

The store opened at the beginning of the month next to the gate at the city's solid waste facility and Gilbert said word is getting around.

"We get a lot of people coming in interested in doing remodelling or people building cabins, people looking for lumber for their garden projects or paint for decks," said Gilbert.

Often, he said people are looking for items they can't find anywhere else - including the popular salvage area and scrap pile at the dump.

"I think the scrap pile has its place. I'm a frequent user of the scrap pile myself. The advantage of this is we can store the materials without them getting weathered or damaged for a longer period of time," he said. "Unless you luck out and find the right thing at the right time at the dump which is always great, we kind of make that process a lot easier."

Funding to get the store up and running came from Habitat for Humanity but the goal is to see it become self-sustaining and a contributor to the organization, Gilbert said.

Seeing a void in terms of options for recycling construction materials and getting those goods into the hands of people who need them, Wendy Bisaro, Habitat for Humanity NWT board member, said the ReStore was both fitting for the community and a good project for the organization.

"We were aware of ReStore facilities all across the country and ... we weren't quite ready to build a house again after the first build - it took a lot out of us and the community, and it is a a fantastic end product - but we were looking for something that was a little smaller."

The family moved into the first Habitat for Humanity house in Yellowknife just before Christmas of 2014, but Bisaro said it was a big project with several delays and the majority of funding came from the community through donations of labour and materials.

"The hope is that proceeds from the ReStore will help us in terms of funding our next build," Bisaro said. At the very least, she said they'd like to see the ReStore fund the administrative costs for running the NWT chapter of the organization. In other parts of Canada, where ReStores have been operating for some time and are well-known to the community, she said they have been a successful source of funding.

"We're trying to publicize it a bit more and we're hoping people, when they go to the dump, look left instead of straight ahead and say, 'Oh, look a ReStore,'" said Bisaro.

"We're working with contractors in town and saying if you've got stuff left from a build that you're thinking of taking to the dump, think about us."

As well as contractors, individual donations of building supplies including lumber, cabinets, flooring, tools and some wooden furniture.

A public open house will be held at the ReStore on June 4.

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