DIY enthusiasts know Community Forklift for its low-cost furniture, surplus building materials, and its continuous rotation of vintage houseparts. But our reuse nonprofit’s role in making sure that used and excess materials make their way back into the community goes deeper than providing a place for customers to shop for their next great find. Community Forklift’s reuse warehouse store also serves as a resource for those in the community who are in need of home essentials but can’t afford to pay retail price.
Here’s how one homeowner found their way to Community Forklift while perusing the internet for home inspiration, and ended up with a life-changing new purchase.
The Right Price on a Long-Awaited Update
A Maryland homeowner opened up a story from a Martha Stewart email newsletter expecting to learn a few tips about architectural salvage. A link for one of the sources interviewed in the story led them to Community Forklift, which they realized was close by in Hyattsville.
Living in an inherited house in need of updates, the homeowner searched the Community Forklift website and online marketplace to see what might be available. One of the first items they came across was a GE Profile 30” double built-in oven for just $124. The homeowner had gone nearly half a decade without a working oven, cooking meals in a pressure cooker or toaster oven, and the salvage oven felt like it was placed there just for them.
“I spotted the oven and the price, and I knew it was exactly what we needed […] but for a small fraction of the new price,” says the homeowner, who bought the oven online right away.
This new-to-them oven saved the homeowner thousands of dollars, and they were able to make the trip to pick it up just a few days later. “The community associates were so nice and so very helpful. We couldn’t have loaded the oven ourselves, but that was never even an option. Your crew is the best,” says the homeowner.
Once they got the oven home, they installed and cleaned it, then ordered a few additional parts and pieces to fit the oven to the kitchen. Between the additional parts and an update to their electric system to install the oven correctly, they spent less than $200, plus the $124 for the oven. That’s compared to $3,000 for the same oven, currently at Lowe’s.
Grateful for their new kitchen update, the homeowner reminisces on their first holiday with the new oven, “Thanksgiving wouldn’t have been possible if we hadn’t found it as we had no working oven other than a toaster oven. I’m looking forward to cooking more healthy meals and making so many things we just were not able to before!”
Make a Direct Impact Through Community Forklift
Whether you’re a homeowner eager to update your home on a budget or you have surplus materials or items to donate, Community Forklift’s reuse warehouse welcomes you. You can find a list of regularly needed donations on the website, as well as hours to visit the reuse warehouse for drop-offs or to shop.
“Thanksgiving wouldn’t have been possible if we hadn’t found it, as we had no working oven other than a toaster oven. I’m looking forward to cooking more healthy meals and making so many things we just were not able to before!”
Every time you donate or shop at Community Forklift, you’re helping us lift up local communities through reuse. We turn the construction waste stream into a resource stream for communities in the DC region – by keeping perfectly good items out of the landfill, preserving historical materials, providing low-cost building supplies, and creating local green jobs.
