Community Forklift’s Community Building Blocks Program provides free salvaged materials to nonprofits for projects benefiting the community. One of these nonprofits, Hyattsville Mennonite Church (HMC), repurposed free items from our reuse warehouse to create displays for its annual “Ten Thousand Villages Craft Market & Bake Sale” community event.
HMC staff and committee members used lightweight and salvaged materials to build their displays. “We used various shutters to create display pieces for jewelry, scarves, and other hanging items; we also were able to finally have a good mirror set up that also came from Community Forklift…” shared Jake, who is the Administrative Assistant at HMC. “Finally, we also used a couple of nightstands to create more display height on tables, which worked really well for various food items.”
The community event was a huge success and according to Jake had one of the best sales ever. “Over $12,000 was brought in for Ten Thousand Villages, which helps artisans around the world earn fair wages; around $1,100 was raised through the bake sale, which will go to support the work of the PG Plaza Day Center at University Christian Church on [6800] Adelphi Rd. in Hyattsville.”
The PG Plaza Day Center is a safe space for homeless neighbors and anyone in need. The Day Center offers meals, toiletries, socks, t-shirts, underwear, shower and laundry services, social services support, legal services, and spiritual support. The Day Center is managed by a group of churches who make up the nonprofit organization called Congregations United for Compassion and Empowerment (CUCE). HMC is one of the participating organizations in the CUCE that work together to serve the homeless and those in economic need in the Prince George’s County Hyattsville area.
If you are interested in learning more about CUCE and the PG Plaza Day Center, please visit Congregationsunited.org. If you know of any nonprofit organizations who could benefit from free salvaged materials, visit our website for more information about the program.
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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.
