Community Forklift is probably best known for giving a second life to surplus and secondhand building materials, from tile to appliances to windows and lighting. In 2024 alone, nearly 12,000 pieces of furniture were saved from meeting their end in a landfill, and 1,200 appliances were diverted and redistributed to the community for free or at below-market price. These items were just some of the over 225,000 total pieces redistributed through our reuse warehouse in 2024.
Our goal also goes beyond building materials to include the items that make a house a home. Each year, Community Forklift diverts home goods from the landfill, including secondhand books and CDs, and redistributes them to the community both through donations and warehouse sales. Through our reuse nonprofit last year, 2,825 books and 266 CDs were donated via the Community Building Blocks program, while an additional 2,350 media items were sold in the warehouse.
This is getting literature, non-fiction, music, and more into the hands of children and adults across the region, and Community Forklift works most closely on this outreach with a program called Turning the Page. By partnering with schools and parents, Turning the Page works to enrich students’ experience both in academic performance and social-emotional well-being through education and reading.
“In more than a quarter of a century, Turning the Page has created and implemented programs that have had a significant impact for thousands of public-school families. We are excited by what we’ve been able to accomplish and even more excited about what we have planned for the future,” says Jason King, President and CEO.
Turning the Page works across nine public schools, including six elementary schools and three middle schools, in Ward 7 and 8 in Washington, DC. Their goal is to improve public school education, and one of their pillars includes putting books in the hands of kids.
The organization works with parents to determine the best books to spark a lifelong love of reading in individual children. They know that matching children with books that align with their interests is the best way to get them excited about reading, and Turning the Page works one-on-one with parents and families to facilitate at-home learning and reading strategies.
Community Forklift supports Turning the Page with used books through our Community Building Blocks program, which supplies nonprofits and community groups with grants of free materials. The most recent donation of 1,365 books in August was the largest single delivery to date! These books have already brought so much joy to their previous owners, and now they’ll continue to bring magic to the lives of students who are still early in discovering their love of reading.
“Thank you for your very generous contribution of used books in support of our work engaging parents in public schools,” Jason said. “We truly appreciate your support.”
Learn more about Turning the Page, and find out about upcoming Carpe Librum used book sale pop-up events, which raise money for the organization’s educational initiatives. Both shopping and donating support their work.
In addition to providing free books, Community Forklift also processes and redistributes books (and many more items) by selling on eBay. Find the current listings here. Your next great treasure might be just a few clicks away!
“In more than a quarter of a century, Turning the Page has created and implemented programs that have had a significant impact for thousands of public-school families. We are excited by what we’ve been able to accomplish and even more excited about what we have planned for the future.”
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.
