Habitat ReStore News

We're excited about the second year run of the ReStore Art Show and Silent Auction, to benefit the ReStore. Get all the details at www.restoredane.org/artshow.cfm.

Announcing our raffle drawing winners...

Winner of the doll house: Lynn Martin Erickson
Winner of the Plan City: Alex Hansen
Winner of the Brown Picture Quilt: Donna Burgette
Winner of the Confetti Quilt: Donna Winter
Winner of the Flannel Quilt: Unnamed Gentleman

Here is a thought about winter. While winter is great for many things, it is actually the most conducive time for Organizing Your Home, way, way better than trying to do these things in the summer for obvious reasons.

Anyway, while you are organizing, what better time than to stop over to Habitat for Humanity ReStore with your building material extras, or shop here for those shelves to organize stuff you actually need.

Here is an excerpt from Reduce Stress with Simple Surroundings By Elizabeth Scott, M.S.:

• Set a Schedule: I recommend that you set a schedule for tackling these areas of your home in a timeframe that you can handle. Whether you spend 15 minutes a day, a few hours on the weekend, or some other time configuration, take into account whether you get bored easily with cleaning or if you enjoy working in a focused, prolonged manner.
• Enlist the Help of Your Family: If your home is quite messy, chances are the mess isn’t all yours. This means you probably have people whose help you can enlist to tackle this job! If you have kids, even small children, you can get them to help you. Here are some tips for getting help from family members (or roommates) with minimal conflict, from Sarah Aguirre.
• Make It Fun: If you’re cleaning, I highly recommend throwing on some lively music to make it as fun as possible. See how much you can get done with each song, and you may find yourself working faster and having more fun as you do.
• Reward Yourself: Once you get an area completed (and I recommend that you finish one area before moving on to the next, as you get more of a sense of accomplishment that way), give yourself a reward! Take a soothing bath, go out and play, or relax in the area you just made beautiful. Whatever you do, pat yourself on the back for a job well-done.
• Hire Help: If, after taking an honest look at the job to be done and your situation’s limitations, the task of organizing, cleaning and decorating seems like too much for you to do on your own, consider hiring someone to help you with some or all of the job. A professional cleaning service, a gardener, a professional organizer, a decorator or other professional might be just what you need. If you have the means, you might want to explore this option; the initial money you invest may be offset or surpassed by what you’ll save in time, money and stress by having a more orderly home. Getting things in order will make you feel great.

Please stop by our Habitat ReStore booth at these home building trade shows coming up:

• Home Expo Jan. 8-10 Monona Terrace
• NARI Show Jan.15-17 Marriott West
• MABA Show March 5-7 Alliant Energy Center

To help serve our customers even better, the Habitat ReStore is conducting a five-question customer survey. We would greatly appreciate you taking a moment to respond at Survey Monkey. Thank you in advance for your time.

Support the Habitat ReStore and do your holiday shopping at the same time!

The Habitat ReStore is sponsoring a raffle of items donated by local folks in support of the store and the work of Habitat for Humanity in Dane County.

A handcrafted doll house, built by Jeff Pitel, a local craftsman, was created entirely from scratch - even using material from the ReStore! Ready to decorate, the house is 5 feet wide and 4 feet tall. It is open at the back for easy access and will be a treasure for the lucky winner!

Deb Harvey, has generously donated a "Plan City" for those folks who love to build roadways and bridges. This wooden play set has lots of tracks, trees, cars and even its own building with a revolving door! If the winner has half as much fun as we did setting it up, it will be a big hit when you bring it home!

Longtime Habitat ReStore volunteer Peg O'Donnell, an accomplished quilter, gave us not one, but three beautiful quilts for our raffle. Each quilt was designed and hand sewn by Peg. You can cozy up by the fire in a warm flannel quilt, snuggle up with a good book under her lively confetti quilt, or take a nice snooze under her brown and bronze picture quilt.

Pictures don't do justice to these wonderful prizes - so be sure stop in and look them over!

Tickets for the raffle are $2 each or 3 for $5, and will be available at the Habitat ReStore through December 16 until 5 pm - the time of the drawing. You do not need to be present to win, but we'd love to have you join us for the excitement!

The ReStore is part of the Green Online Holiday Auction, through Monday, Dec. 7 at 9pm CST.

Join the fun! Visit the website.

Again this year the PLANET ARK come up, from down under, with some innovative and fun, fun ideas for RECYCLING WEEK in November. Geez-just take a look at their web site @ www.recyclingweek.planetark.org. Be sure to check out the “swap party guide VIDEO. Scroll down their menu and find a kids and teachers tab among many other worthwhile topics. As the Aussies say “National Recycling week provides us all with an opportunity to move towards avoiding waste through building on our daily habits to avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle at home, at work and in the community.”

For an extensive Recycling Guide for Madison, go to www.co.dane.wi.us and click on the recycle icon just a little to the left of Kathleen Falk’s smiling face.

Thanks to all who particpated in the Habitat ReStore Salvage Art Auction! $5375 was raised from the sale of the art pieces. Thanks to all of the artists, the gallery owners, our dedicated volunteers, and the buyers for making this art show a beautiful success! Please keep an eye out for news about our next Salvage ArtShow to be held at the State Street Gallery in Madison next October!

Pick up some hardwood flooring for your project at the Habitat ReStore.

Hundreds of sq.ft. of oak and maple from $1.00-$1.50 sq.ft.

208 Cottage Grove Road Wed-Sat 10-6 608-661-2813

From noon until 4 p.m. 208 Cottage Grove Rd. Madison, WI 53716.

Download the poster. (PDF)

Jewelry, wall art décor and folk artwork are just a small selection of the creative work that were part of the Habitat ReStore Art Show and Auction at the Artisan Gallery in Paoli, WI. The Art Auction raised close to $5,000 for Habitat for Humanity of Dane County. The show started Aug. 7 and ran through Sept. 13. The opening night reception was held Friday, Aug. 7 from 5 to 9 p.m.

The art pieces were sold by silent auction, with the proceeds benefiting Habitat for Humanity of Dane County. All art pieces had a salvage component (such as a found object, construction material or something from the ReStore). Sixty applications were received and 27 artists were chosen for the show. There were 47 pieces of artwork in the auction.

The silent auction ran from Aug. 7 to Sept. 13. Artwork can still be viewed at the Habitat ReStore web site at www.restoredane.org. A big THANK YOU to all the artists and volunteers who participated, and the donated space from the Artisan Gallery in Paoli.

The Habitat ReStore is located at 208 Cottage Grove Road, Madison.

More information about the Habitat ReStore Art Show...

Exhibition Hall at the Alliant Energy Center

5:30 p.m. - Cocktail Reception and Raffle
6:45 p.m. - Dinner followed by program and Live Auction
$75 per person ($40 tax deductible)
Cash Bar

Live auction of a one-week stay in a private Maui mountain retreat.
Fabulous raffle with prizes valued at over $10,000
Raffle ticket prices: $10 each; 3 for $25; 7 for $50

Come support HFHDC at the Mallards game on Sunday, July 12, 6:05 p.m. The Mallards play the Battle Creek Bombers. Tickets are $6, with $2 going directly to HFHDC. Click here to purchase your tickets for the game. Our group password is: habitat

We invite you to participate in an art show that will benefit Habitat for Humanity of Dane County. All art pieces will have a salvage component (such as a found object, construction material, or something from the ReStore).

More information here.

Habitat ReStore once again had a great Earth Day Celebration on April 18th. Hope you were here with us. We want to give a hearty thank you to our exhibitors, our food donors and Round The Bend for some very fine, toe tapping bluegrass entertainment. Another special thank you to our Mother Earth and Clare the car for adding spunk to our celebration!

Our exhibitors included: Artisan Exteriors, Blair Landscape, Bicycle Federation of WI, Full Spectrum Solar, MPower Campaign, PrairieFire BioFuels Coop, Focus on Energy, Isthmus Green Day, Design Coalition, Wildwood Institute of Herbal Medicine, Sustainable Times, City of Madison, Willy Street Coop, Growing Power w/worm composters, Natural Step Group-Monona, Nelson Institute, Olbrich Garden, Welz Farm, Dick Horan- lead abatement, Blue Heron Natural Builders, MG&E, a neighborhood electric vehicle, and Sustain Dane offering Rain Barrels complete with water conservation kits.

New this year was a kids adventure table complete with fun-to-do earth friendly activities.

Learn more about Earth Day at www.wikipedia.com

Now that summer is more than a gleam in our eyes, we can think about the Midwest Renewable Energy Association fair and perhaps get it on our calendars now. Find out more @ www.the-mrea.org 715-592-6595.

Plants on sale at Habitat ReStore May 6-8, 10a.m.-6.pm.

Noon to 4 p.m., Habitat ReStore, 208 Cottage Grove Rd., Madison, WI. Eighth annual Earth Day celebration featuring earth-friendly exhibition booths providing information on green building, sustainable living and other recycling/reuse options and of course Mother Earth!!!!

Exhibitors include: Artisan Exteriors, Blair Landscape, Bicycle Federation of WI, Full Spectrum Solar, MPower Campaign, PrairieFire BioFuels Coop, Focus on Energy, Isthmus Green Day, Design Coalition, Wildwood Institute of Herbal Medicine, Sustainable Times, City of Madison, Willy Street Coop, Growing Power w/worm composters, Natural Step Group-Monona, Nelson Institute, Olbrich Garden, Green Jeans Insulation, Welz Farm, Dick Horan- lead abatement, Blue Heron Natural Builders, MG&E, a neighborhood electric vehicle, Sustain Dane Rain Barrels and water conservation kits and much more!

Open to the public, no fee, free refreshments, and live music with Round the Bend!

Isthmus Green Day is a half expo, half eco-celebration designed to help people in our community – no matter what their circumstances – become a little greener and to have fun doing it!

The second annual event will take place on Saturday, April 25, 2009 at Monona Terrace Community and Convention center in downtown Madison. There will be approximately 130 booths, informative and fun presentations from people you want to see, live music, all day playtime for all ages, entertainment, food and drink sampling, cooking demonstrations, T’ai Chi demonstrations, massages and more! Tickets are $5.

Customers are willing to make an investment in energy efficiency and green building practices. Are you? If you answer "yes," then invest your time at the Better Buildings: Better Business Conference and reap big dividends.

In two short days you will learn:

• how to build homes that deliver the energy savings customers want
• about renewable energy technologies that reduce energy costs
• how energy efficiency and green building practices keep you competitive.

www.ecw.org/betterbuildings

Wish the staff at ReStore bon voyage as we head over to Appleton for a Wisconsin ReStore Conference in March. Did you know Wisconsin now has 11 ReStores? To find out just where they are go to www.habitat.org, click on Support Habitat, click on Habitat ReStores, click on U.S. ReStores, click on Wisconsin or any other of the 48 states with ReStores. Very interesting…

If you are looking for inspiration, take time the weekend of March 6-8 to attend Madison Area Builders Association’s Home Products Show. Wow, talk about the gamut in home remodeling, you definitely have it here. For more details go to www.maba.org, and click on Home Products Show. Be sure to visit the Habitat for Humanity of Dane County booth as well for all the Habitat news of both the affiliate and ReStore.

With March 11 being National Worship of Tools Day, maybe a stop over at ReStore to stock up on supplies for your project list is in order. We have an amazing inventory of general hardware at this time and a special sale on 50% off tile March 11-14

Talk about going green…with Daylight Saving Time beginning on March 8th, it is already time to turn the clocks ahead. Spring anyone?

We are looking for carpenter volunteers to build sets for Stage Q and Mercury Theater productions.

For more information call Chris at 608-658-9251.

This month we want to stop and thank all of our many volunteers!

Look for the Habitat ReStore at these trade shows coming up:

• Home Expo Jan. 9-11 Monona Terrace
• NARI Show Jan.16-18 Marriott West
• MABA Show March 6-8 Alliant Energy Center

Come celebrate The Green Scene on Cottage Grove Rd. It's good for the wallet and good for the planet. There will be music, snacks, and specials from 1-3pm on December 13. Three non-profit organizations will be offering great deals on clothing, books, building materials, and more!

• Bethesda House of Thrift
  201 Cottage Grove Road
• Pinney Branch Library
  204 Cottage Grove Road
• Habitat for Humanity ReStore
  208 Cottage Grove Road

Remember Dane Buy Local merchants as you gear up for the Holiday season. Give a gift that cannot go wrong while supporting local businesses. The danebuylocal.com website will provide ideas for most any need you may have. Dane Buy Local is a coalition of locally owned and independent businesses, community groups, and citizens working together to support a healthy community economy. Money spent at a locally owned business circulates within that community many times over, and that is a good thing.

Ready or not here we go into November. And what comes to mind first??

National Recycling Week, right? Well, maybe not but November 10-16 is National Recycling Week. (NRW) When I googled NRW it was interesting to me to find Australia’s Planet Ark site boasting the creation of NRW. Surf for yourself and get some new ideas or feel more worldly. Hey, it could make for some sparky dinner conversation and maybe some new recycling angles-always a good thing. www.planetark.com

Remember to shop Habitat for Humanity Restore for all your do it yourself projects to get your home ready for winter and Holiday entertaining. Enjoy.

Thanks to All of You Incredible Volunteers

With your power, beauty and dedication,
not to mention sweat,
we have pulled 7 years off at our
Habitat ReStore with style and grace!!!!

With your generous assistance we are celebrating our 7th Anniversary having raised close to 4 million dollars and saved over 4500 tons from the landfill.

Hip Hip Hooray
Many, many Thanks to all of you volunteers. These 7 years could nothave happened without you!!!

Habitat ReStore Staff

October 4 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Rain Date October 5 @11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Help save the environment and support a worthy cause all at one event!

Avant Gardening & Landscaping is hosting a Sustainable Living Day to benefit Kidlinks World, Inc. on Saturday October 4th from 11am until 6pm.  Representatives from The Habitat Restore, Sustain Dane, Prairiefire Biofuels, Community GroundWorks at Troy Gardens, West Star Farm, South Side Farmer’s Markets, and others will be on hand to discuss hands-on, practical ways to change living habits. The event will include seminars and hands-on workshops on Building a Backyard Wetland, Urban Organic Vegetable Production, Vermiculture & Composting, and Native Plantings in Urban Landscapes. The day will also include music, featuring Dear August and Ken Lonnquist, African drumming and dancing, food, hay rides, pumpkin carving, face painting, and more…  Plants and overstock landscaping materials will also be on sale.

Admission is $10/adults and $15/family and includes the workshops, seminars, and food!  Kids are FREE.  The event will be held at 3055 Siggelkow Road in McFarland, located 1/4 mile east of Cty Hwy AB.  Look for the big red mailbox at the end of the driveway.

The proceeds raised at this event will benefit Kidlinks World, Inc. which is a 501(c)3, non-profit organization that is based in Madison and is 100% volunteer-run and donor-funded.

To learn more about the Sustainable Living Day, get directions, and see the schedule of events visit www.avantgardening.com

Greetings Everyone,

First of all, thanks for stopping in to help celebrate Habitat for Humanity Restore’s 7th Anniversary. Aw geez, we sure enjoyed ourselves. How about that Birthday cake from Carl’s Cakes? Really good…right?

Wisconsin and Minnesota Habitat for Humanity Restores are having a regional conference in October to discuss and share strategies. Habitat for Humanity Restores are springing up all over. For example, Wisconsin can boast over 10 ReStores while Minnesota has over 7, and that is today’s count. The interest and growth of Habitat for Humanity Restores is fantastic and to see for yourself, just check it out at www.habitat.org/env/restores .

Please continue to shop and donate Habitat for Humanity Restore. We will always have a great deal with monthly specials to boot.

Habitat Restore is proud to announce the arrival of the 1st Annual Greater Madison MeGoGreen Savings Guide to our location at 208 Cottage Grove Road. This guide is a must-have for all that want to live more personally healthy and environmentally friendly. Full of informational spreads on local green initiatives, the Greater Madison MeGoGreen Guide provides consumers 122 discount coupons for qualified green products and services from 85 different, local businesses. Habitat Restore has two coupons in the guide. One fore 1/2 off a sink, and the other for 1/2 off a light.

Fundraising - The Greater Madison MeGoGreen Guide was produced as an alternative fundraising option. If you are a school or nonprofit looking for a healthy and profitable fundraiser, contact Mark at MeGoGreen (cell – 608.444.9378, email – mark@megogreen.com). Guides are sold for $20, and the fundraising group earns $10 from each sale.

Habitat ReStore – Greater Madison MeGoGreen Guides can be located at our store at 208 Cottage Grove Road. You can also purchase them online at www.MeGoGreen.com. Use fundraising code HABRES08 when purchasing.

Guide. Provide. Inspire.

One simple motto. One world of difference.

Consider yourself and your family invited to the Habitat for Humanity Restore’s Seventh Anniversary Celebration. Come join us, as we all have many reasons to celebrate! Donors, Customers, Volunteers and Staff all play important roles here. Through everyone’s efforts, Habitat ReStore has diverted more than 4380 tons of materials from Dane County landfills. (How many elephants do you suppose 4380 tons represent?) Most materials donated are sold to the general public at greatly reduced prices while a few are used in Habitat homes. In these 7 years, the funds generated at Habitat ReStore have funded 19 Dane County Habitat for Humanity homes, which are built with qualifying, low-income families. WOW, isn’t that just great? Come in for Birthday Cake and musical entertainment on Saturday, September 20, from noon to 4 p.m.

Habitat ReStore is happy to be a part of two other excellent events in September that just happen to fall on the same weekend as our Birthday Party. Everyone knows of the fun to be had at the Willy Street Fair, while foodies will want to take in the Food For Thought Festival, www.reapfoodgroup.org/foodforthought. See you there.

And as always, stop in to the store often to donate and check out our sale events. Let’s keep up the good work of building Habitat for Humanity of Dane County homes!

Please, help spread the word about Habitat ReStore. Thank You.

Summer is finding us busy around here and we are happy about that. Keep those donations coming in, and keep yourself coming in to shop as well. We will have sale items periodically every month.

We are looking forward to our volunteer and staff summer potluck picnic in August. This is always a really fun group to get together and the food is fantastic! Our volunteers sure know how to cook it all up for a picnic.

The Habitat ReStore staff is also looking forward to a day on a Habitat For Humanity of Dane County (HFHDC) building site, where we will be swinging hammers and paint brushes together with the HFHDC staff. This is an extremely satisfying day for us to be at a Habitat home and actually see it go up around us. It’s great to spend the day working side by side with the affiliate staff and get some "team building" done with them as well.

Looking ahead... Habitat ReStore will be celebrating its 7th Anniversary in September. WOW, now that is something to celebrate! Watch for more details to follow.

For now, let’s enjoy summer while we can.

Madison Habitat ReStore Staff were very excited about having the opportunity to promote the network of Wisconsin ReStores, with a power point presentation, at the 19th annual Midwest Renewable Energy Association (mrea) Fair, June 20-22, at Custer WI. www.the-mrea.org 715-592-6595

Since it’s inception in 1990, the Energy Fair has shown over 190,000 fair goers how to change the world while having fun. What could be better?

Sound good? This is more than good, it is a great fair with three full days of 200+ workshops, 270+ exhibits, and some topnotch keynote speakers. The keynote speaker for Sunday was Torbjorn Lahti, eco-municipality expert and Author of The Natural Step. Thursday's keynote was Jim Hightower, national commentator and author. Friday's keynote speaker was Jason Walsh, with Green Jobs for All.

Also included in the festivities were kids activities, entertainment every day and three incredible breakfast opportunities... breakfast will never, ever be the same.

Friday offers Pancakes for Peace…a fundraiser for Network for Peace and Justice.

Saturday treats you to a breakfast hosted by the fine folks of Organic Valley, a fundraiser for MREA

And what a way to go….On Sunday, enjoy a Polka Breakfast! Music will be by Norm Dombrowski & the Happy Notes. What could be more fun?

The Midwest Renewable Energy Association invites you to the largest and longest running energy education event in the world!

Unique in many ways, the Energy Fair offers an educational opportunity second to none.
Make time this year to visit The Energy Fair.

The Seventh Habitat ReStore Earth Day was a fantastic success, ranging from the unexpected beautiful day to the 500+ people who stopped in!

Over 25 exhibitors showed off their wares to an enthusiastic audience and 40 artists created and donated some wonderful art for our silent auction. The art included a complete "night out" outfit, a purse (made out of a carpet square), a fine jacket and neck piece (made out of rubber gloves), a succulent table and many incredible pieces in between!

We are very fortunate here at the Habitat ReStore to have received so much support in putting on a memorable Earth Day Celebration this year. Thank you!

Exhibitors included: Artisan Exteriors, Bike Federation of Wisconsin, Blue Heron Natural Builders, Community Car, EnAct, EcoFriendly Flooring, Full Spectrum, Focus on Energy, MG&E, MPower Campaign, Olbrich Garden, Sustain Dane Rain Barrels, Sustainable Times, Madison Stuff Exchange, Isthmus Green Day, Earth & Water Works, PrairieFire BioFuel Coop, Good Oak L.L.C., and Russell Gardner.

This event is open to the public, free, includes free refreshments, activities for children, and free parking. Don't miss it in 2009!

Find out more about Earth Day at wikipedia.

Wanted: Artists to construct & donate art made from Habitat ReStore materials. We will provide up to $10 worth of ReStore materials. Find out more and let us know of your interest by filling out this Response Form (PDF) and giving us a call or dropping by the ReStore.

The Habitat ReStore is now accepting and selling appliances! We are taking refrigerators, stoves, washers, dryers, and upright freezers up to 10 years old. Bring your gently used appliances (10 years old or less) as donations! Come and see what is in stock!

Thousands of square footage of oak flooring available through our deconstruction team. Please call Frank for details at 712-0737.

We're excited to announce the total number of ReStores in Wisconsin has reached TEN! The two newest ReStores are in Fond du Lac and Waukesha. You'll find a complete listing here, along with a handy PDF brochure of ReStores in WI. Support your local ReStore with frequent trips. Inventory is always changing, so to find the right deals for your home and remodeling projects, frequency is the way to go.

Habitat ReStore celebrated our Sixth Birthday Party on September 22, from Noon to 4pm, featuring great food, Tim the Balloon Man, Mother Earth and a Focus on Energy Program, about tightening up your house and considering solar power, held at the Pinney Branch library next door at noon. Thanks to everyone who has helped make the Restore a success!

The Habitat ReStore celebrates 6 years of supporting Habitat for Humanity of Dane County with funds to build over 15 Habitat Homes. The Habitat ReStore has saved over 3700 tons of building material from the landfill through the sale of donated building materials.

Join us for a Focus on Energy presentation about Home Energy Performance Programs and solar assessments for your home, on September 22, from Noon to 1:30pm. Location is just next to the ReStore at the Pinney Branch Library, at 204 Cottage Grove Road. Call the ReStore for more information.

Join us for the Habitat for Humanity of Dane County's 20th Anniversary Benefit Dinner, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007, 5:30 p.m. at the Exhibition Hall at the Alliant Energy Center. Tickets are $75 per person and all proceeds benefit Habitat for Humanity of Dane County.

For tickets or sponsorship information, contact Peggy Halloran. Check out the HFHDC website for more information.

Read the Isthmus's article on the exhibitors at the ReStore's Earth Day celebration and see links to area organizations and businesses who can help you live Earth Day year round!

The Habitat Restore's Deconstruction Manager Frank Byrne's was recently featured in the Wisconsin State Journal's "What I Do" weekly article, which recounted Frank's career as a feature film cameraman, how his experiences and passion led him to work in deconstruction, and why his job continues to amaze him.

A Fund For Women Oct. 17, 2006 - Part of the Madison Community Foundation honored Jennifer Voichick, Director of Habitat ReStore, Madison WI, as a trail blazer of Women Who Lead The Way.

Dane County Resolution Sept. 21, 2006 - Awarded by the Dane County Board of Supervisors congratulating the Habitat ReStore for it’s successful five years.