Yesterday was Sunday, and of course the ReUse crew, board members, volunteers and employees were at the warehouse at 298 Northampton cleaning, prepping, and moving material, basically getting ready to establish it as a destination to buy salvaged materials, use community resources and have all kinds of fun on the East Side, compliments of Buffalo ReUse.

There’s a back space of the warehouse that we’re working on now (see the before picture left).  At one point it was like a middle school dance, with boys on one side of the wall unloading the trailer and girls on the other painting.  But of course, as a volunteer you can do anything you want, including playing on the rocking horse or practicing your karate moves with siding material, both of which Darren like to do.  If you want to slack off and eat (we joke with the slacker term if you’re caught walking around – beware); there are snacks each day – cider, coffee, apples, chips, muffins…mmmm.

The main mission this weekend was to paint the one side of the back space.  Yesterday we initiated five new members into the MPC (Multicolored Painting Club).  We had about 25 gallons donated and opening each can was a surprise, we didn’t know what color we’d find.  What a fun time!

So we laid down tarps, shook up the cans, turned on the radio (to block out Michael’s singing) and went for it.  We decided on vertical stripes, and although there will be pallet racks in front of the wall, painter’s tape does make a huge difference in creating straight lines   We hesitated with that one because as Theresa pointed out “You can’t ReUSE painters tape….”  But, alas, we have a really cool wall that is a bit reflective of a Ralph Lauren ad.

Sherry and Tysha are amazingly quick with painting, they finished the checkered wall in no time.  Love and Kiersten took on painting the ceiling tiles, and it makes the whole place bright and shopper friendly.  There was some salvage done that morning in the E District, so Darren and Michael worked on unloading the trailer, while Dave, our ReUse consultant who is in town, and Neil fixed the back garage doors.

What a difference one day of volunteering can make.  New walls, new doors, new materials, new friends.  Join the MPC or attend the dance this Sunday, November 4th from 10-4, please just show up, in old clothes, we look forward to seeing you and your karate moves. 

-Jessica