Many of you have met Olaf, the ReCat. He’s the gray fuzzy box of purr laying on the checkout counter most of the day. He was brought to the store because he requires a lot of attention. You probably haven’t met Sage though; she’s lives at the office. Olaf and Sage had never met; we’ve been keeping them apart so that we wouldn’t hear the pitter patter of feline feet.

Olaf is a lover; Sage is a … well, we affectionately call her the “inky beast.” Anyway, they both recently visited the Ellicott Small Animal Hospital where veterinarian, Dr. Reed Stevens offered to care for the 2 cats. Neither had ever seen a vet before and both really needed vaccinations, deworming and operations to remove their reproductive bits and pieces. Thank you to the folks who lent us kitty-carriers.  Olaf looks tip-top now; even his coat has improved and he is less whiney. Sage got shaved and looks like a marsupial missing a pocket but her belly fuzz is already coming back. The Ellicott Small Animal Hospital gave us a tremendous discount for all the feline care.  We wanted to express our deep gratitude–thank you, Dr. Stevens and Staff!

Michael was interviewed by Great Lakes Urban Exchange, talking about green demolition/deconstruction.A good explanation of what we’re trying to do in Buffalo.

This Friday, September 25th from  6-8 pm, students from the Buffalo Academy of Visual & Performing Arts will exhibit their artwork in our community gardens at 320 Northampton St. We are very excited to announce this neighborhood event for the whole family.  Students at nearby BAVPA will showcase a variety of artistic media ranging from spoken word poetry, dance, paintings, video and more!

The event is being coordinated by Mr. Jam Vafai, an instructor of Video and Media at BAVPA, who first met Buffalo ReUse Greenspace Coordinators during this summer’s BETC Youth Employment Program.  Mr. Vafai brought his group of videographer’s to Buffalo ReUse’s gardens to document the teens participating at their work sites.  Mr. Vafai was very excited about the neighborhood gardens even though they were still a work in progress; he and several students adopted one of the 4′ x 10′ raised beds in BR’s Patchwork Garden.

Mr. Vafai’s enthusiasm led to a conversation about celebrating the harvest and inviting the students to develop an art exhibition among the vegetable beds.  Word was spread among teachers and students, and now Friday promises to be an entertaining and exciting evening.  The Children’s Vinery is full of dangling plants, and the arbors will be lined with Christmas lights for a mystical, magical feeling. This summer, eight other neighbors adopted their own raised beds and have been growing vegetables like beans, squash, eggplant, onions, cabbage and tomatoes all summer. Hopefully, this event will draw more neighbors and encourage them to participate in next year’s growing season.

This event is free and open to the public. The students are very excited to display their paintings, their videos, and give performances. Please, stop by for some art and community!

This series of informational blog posts comes from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Each post: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten. The entire series is here.

Part Ten of a Series

This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine

Buffalo Action for Revitalization

The BAR Program was initiated by Buffalo ReUSE to plug people into active citizenship–volunteerism–making a space for The City of Good Neighbors to be good neighbors. We created the BAR Program to improve quality of life in neighborhoods and literally build a thriving neighborhood, beginning with our target area–in the Masten and Cold Spring neighborhoods.  Our ReSource and office space literally straddle the adjoining borders of those neighborhoods. 

The BAR Program may seem like a strange interest for a demolition crew, but we are NOT a typical demolition company.  As a nonprofit organization and a green business we believe that investing in our neighborhood is paramount.  Every business in Buffalo from the smallest corner store to the largest corporation should make contributions of time, talent or funding to improve the city in which it operates and do so while respecting the environment and surrounding community.  Local businesses should emphasize and support sustainable communities through their own lifestyle; we are modeling the behavior we want to see in every local business.
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Part Nineof a Series

This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight

We took our first house down on Lombard Street in the early spring of 2007. At this stage in Buffalo ReUse’s creation, we had very little money. We had bills to pay. We took a deep breath and opened for business. We were first open only on Sundays from 11 to 4. On our very first day of sales, we took in something like $1,200, looked at each other and said “This just might work out!” Many of our early customers are still with us today.

We remained open on Sundays for the rest of 2007. During that time, we were building our demolition crew, demolishing houses and we found our current location at 298 Northampton Street in the Cold Spring/Masten neighborhood of Buffalo’s central city.

We moved the store and all its contents in the Fall of 2007 from downtown to Northampton Street, changed our slightly enlarged hours to Saturday and found conditions for retailing much improved. We started with the current back door as our front door, begin acquiring pallet racks and just started loading in the materials. As the months went by and we needed more space, we began renting more of the building. We finally moved into the front of the building in the early summer of 2008. We now occupy the entire building, with several entrances on Northampton Street and our yard/parking lot on the side.
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Part Eight of a Series

This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven

The ReSource is Access. It is an open door to affordable, high quality building materials and a support system for home owners. Buffalo ReUse’s ReSource is our retail destination for high quality building materials, environmental education and community activism. The store is located in Buffalo’s midtown, at 298 Northampton Street. It is nestled right on the border of the Masten Park & Cold Spring neighborhoods. It is just around the corner from Canisius College, Art Space, the Merriweather Library and the newly restored Packard Building Apartments.

As part of our mission aimed at regenerating neighborhoods and empowering communities, the ReSource functions as our largest point of contact with the public. We serve predominantly an East Side customer base, but attract people from all over WNY and nearby Ontario.

All day long, we sell high-quality building materials at very low prices–including many items which are rare or one-of-a-kind. Our prices and materials help people at all income levels stabilize and improve their homes. We also spend a great deal of time engaging in lively conversations with everyone who calls on the phone or comes into the store. We’re constantly connecting customers and local residents with Buffalo ReUse community programs, with each other, and with other resources they need and with government services.
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Opening Friday, September 11 – 7 to 9pm at the CEPA Gallery, 617 Main Street.

Conversation Pieces is an exhibition that brings together projects by artists who stage, subvert, provoke, intervene in or document public dialogues. These projects have multiple, often interrelated objectives: claiming public space, time and attention to start specific conversations around specific issues; questioning the current states, definitions, and limits of dialogue in the public realm; and presenting alternative possibilities for or re-imaginings of the public through various models of participation in (variously public) dialogues.

InCUBATE/Material Exchange/Adam Bobbette — Repair Shop/Sunday Soups

Chicago-based collectives InCUBATE (Institute for Community Understanding Between Art and The Everyday) and Material Exchange, together with architect Adam Bobbette, will temporarily transplant themselves to Buffalo and collaborate with each other and local non-profit Buffalo Re-Use to build out CEPA’s FLUX Gallery as an evolving and performative installation called “Repair Shop.” The Repair Shop will be realized through various projects each considering the notion of repair broadly and metaphorically (an object repair service, a temporary space for non-profit use, a soup kitchen that generates money for artist projects) while working to raise funds that will be distributed at a closing event in the form of an artist grant.

www.incubate-chicago.org

www.cepagallery.org

Part Seven of a Series

This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five Six

The demolition business certainly has more challenges to achieve financial self-sustainability, but this aspect of our organization has created an identity for our organization and captivates the imagination of people in so many other cities who call us with great regularity to learn about what we do.  We’re convinced if we can make green demolition work here in Buffalo, it can work anywhere. 

There are challenges.  For one, as mentioned earlier, the cost paid per ton for waste disposal here in Western New York is extremely low.  Waste diversion is our greatest competitive advantage over traditional demolition.  However, in Buffalo, 50 tons of diversion only saves us $1,250.  In New Jersey, that same diversion would save us $6,250.  If there were higher disposal rates here in Buffalo, we could invest more of the savings into the higher labor costs associated with our method. 

Demolition contracting is also “CASH FLOW” intensive.  Lots of money comes in and goes out the door.  Thus, as a not-for-profit we have the immense challenge of balancing these transactions without a line of credit.  This situation created many of the cash flow challenges we experienced during the winter of 2008, while we were waiting for reimbursements for State Grants. 

Finally, equipment rental costs are exorbitant.  Had we financed a machine when we first started, we would have more then paid for that machine by now with the funds that we’ve spent on equipment rental alone.  Equipment rental also puts immense pressure on the organization to complete projects in an expedient fashion.  We pay per month and for the purposes of estimating we figure we can complete two projects per month.  However, if a project takes thee weeks because of weather challenges, we end up paying more for equipment rental, and we lose money.  Owning a used all-terrain forklift will provide more project flexibility, and decrease our demolition costs per project.  It’s an asset that will retain its value and can be sold in the future if green demolition proves to be infeasible for Buffalo ReUse. 
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Part Six of a Series

This series of informational blog posts come from a document Mike,Caesandra and Kevin created to help orient new Buffalo ReUse board members to our mission,vision,values and the actual history of our organization. Earlier parts: One Two Three Four Five

We’ve learned a lot about finances in our founding two years.  Most importantly, we’ve learned that if you don’t have funds you don’t exist.  We’ve learned that if you don’t make a margin, you don’t have a mission.  We’ve learned that to make a start-up work, you need to hustle.  You need to sell your brand, sell your services, sell your mission, and in our case sell some building materials.  We’ve learned that at the end of the day, you need to balance the books.  We’ve learned that even with a strong business model and complementary social program, you need to ask people for money.  And we’ve learned that we can’t do all of this alone.  It’s critical that our board participate in fundraising in order for ReUse to advance its mission and achieve its goals. 

I’ll admit, that Buffalo ReUse was my first opportunity to initiate a social venture and it has proved to be the challenge of my life.  However, in the short span of two years, we have sold our mission and we have sold our material.  Buffalo ReUse is unique in the not-for-profit world in that we have tremendous earned income potential and we will likely generate nearly 75% of our operating revenue in 2009 from our fee-for-service ventures.  The remainder of the funding will come from private foundation grants, some government grants, and individual donations. 
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