October 29, 2013 was one of the
first truly cold days of the fall.
Naturally, it was also the day that a few of us in the Center of
Community Service decided to walk to Mission Hill for a site visit. Despite the cold, the trip was very
productive and Hilary Sullivan, Hannah Page, and I were all extremely happy
with what we saw. Boston Building
Resources (BBR) is an unassuming building on Terrace Street, right on the border
between Roxbury and Mission Hill. Bright
orange signs line the building, advertising the new and used home improvement
items that fill the warehouse. Paul
Kiefer manages a number of Northeastern University volunteers inside, and was
nice enough to show the three of us around.
As we walked toward the building
that houses the non-profit side of Boston Building Resources, Paul explained
the mission and background of the organization.
The Reuse Center takes in new and used materials and sells them back to
the community. However, what makes the
center different from any second hand facility is their Plus membership. Charitable organizations and community
members who meet certain income guidelines pay a discounted price on all Reuse
Center merchandise. This allows for the
community to afford home improvements, and there are workshops every few days to
help spread the knowledge and skills necessary to make use of the building
materials. Paul held open the door to
the shop and explained that people who do not qualify to be a Plus member can
still shop and attend the workshops for a slightly higher price, and any profit
made is put back into the organization.
We followed him inside, and immediately
upon entering, we were greeted by student volunteers. There are seventeen volunteers from the Civic Engagement Program who work in the shop, organizing items on shelves and emptying trucks
of donated materials. It is hard to say
how many of those students were there while we were, because people were
working or shopping in every available nook and cranny. It seemed like we couldn’t turn a corner without
having to excuse ourselves or step aside for somebody. However, a bustling
environment is exactly what you want to see at a place like BBR. Since the inventory is provided by charitable
donations from around Boston, a constant stream of incoming trucks ensures that
there is a wide selection on the floor for customers to look through. This aspect of the non-profit is where
students from the Service-Learning program are currently working. There are teams of Engineering Design
students who are working to help improve the inventory system that is currently
in place.
Currently, all items brought into
the shop are dropped off in a large open room on the side of the building. These go through an inventory desk, where
they are put into a computer system and marked with a price. After that it’s on to the shop floor so that
the drop off room can be cleared for the next delivery. Unfortunately, as their volume of donations
grows, this system is becoming less and less effective. More deliveries means there is less time to
enter everything in the system, and some items are forced onto the shop floor
without a price tag. More challenging still for Paul
is that trucks are sometimes arriving to a full inventory room and are being
forced to unload in the new merchandise directly into the shop. Ideally, service-learning students will the
able to propose various solutions to create a more efficient system by the end of this semester
in order to help this important piece of the community grow and flourish.
After
our tour of the facility, we stayed for a little while to chat with Paul. I was struck by how he handled the huge
number of questions and comments people shouted to him in the short time that
we stood and spoke. I am very familiar
with working in a non-profit, and from what I've seen, it seems that there is a
constant buzz of updates and questions that comes along with a management
role. Paul seemed completely on top of
everything that came his way, and seamlessly transitioned between chatting with
us to assigning tasks to volunteers and answering questions from staff. With
any luck, and help from people like Paul, Boston Building Resources will be a
growing part of the Boston community for an extremely long time.
To find outmore about
workshops, membership, or to make a donation please visit: http://www.bostonbuildingresources.com/
By
Daniel McKenna
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