From the Winter 2024 print newsletter
On January 17, 2004, Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity opened our first ReStore at 411 S. Wahsatch Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80903—a location it still occupies today. In the past two decades, though, the store has expanded from a small space to encompass the full building, an outdoor sales lot on the south side, and extensive storage areas.
“This little outdoor building, the garage, about twice the size of that is what they started with,” explains Barry Mullane, who has volunteered at the ReStore since it opened. “It was walled off, and there was other stuff in this building. They’ve gone bigger, gone bigger, gone bigger, and then they took over the whole thing! It’s always been really nice to see this grow and to be a part of what it takes to make it happen.”
The ReStore was created to serve as a “self-sufficient, sustainable funding source,” Paul Johnson, then Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity executive director, recalled for a Coming Home article about the store’s 10th anniversary in 2014 (PDF).
It’s certainly lived up to that mission. Twenty years after opening its doors, proceeds from that ReStore—as well as the ReStore Northeast, which launched two years ago at 6250 Tutt Blvd., Colorado Springs, CO, 80923, and our new online storefront—have contributed to the construction of 128 new homes built in partnership with workforce families in El Paso County.
“To know that I’m working for an entity that affects so many people’s lives and to be able to put opportunity on the table for people who would otherwise not have the ability to own their own home gives me the ability to go home at night and sleep well,” says Toby Drury, Pikes Peak Habitat Director of ReStores. “I couldn’t be more thankful to be here.”
“Every piece of merchandise that you pick up in the store affects at minimum three lives,” says Drury. “The donor clears clutter from their homes, which lets them breathe easy. The customer gets quality merchandise at a far reduced price that allows their limited budget to go further, and all the proceeds that come out of these stores assist someone in getting into a home. And that doesn’t say anything about the people in between!”
Those people include staff and longtime volunteers such as Mullane, Suzanne Ballard, and Mary Banner. For Ballard, who has volunteered at the ReStore for 17 years, the human touch is a highlight.
“The people are all pretty nice and warm. They give you that warm, fuzzy feeling of being part of a family, which I didn’t have for a long time!” she says. She recalls how the community of ReStore volunteers and staff supported her through a bad car accident and the loss of several relatives. “They’ve been here for that,” she says. “It’s like an extra family.”
Personal interactions are important to Mullane, too. He loves seeing customers find a hard-to-locate item and leave the store with a smile on their face. “There was a guy today who’s been looking for a part for a month and a half,” he says. “He had a picture, and I went back, found him the part, and it’s holding up a big project, but now he gets it done this weekend!”
He adds, “You never know what you’re going to see, what comes across the loading dock! We get it out, and it sells, and it goes to such a great thing. There’s a win-win at every angle.”
The ReStores don’t just provide a venue to sell usable materials—although that’s an important part of their mission. They also serve as centers for recycling metal, paint, porcelain, and textiles. In 2023, they kept 2,579 tons of material out of landfills.
And that’s a major motivation for Banner, who has been involved with the ReStore since its opening.
“I am very passionate about recycling and reusing,” she explains. “It was the way I was brought up as a child; my mother did it always, and I do, too. I believe in the purpose of what they’re trying to do here.”
Drury, whose previous experience includes working for big-box retailers, loves that his job benefits workforce families instead of corporations. And he appreciates staff and volunteers who share the same vision.
“All of the people that we have currently in our ReStore are interested in serving the mission to not only help our customers and donors that come to the ReStores themselves,” says Drury, “but they’re also very interested in helping the community build homes to make it affordable for people to have a good place to live.”
None of what the ReStores have accomplished over the past two decades would be possible without our customers, donors, and volunteers—and we’re so grateful!
“Thank you!” Drury says. “Thank you for being a part of the Habitat process, whether it be donating something to us, purchasing something from us, volunteering with us, or just spreading the word about what Pikes Peak Habitat does in our community.”