ReStore goals include supporting 2 or 3 homes a year
Positioned six miles from Ferdinand, six miles from Huntingburg and six miles from Jasper, the new ReStore store is located in the heart of the county.
On Saturday, the Habitat for Humanity celebrated the grand opening of the store’s new location in the old Fleck Chair building across from the 4H Fair Grounds. The celebration featured live music, food, and a huge sale on everything in the store.
Droves of people showed up on Saturday to check out the new location and take advantage of some great deals.
ReStore director Barb Mathies and Habitat for Humanity executive director Melissa Baxter have plans for the future of the ReStore store. “My goal is to be able to support two to three new Habitat homes a year with the money raised by this new location,” Baxter explained.
The new building has three times the space of their previous location near WinElectric and Dubois County LP on the east side of Jasper. “When you turned the lights out, the ceiling had so many holes it looked like stars,” Mathies explained. “We would be soaked on a day like today.”
ReStore and Habitat go together like hands and pockets; one builds homes, the other furnishes homes. This new nearly 15,000 square foot facility is packed full of everything needed to furnish a home and everything is donated. Whether from individuals, businesses, or from manufacturers, if you call ReStore they’ll even come pick it up for you.
Volunteers then come in to separate, repair and refurbish items. “We have a retired engineer, Scott Carson,who comes in with his tools and just does amazing things with the donations we get,” Baxter explained.
The new facility, although three times as big, is only costing the non-profit about $150 more per month.
The new location has about 3 acres of land attached to it that Habitat plans to build several homes on. They broke ground on the first home at the location and the organization’s twelfth home on Saturday at 3 p.m.
This home is for Brenda Messmer and her two daughters, Tiffany a senior at Forest Park and Shea a sixth grader at Cedar Crest. The family has lived in a mobile home in Ferdinand for about six years.
Brenda has applied for a home three times over the past three years. “I finally got approved the third year I applied and we’ve been waiting about a year for some land to be available,” she said.
Brenda will have to gather volunteers to help build the new home and she will assume the payments for an interest-free loan on the new home when she moves in. “I have a lot of friends and family who have said they would help.” she said.
The two girls are looking forward to being able to decorate their own rooms and Brenda is looking forward to having a home to call her own. “Once Melissa told us the news about this place and about getting the land, we were very excited.”
