Handmade Holidays

Tis the season to reuse! What better way to cut down on expenses this holiday season than to make some of your own presents? That’s where we come in. For the first three Wednesdays in December, we will be holding Handmade Gift Workshops. Each week we will make a different craft item from reused materials. The item of the week will be announced here and in our e-newsie. A small fee will apply to cover the materials we use, and we’ll announce the fee each week too. Of course anyone who’s been to the store knows we have lots of crazy & unique items that can be turned into something new and magical….and if you have any ideas of cool crafts or ways to reuse, go ahead and post them here!!

We’re starting with a pretty easy craft. For our first workshop on December 2nd, we will be making stockings and heating pads from recycled sweaters, shirts, and socks. The fee will be $5 to cover fabrics, rice and beans for inside the heating pads, and tools. The workshop will be from 4-5 pm at 158 Eaton St.

Stay posted for more do-it-yourself holiday ideas, and we hope to see you at one of our winter workshops!!!

We’re 27% NUTS!

Black Friday is approaching and like most retailers we too hope to get our books in the black. We suspect that if you are the kind of folk who line up at 4am for deals on electronics, Elmo accessories and tube socks–we’re probably not on your shopping spree itinerary! However, if you did plan to shop at our used building materials store that Friday, November 27, 2009 we wanted to reward you with a very special discount of 27% off.
We also wanted to remind you that your used or surplus building materials, tools and appliances are worth a tax deduction which might help you get in the black too.  Drop off or schedule a pickup of those materials today–contact havematerial {at} buffaloreuse(.)org
We’ll be decreasing our regular hours for the winter season. Starting December 1st, we’ll be open TUES-Saturday from 10am-6pm and Sunday from noon-4pm. And, finally, we wanted to announce our HOLIDAY CLOSING.  The store and offices will close Dec24 and remain closed except by appointment through Tues, January 5th 2010. We’ll still be reachable via info {at} buffaloreuse(.)org so please let us know and we’ll do our best to meet your needs.  We do hope to see you at our annual ReGifting Party mark your calendars for December 29th!

100 Stockings

In memory of my son James … Im organizing our 2nd event in his honor and with money being tight for everyone especially around the holidays, I thought of something simple and inexpensive but will mean so much to children who will be coming to St. Lukes for their Christmas dinner this year.  I’m asking everyone to help… each stocking will only cost less than $10 total.  I’m asking for the following items to be in each stocking so there will be no child who gets more or less than the other.
1 $5 gift certificate to either McDonalds or Burger King
1 pair of socks
2 candy canes
a candy bar

I’m hoping to get atleast 100.  We have 35 coming from the girl scout troop my friend Colleen Wayman.  We are personally doing 5.  60 or more are still needed.  Please consider helping.  These will definitely be given to children in need as they will be passed out after the holiday dinner. You are more than welcome to come with us to deliver them to St Lukes sometime around December 20-21st..Also if you are interested in sponsoring a family for the holidays let me know..But either way thank you so much..Michele
Please contact Michele about dropping off materials Shizumaru2004 {at} aol(.)com

Extreme DECON Part II

Friday morning, November 13, 2009 Buffalo ReUse will be begin Green Demolition and salvage of another west side property at 369 Normal Ave.  The house is already slated for demolition.  “It made sense to go ahead and continue with further improvements to the street since the rest of the block is getting a facelift.  The neighborhood is getting a real morale boost,” said Michael Gainer, Founder and Director of Programs, at Buffalo ReUse.  “All of Buffalo should be proud that there will be such a huge spotlight on the City, the grassroots efforts and the generosity that has resulted from this opportunity.

Materials harvested from the demolition, such as roof joists, rafters, wall studs, interior trim, bricks and foundation stone, will be sold to the general public at low cost from Buffalo ReUse’s ReSource retail store at 298 Northampton Street in Buffalo and used to fund ReUse’s job creation and community revitalization programs.

Eric Walker, Lead Organizer for People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH), said “PUSH is taking a block by block approach, working in the community to stabilize this neighborhood. Jimmy Strach, who lives next door, has saved his Victorian home from the wrecking ball. When a guy makes a huge personal investment and saves a house from demo, we need to draw a line, take a stand and back him up on it. We also need to help community residents reclaim vacant spaces in ways that enhance and improve their quality of life. Green demolition of this house is a win-win for the neighborhood and for Buffalo.”

Buffalo ReUse sees green demolition as another way to reduce housing costs by using reclaimed lumber and other building materials from Buffalo’s large surplus of vacant houses, rather than crunch it up and throw it away at great expense.  By employing state-of-the-art green demolition techniques, Buffalo ReUse can harvest lumber efficiently and sell it to the public at costs averaging half of new material.

David Stapleton of David Homes and his team of builders welcomed the opportunity to build a new energy efficient house for the Powell family of 228 Massachusetts Ave on Buffalo’s West Side; however, there was one major obstacle in the way–the 2.5 story woodframe house the family had been living in for 4 years.  Buffalo ReUse got the call when the Project Manager was looking for a local contractor that could help them achieve an LEED Emerald Award for material reclamation, recycling and landfill diversion.  Buffalo ReUse is WNY’s first and only nonprofit Green Demolition and Salvage Crew.  They have been developing green demolition in Buffalo for over 2 years now.  Buffalo ReUse consulted with deconstruction guru, David Bennink.

David Bennink, of RE-USE Consulting, has been perfecting hybrid deconstruction for over 15 years and he has managed hundreds of green demolition projects across the country.  The biggest challenge of taking down the house was the time deadline.  “… but once I walked the building, I knew that Buffalo Reuse and I could pull off this project and my focus turned to doing it safely and finding the best way to represent the building deconstruction industry in this national spotlight.  It is likely that the building weighed about 80-100 tons not including the foundation or porch stone, or 150-175 tons with it, and of that we diverted an estimated 75% including a large volume of foundation stone hauled offsite for processing and reuse. ”

Buffalo ReUse’s rapid green demolition of the Powell’s old house was a demonstration of the practicality and economic feasibility of the technique–the house was deconstructed in under 17 hours! Our hope is that green demolition will soon be the mainstream method of demolition and the first choice for builders and municipalities in need of demolition.  Beyond reducing building costs, Buffalo’s “problem” of vacant houses can be turned into an opportunity to create jobs, train young people, fund community improvement programs and offer low-cost building materials to the public.

Volunteers from the public and Americorps WNY were directed on-site by ReUse staff and shown how to pull up flooring, prep wall panels and cut the joists in the attic so that the house could be taken apart efficiently and safely.  Hundreds of volunteers swarmed the house and salvaged interior finishes like window and door trim, baseboards, the stairwell and even piled 6 pallets of brick and 4 pallets of sandstone and limestone.  The Show chose select pieces from within the house to incorporate into its new furnishings and honor the history of the house and the family’s experiences.  Other house parts were carted off for use in adjacent houses and improvement projects in the neighborhood.
Buffalo ReUse DTech, Carrie Nader, commented, “It was great, if I needed a tool or something, I shouted for it and suddenly it appeared.  So many people were processing panels and loading trucks–all the material just disappeared.”  Amanda Alessandra operated the 10K telescopic forklift all night.  She has been a DTech Crew Leader for more than a year, “It was really a different experience to have an audience cheering for our progress as we separated each panel of the house and dropped it to the ground.”
Board Members of Buffalo ReUse were onhand to get dirty, perform safety checks, assist with cutting up the house, sorting materials, loading the trucks or spur the crowd to cheer on the Deconstruction Crew and Volunteers.
Everyone at Buffalo ReUse is proud to be a part of making a clear path of progress for the Powell family and all of Buffalo’s neighborhoods.

GreenLeaf Campaign

The trees that were planted throughout The Queen City this past weekend were all made possible through the efforts of Re-Tree WNY.  Buffalo ReUse and 130 volunteers (we got a little of everybody–students and XCountry athletes from UB, Daemen, Canisius–the Queen City Roller Girls and even our youngest new friend, Bryant, brought his mom and sister to plant 410 trees.  The cost of our trees alone was 25K.  We would love to join Re-Tree again for their Spring 2010 planting; however, they need more funding to purchase more trees for everyone to plant.  Their goal is 30,000 trees and so far volunteers have planted a total of 11,000.  The Buffalo News is campaigning with Re-Tree to help raise funds.  If you or someone you know would like to contribute to Re-Tree’s fund raiser and reserve a tree in someone’s name, please click on the link.  The link will take you to a secure paypal page.  $30 gets you a tree for your Gramma Majorie or your Uncle Larry or your bff, Cookie.

We hope to see you again to plant with you next Spring!

Extreme Home Makeover Still Needs Help

Well, we did our part for the ABC TV show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”. From Sunday at noon until the wee hours of Monday morning, we green-demo’ed a house in only fifteen hours. We had lots and lots of help from very able community volunteers, with service above and beyond by some of our own “super volunteers”.

If you would still like to help as the project of building the home and helping out in the neighborhood continues this week, please email volunteer {at} davidhomes(.)com. Everyone must register at the Water Authority on Porter Ave where they will be given a hardhat and a blue T-shirt. Americorps is the official clearing house for the volunteering and they will send out further updates on shifts and needs. Thanks!

Nowtopians! HEAR NOW!

Hello Gangalang,
We introduced you to CHRIS CARLSSON and his book, Nowtopia awhile back!  Now, he’s coming to Buffalo and you have 2 chances to see him.
Friday Nov. 6th 1:00 pm
Center for the Arts 112 (University at Buffalo, North Campus)

Internationally-recognized author and activist Chris Carlsson lecturing on Nowtopia:  How Pirate Programmers, Outlaw Bicyclists, and Vacant-Lot Gardeners are Inventing  the Future Today!

Carlsson is the executive director of the multimedia history project
Shaping San Francisco, and has edited four collections of political and
historical essays. He is a co-founder of the alternative arts venue
CounterPULSE, helped launch the monthly bike-ins known as Critical Mass, and was the longtime editor of Processed World magazine.

In his current book Nowtopia: How Pirate Programmers, Outlaw Bicyclists, and Vacant-Lot Gardeners are Inventing the Future Today (AK Press), San Francisco-based activist and historian Chris Carlsson profiles practices that embody a deep challenge to the basic underpinnings of modern life, as a new ecologically driven politics emerges from below, reshaping our assumptions about science, technology, and human potential.

This event is sponsored by Graduate Group in Cultural Studies, Humanities Institute and Media Study GSA.  Carlsson will also take part in a panel discussion Friday evening:

Seeds of the New Commons: Building the Future in the Present Chris Carlsson in conversation with Justin Booth and Kirk Laubenstein
November, 6th 7:00 pm
Sugar City (19 Wadsworth – near Elmwwod and Allen)

RAIN or SHINE

I think we’ll all be planting in slickers!
Saturday, November 7th,  9am – 3pm
Meet at 298 Northampton St, Buffalo NY 14208; please do not be late because we will split everyone into street teams!

We have approx. 410 trees reserved for planting in the Masten & Cold Springs Neighborhood that must go in the ground before they die.

Dress Code:
Please plan for MUD and rain: sneaker/boots, rain poncho, hats, LAYERS, hoodie, water bottle, gloves.
Since we’ll be lending out some of our tools to other groups, it would help if you bring an iron rake, shovel, a blade or hand pruners.

Please eat a hearty breakfast!
We may be able to provide donated snacks; however, we will work continuously until 3pm and enjoy a potluck together–followed by a group massage (not feet, just shoulders).  You’re welcome to bring a pan of brownies, a carrot cake, a tater tot casserole, shepherd’s pie, pasta salad or a crock pot of anything that will dribble down the fronts of our shirts.

Together with over a hundred volunteers, Buffalo ReUse has already planted more than 450 trees in the Masten and Cold Springs Neighborhoods.
We will add another 400 trees to the 23 blocks around our store.  The weather can be muddy and the day is hectic, but it’s lots of fun.  We split folks up into teams–2 teams per street.
The holes are dug by a machine! We use an auger to dig the holes and that makes it so much easier!  It is still a lot of work though.  We’ll make sure the holes are pre-dug and each hole gets a tree.  Your job will be to take out dead trees, replace them with living trees, stake the trees and pickup any refuse nearby.
We will need to recruit about 50-75 people for the day–so if each of you bring a friend or 2 we will be all set, but we’ll also continue meeting new people and inviting them to assist between now and November.  Kids are welcome to help, but children under 14yrs must be accompanied by an adult.

6 NOV, Friday (tree pickup) We will arrange to bring our trucks/trailers and pick up all the trees, stakes and equipment from Re-Tree WNY at the City Garage.  Meet us at 8am, 1126 Seneca and help sort and pile trees.  All trees are bagged and labeled by species.  They’re very light.  One person can carry 2-3 trees without much trouble.  We’ll need about 5 people that morning to pick up, unload and sort our order.  If you’re available Friday morning, just show up!
7 NOV, Saturday (planting & potluck) See the photos and you’ll get an idea of what it’s like.
We could use some help from folks who don’t want to get their hands dirty and organize the FOOD.

Thanks for volunteering; you are helping us, ReTREE WNY, the environment and the City of Buffalo in one swoop!

Celebrating the Harvest

We wanted to share this message from Grassroots Gardens with you.  New friends of Buffalo ReUse may not be aware that we’ve been collaborating with GGB for more than a year now to facilitate 22 new greenspace projects throughout Buffalo.  The link will take you to before&after photos.  Together, our goal has been to demonstrate the various options for vacant lot transformation.  The collaboration is funded, in part, by The Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo other grant money and your time and donations to both organizations.  We are so grateful for your support in implementing some of the successful ideas we’ve seen across the country.  We join Kirk and GGB in asking you to support Grassroots fundraiser so that we can continue: transforming more vacant lots in the city, get you more fresh vegetables and create safe places for you and your kids to enjoy working the soil, vegetables and flowers right in your own neighborhoods.

From Kirk:
I write to you as a lover of Buffalo.  If you would’ve asked me how I felt about Buffalo about five years ago the answer would have been different.  I love Buffalo because the people in this city are so amazingly thoughtful, hard working and compassionate.  Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo allows Buffalonians a chance to take back the land that has gone fallow due to demolition and abandonment and bring it back to productive use by creating community gardens.

These gardens provide beauty and a source of food in the neighborhoods that need it most.  Grassroots Gardens Vice President Gail Graham, is a great example of a hard working Buffalonian that cares about his community.  He along with the Fargo Estate Neighborhood Association started their garden about 8 years ago and it has brought the community together.  This garden was so successful that about 2 years ago Linda Muscarella started Serenity Garden (right down the street from Gail’s!) which took back a long blighted lot, in this lot they grow food and beautiful flowers.  Our gardeners are the inspiration that keeps us moving forward!!!

Grassroots Gardens works to ensure that hardworking Buffalonians are able to access vacant land and bring it back to life, but we need your help to make this happen. On Thursday November 5th from 5:30-8:30pm Grassroots Gardens will hold it’s 3rd annual “Harvest Celebration” at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum at 453 Porter Avenue (former Plymouth Methodist Church)  This event is a fundraiser to help our gardeners do the important work of reclaiming Buffalo.  The event features beer, wine and cider, and appetizers from some of Buffalo’s best restaurants, and only costs $25.00 if you are a Grassroots Gardens Member, or $30.00 if you are not.

I look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Best,
Kirk Laubenstein
Grassroots Gardens
Board Chair

Envisioning Wastelands Exhibition

“Wastelands” are areas that for multiple reasons have been left behind: They are areas formerly used for the extraction of earth resources, they are abandoned zones of industries, they are empty houses or vacant lots in deserted neighbourhoods, they are the spaces beneath and next to large infrastructural networks, they are empty parking lots after dark, and they are business districts outside business hours.

From the starting point of investigating the spatial, material and structural qualities of different types of wastelands in Buffalo, we aim to expand our understanding of those places and, consequently, to see the different possibilities for re-interpretation and re-inhabitation that the sites provide.

Our investigations take form as a number of short stories told through different medias, such as photo, map, collage, and video.

Opening reception: Grant Street Gallery on Tuesday November 3rd, 6.30 — 9.00 pm.

On view: Wednesday November 4th, 9 am – 9 pm.