Gleaning for Good Works

By K. Schipper

Wonder what happens to all the material – stone and tile – left over from a trade show?

After Coverings this month, Tile Partners for Humanity (TPFH), part of the non-profit Mountain Re-Source Center (MRC) will remove mainly tile leftover after the show closes and redirect it to other nonprofit partners for construction and repair.

Click photo to enlargeHowever, gleaning the booths at the end of the show is only a small part of MRC’s mission. Last year, the organization joined the partnership between the ceramic-tile industry and Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), to solicit and redirect donations from manufacturers, distributors, contractors and individuals with surplus construction materials.

Donors, meanwhile, get the ability to clear excess inventory, receive a tax deduction for the contribution, and keep what otherwise might become waste from the local landfill.

MRC may be a nationwide effort with international recipients, but it’s certainly not the only one working to repurpose an order of mis-sized tile or those slabs that just didn’t sell. Habitat for Humanity operates almost 800 ReStores around the U.S. and Canada and many smaller, locally based groups also have found selling new – and sometimes used – construction materials is a good way to help their own clients and still offer that tax break.

LAYING THE GROUNDWORK

Nebo, W.Va.-based MRC started modestly, but gained phenomenal success in moving a wide range of donated items – not just building materials – from the haves to the have-nots.

MRC founder Herb Miller worked with a similar organization based in Washington state for a number of years before he and wife Kathy decided to address the underserved population of rural West Virginia.

“They started this small organization with the idea of bringing in materials to serve small communities in Appalachia, but thanks to a number of wonderful partnerships with donors, the organization grew, essentially by word-of-mouth,” says Allyson Venugopal, MRC’s networking director.

“Today, MRC takes in donations of any and all usable products. It can be building materials, household goods, furniture, brand-new medical supplies and other things that can go to communities where disaster relief is underway.”Click image to enlarge

Venugopal first became aware of MRC in 2002, when she served as the first executive director of Tile Partners for Humanity. From time to time, the two groups would share donations.

“If one of us took in a really large donation, we didn’t want to have to go back to the donor and say, ‘I can’t use this,’” she explains. “If I sent as much as I could to my Habitat partners and other non-profits, I’d call Herb and he was able to send the rest of it to his non-profit partners.”

Last year, when the economy made it impossible for Tile Partners for Humanity to raise enough funds to remain a standalone organization, it seemed natural for it to move under the Mountain Re-Source Center umbrella, she adds.

Venugopal says that Coverings is always been a good venue for Tile Partners for Humanity to collect materials, with a record 11 truckloads collected from exhibitors in Las Vegas in 2011.

Outside the show floor, TPFH’s donors include everyone from manufacturers and distributors down to tile retailers, fabricators and contractors. Among its larger donors are vendors who serve Lowe’s and Home Depot, particularly when those big-box stores opt to change suppliers in a particular part of the country.