Your closets and drawers overflow with stuff you don’t need. Your attic and basement are cluttered. You’re ready to rent a Dumpster.
But wait. Before tossing towels and tables into the trash, think of those less fortunate.
Items you no longer want or use could help a family displaced by a fire, furnish an apartment, help a homeless person get a new lease on life, or give a single mom a place for her baby to sleep.
“The need for items from beds and baby goods to linens and lamps is growing in the Merrimack Valley,” said Sharon Martens, operations director at Household Goods Recycling of Massachusetts (HGRM) in Acton, an agency that serves clients in local communities including Lowell and Lawrence. Donating instead of dumping your stuff helps you, people in need, and your landfill. “Everyone benefits,” Martens said.
HGRM began 21 years ago in Ira and Barb Smith’s Acton garage, when they gathered goods to help a refugee from El Salvador who fled her country with her kids and little else. Donations filled the garage and later a church basement as HGRM grew. Today it operates out of a 9,400-square-foot warehouse and 14 trailers, helping about 4,000 families a year from 130 communities in eastern Massachusetts. They come by appointment with a social worker to outfit their apartments with free furnishings. “We make it pleasant for them,” Martens said.
Anonymous notes from clients attest to that. “My kids love the things and feel so much happier,” a grateful mom wrote.
Nancy Kanell, founder/director of Project Home Again at Temple Emanuel in Andover, experienced a situation similar to the Smiths eight years ago, when she founded PHA. Her appeal for a stove for a woman who had been abused brought several stoves and other appliances. PHA was born. “We’ve grown from the back of my minivan to a 3,000-square-foot warehouse in Lawrence,” Kanell said.
PHA helps 100 to 200 families a week, including domestic abuse victims, people leaving shelters, grandparents taking in grandkids, and flood and fire victims. “The people we help have nothing — we never turn anyone away, since poverty knows no borders,” Kanell said.
A high chair in good condition that was left in roadside trash prompted Leslie Levenson of Boxford to act nine years ago. “I saw the chair and realized I could be the bridge between those who have and those who haven’t,” said Levenson, co-founder/executive director of Community Giving Tree, which collects and distributes gently used clothing, books and baby furniture to needy families. “I heard stories about babies sleeping on floors and kids with no books,” she said.
Volunteer MacKenzie Shelgren with Founder and Executive Director of Community Giving Tree Leslie Levenson.
The agency, operating out of a 2,400-square-foot building in Boxford, helped 5,000 families last year. “I saw the need and realized we could do something to help families be self-sufficient,” Levenson said.
ReStore of Lawrence, open since March, benefits Merrimack Valley Habitat for Humanity. It operates as a thrift store, selling donated household goods, furnishings and building materials at 25 to 50 percent off retail prices. Money raised helps Habitat build homes for families in need. “Anyone can donate, anyone can shop,” said Sharon Mason, director of development at Merrimack Valley Habitat for Humanity. “It’s like treasure hunting — you never know what you’ll find.”
Shirley Murray of Groveland shops at ReStore weekly. “I look for vintage things, and found benches from the 1930s for $20. It’s great to save money and great to help Habitat,” she said.
To make donations or to volunteer:
Household Goods Recycling of Massachusetts
Acton, Mass. l (978) 635-1710 www.HGRM.org
Project Home Again
Office: Temple Emanuel
Andover, Mass. l (978) 470-1356
Warehouse: Lawrence, Mass. l (978) 270-9878 www.phama.org
Too Much Stuff
Photos by Adrien Bisson
Your closets and drawers overflow with stuff you don’t need. Your attic and basement are cluttered. You’re ready to rent a Dumpster.
But wait. Before tossing towels and tables into the trash, think of those less fortunate.
Items you no longer want or use could help a family displaced by a fire, furnish an apartment, help a homeless person get a new lease on life, or give a single mom a place for her baby to sleep.
“The need for items from beds and baby goods to linens and lamps is growing in the Merrimack Valley,” said Sharon Martens, operations director at Household Goods Recycling of Massachusetts (HGRM) in Acton, an agency that serves clients in local communities including Lowell and Lawrence. Donating instead of dumping your stuff helps you, people in need, and your landfill. “Everyone benefits,” Martens said.
HGRM began 21 years ago in Ira and Barb Smith’s Acton garage, when they gathered goods to help a refugee from El Salvador who fled her country with her kids and little else. Donations filled the garage and later a church basement as HGRM grew. Today it operates out of a 9,400-square-foot warehouse and 14 trailers, helping about 4,000 families a year from 130 communities in eastern Massachusetts. They come by appointment with a social worker to outfit their apartments with free furnishings. “We make it pleasant for them,” Martens said.
Anonymous notes from clients attest to that. “My kids love the things and feel so much happier,” a grateful mom wrote.
Nancy Kanell, founder/director of Project Home Again at Temple Emanuel in Andover, experienced a situation similar to the Smiths eight years ago, when she founded PHA. Her appeal for a stove for a woman who had been abused brought several stoves and other appliances. PHA was born. “We’ve grown from the back of my minivan to a 3,000-square-foot warehouse in Lawrence,” Kanell said.
PHA helps 100 to 200 families a week, including domestic abuse victims, people leaving shelters, grandparents taking in grandkids, and flood and fire victims. “The people we help have nothing — we never turn anyone away, since poverty knows no borders,” Kanell said.
A high chair in good condition that was left in roadside trash prompted Leslie Levenson of Boxford to act nine years ago. “I saw the chair and realized I could be the bridge between those who have and those who haven’t,” said Levenson, co-founder/executive director of Community Giving Tree, which collects and distributes gently used clothing, books and baby furniture to needy families. “I heard stories about babies sleeping on floors and kids with no books,” she said.
Volunteer MacKenzie Shelgren with Founder and Executive Director of Community Giving Tree Leslie Levenson.
The agency, operating out of a 2,400-square-foot building in Boxford, helped 5,000 families last year. “I saw the need and realized we could do something to help families be self-sufficient,” Levenson said.
ReStore of Lawrence, open since March, benefits Merrimack Valley Habitat for Humanity. It operates as a thrift store, selling donated household goods, furnishings and building materials at 25 to 50 percent off retail prices. Money raised helps Habitat build homes for families in need. “Anyone can donate, anyone can shop,” said Sharon Mason, director of development at Merrimack Valley Habitat for Humanity. “It’s like treasure hunting — you never know what you’ll find.”
Shirley Murray of Groveland shops at ReStore weekly. “I look for vintage things, and found benches from the 1930s for $20. It’s great to save money and great to help Habitat,” she said.
To make donations or to volunteer:
Household Goods Recycling of Massachusetts
Acton, Mass. l (978) 635-1710
www.HGRM.org
Project Home Again
Office: Temple Emanuel
Andover, Mass. l (978) 470-1356
Warehouse: Lawrence, Mass. l (978) 270-9878
www.phama.org
Community Giving Tree
Boxford, Mass. l (978) 223-5767
www.CommunityGivingTree.org
Merrimack Valley Habitat ReStore
Lawrence, Mass. l (978) 686-3323
www.MerrimackValleyHabitat.org/ReStore.htm