Greetings Reuse Fans,

December is right around the corner – tomorrow in fact! As you stretch your creativity to find that unique gift for someone special in your life (that could also be you), we encourage you to visit CJ and our neighbors at Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse. Both organizations are offering workshops and pop ups shops to help you green your Christmas with ideas from local artisans and surprising materials you will come across every day in our stores to create unique gifts that reflect your commitment to reuse!

In the Project RE_ workshop we are working hard to create unique items for you purchase to support our reuse mission. If you are a regular reader or visitor to our web site or store, you have seen our chalk boards made from slate salvaged from local schools (in Wilkinsburg and Homewood), or our church pew benches cut down-to-size to fit your kitchen nook or entry hall, and our tables and benches made from bowling alleys. We are currently making benches from tongue and groove wood salvaged from a horse racing track in Detroit, (from our friends at the Architectural Salvage Warehouse’s deconstruction job training program). A sample of this bench will be out this weekend. We have lots of this material for you to use for your own projects or you can let us know if you are interested in the next benches we produce. We will also be working on a table from this same material!

If you are looking for any of these items (chalk boards, benches, tables, built-in cabinets) and you don’t see them, please let our customer service staff know. We may be working on the very thing you desire in the workshop. Santa is, of course, not the only guy that has one of those!

And don’t forget to pick up your local Christmas tree next weekend!

Mike Gable
Executive Director