No Big Pour in 2020

– August 14, 2020

Greetings reuse fans,

So, I have the sad task of making it official that CJ will not be holding a Steel City Big Pour this year. We have explored the idea of holding smaller “Pours,” utilizing more of CJ’s space with fewer people over multiple days, and we simply cannot make it work safely and, in any event, it has proven a significant challenge simply to operate CJ on a day to day basis. As most of you are aware, we have had to recruit and train new staff while we have been shifting our hours of operation. We have changed our donation receiving area to increase safety, but also to manage the volume of materials and customers while we adjust to the new demands of operating safely in a pandemic.

Usually at this time of year, we are already relocating materials in the warehouse and thinking about how we manage our space to host an event with over 3,000 patrons and vendors in a single day! The good news for those of you who don’t attend the Big Pour is that the store will be open on the weekend of September 26^th, when we had expected to be closed for the event.

The more challenging news for CJ is the loss of the funds raised by the Big Pour, about a month’s worth of sales in a weekend! We are dependent on those funds to cover the part of our operating costs that is not covered by sales revenue. Anticipating that it would not be possible to hold the Big Pour this year, we have already received a loan (not a grant) to help us cover the lost BP revenue.

CJ is an over $2 million operation. Our physical plant is 100,000 square feet with a staff that is at least 30 people, not including our Goodwill trainees and the trainees with whom we work on deconstruction projects. The Big Pour and grants generally cover about 18% of CJ’s operating budget so it is a critical element to continuing our programs and operations.

There is, however, some really good news around this bummer announcement, and we express our sincere gratitude to those Big Pour sponsors who had already paid before we announced our intention to cancel the Big Pour, and have now generously told us to “keep their sponsorship support.” We have even had our long time safe travel sponsor, Kelly Insurance, make a donation upon receiving our notification to cancel for 2020! We are incredibly grateful to Berger Investment Group and National Apartment Laundries, Schell Games, Jendeco Construction Corp., Sitko Bruno, Merit Electrical Group and Kevin Gieder Consulting for their continued support. We will be updating our Big Pour page and social media with sponsors who are supporting our work without the extra bonus of a truly great party.

You can follow the lead of our generous sponsors to support CJ during this time, by making a financial contribution in whatever amount works for your budget. If you can donate $75, which is the value of a Big Pour ticket, or the cost of a 4 pack of your favorite craft beer (you know how much you spend on that one), you can be sure that any amount helps us continue to promote reuse in our community. You can also buy tickets for Lil’ Pour raffles. With the help of some of our long time event partners and the CJ board, we have put together some great prize baskets.