Happy New Year Reuse Fans!
Just a reminder that we will be closed on Sunday the 31st to do our annual inventory. This will be the first year that we will count a lot of stuff using a bar code scanner (that’s exciting to our auditors anyway!). We’re also closed on New Year’s Day.
Years in review always seem to include the good news and the challenging news, with a hint of scandal or controversy. Not too much on the scandal front here at CJ… but we have had our share of ups and downs.
Our challenge in 2017 has been to keep CJ as a must-go destination for supporters of reuse, be it artists, makers, new home owners, business owners, or anyone who has a need for wide range of materials that arrive on our donation docks. We are obviously not the only retailer to grapple with how to get folks into our store! Fortunately, we received a grant from an anonymous funder to support an extensive strategic planning process to look at ways we can increase customer traffic and the flow of donations that we need to keep CJ going strong.
And that kicks off the good news!
The highlight of the year was easily our donation metrics. With 3 days remaining in 2017, we have recorded one of our strongest donation years ever – thanks to all our donors! But there’s more… the Big Pour generated more net revenue for the organization than in 2016.
We were lucky enough to be selected as his Pittsburgh installation by internationally renowned artist Bordallo II, who created (entirely from plastic trash) an eye catching sculpture of a giant raccoon on the front of our building, to support the efforts of Scrap the Trap! in Pittsburgh.
Our Goodwill job training program operated at full strength for the entire year, that means more trainees than ever were able to benefit from training in preparing materials for sale, and in retail and communication skills, and we are exploring options to expand the program. In November, our generous supporters donated $1,125 to GiveBig Pittsburgh (there’s still time to donate!) to buy much-needed supplies like talking calculators for our Goodwill trainee colleagues.
In 2017, as the project gets closer to completion, we were able to begin installing our inventory system, Reuse Retail, into a reuse store in Portland Oregon, and we will be doing our next installation in January 2018 in Evanston, Illinois.
In the final weeks of 2017 we had enthusiastic meetings with the City of Pittsburgh and the Borough of Wilkinsburg to explore ways to work together to salvage materials from buildings prior to demolitions.
And that does not begin to cover it all! The work of CJ’s community programs, our Board of Directors welcoming 6 new members, Project RE_ or Studio Blue (the new furniture painting project with youth from the Shuman Center that you will hear more about in 2018).
Our core operations remain strong! We have a committed group of managers and staff that keep the store and donations humming 7 days a week, through all kinds of challenging weather (including 10 degree days like today) and figuring out how to efficiently handle the over 100,000 items that passed through our warehouse in the last year.
We are proud to be of service to the people of Pittsburgh and Southwestern PA, and to our environment.
You keep reusing and we will keep supporting your passion to do more of it!