Sometimes It Takes A Long View…

If you’re a regular and devoted follower of our Facebook, Instagram or Recent Inventory page, you have probably noticed a number of church pews that have been “resized” into some really cool benches. Mini Pew Benches! We often receive 12 to 20 foot church pews, but these shorter ones have proven very popular with our shoppers.

The only issue with crafting these shorter pew benches in house has been what to do with the remaining materials. We’ve come up with innovative ways not make sure that even the scraps don’t go to waste. Not only does our community room in the Project_RE space consist of an innovative design intended to deflect more natural light into the space, but those light deflectors were made from left over pew parts! The NoBarrier shed that you’ve no doubt seen on our sales floor (yes, it is for sale!) also utilized pew bench and back remnants as the paneling.

This is just one example of a small way that we are trying to promote reuse of materials from church buildings, many of which are being renovated or closing each year. An estimated 4,000 churches close in the U.S. each year. Many times, as we’ve seen in our region, this results in abandoned buildings.

Both reuse and deconstruction/salvage of these buildings create jobs and economic activity. CJ will be working with a local church over the next year to explore what opportunities we can help create when a church becomes more than the congregation can support and needs to be torn down.

So stay tuned and help us keep the long pews out of the landfill while we work on the long view solution!

As always, thanks for supporting reuse!

Mike Gable
Executive Director