Thank You For Supporting Reuse!

Greeting Reuse Fans!

Thanks to all of you who attended the Steel City Big Pour! The event was highly successful. Once the dust clears the event will provide over $130,000 to support CJ’s daily operations. We use these funds for running CJ, and also for related, extended reuse opportunities and services.

The funds raised allow us to provide affordable space to our subtenants who all also support reuse of materials and training/employment: Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse, FreeRide, Project RE_, Trade Institute of Pittsburgh, and ComputerReach – and to provide space free of charge to the City of Pittsburgh for their recycling drop off center. We use some of the funds to support job training programs inside CJ for those with barriers to employment. And finally, the funds help us provide community outreach and all of the services we provide to our community at no charge to keep materials from going to landfill.

The Steel City Big Pour is without doubt a critically important event for every part of our operation.

I would like to thank our reuse material shoppers and donors who don’t go to the Big Pour for your patience. We realize the event can cause inconvenience for you, and we appreciate your continued support.

I am currently attending the Building Material Reuse Association’s annual conference in Grand Rapids MI. Ironically, I have gone from the Big Pour to “Beer City USA” (Grand Rapids has a ton of craft breweries). There are Reuse operations from as far away as Hawaii, California, Portland, and many from the Midwest. The sessions have included discussions about how deconstruction can productively address blight, and “value added” products fabricated from deconstructed lumber, just like our Constructed At The Junction items. Government policy to encourage reuse is a hot topic, as well as how to help donors choose an appraiser to value large donations of useable building material.

Your support of CJ though the Big Pour, your material donations, and your purchases help CJ to be a part of these critical conversations of people coming together from across the country to promote the reuse of building materials. And to provide the greatest social, economic and environmental benefit while addressing 40% of the waste stream!