I am not sure I know the answer to that but I can tell you what it feels like to be a part of one. I went to a ribbon cutting/grand opening celebration tonight for Habitat for Humanity’s Habistore. They moved to a new location and they literally had to move thousands of pounds of “stuff” from one location to another over a short period of time.
What’s the Habistore? The HabiStore is changing the world one couch at a time! By selling surplus new and used building and home improvement materials, appliances and furniture to the public the HabiStore is diverting more than 200 tons of material from the landfill each year. (http://www.habitattucson.org/habistore/)
You can imagine my delight as Mr. Habistore, Terry Dee, recognized people/organizations who helped make it possible. Horizon Moving and Storage did the move for next to nothing (10 large moving vans); The Arizona Green Plumber got Niagra to donate new, high efficiency, eco-friendly toilets and then came to deliver & install them in the Habistore’s new building for free; and Tucson Electric Power organized a volunteer crew to help move 90 pallets of tile donated in the midst of the move. They moved the tile in a day. An ad-hoc green team?
I know it’s NOT all about me but all of the above are active supporters of the Mrs. Green mission and vision. I stood there filled with joy because what Terry was describing is the village, the tribe, the goodness of humanity mobilized to make something good happen. Habitat for Humanity is one the finest examples of ending the cycle of poverty for families in the most wonderful way possible – as partners. And all the money raised at the Habistore helps build the Habitat Homes.
Everything about this is eco-friendly, demonstrates sustainability in action and feels really great to be a part of.