Going Green with Gusto
Susan's ReStory
A commitment to be as green as possible and to save money led Susan Corpuz on a shopping adventure. It all began when her husband, Dr. Ralph Corpuz, decided to relocate his dental practice, Corpuz Family Dentistry, and had some specific ideas about lighting. The fixtures he wanted sold retail for $250 apiece and he wanted five of them. After finding those fixtures at Omaha's Habitat ReStore for a fifth of the cost, she decided from that point on to make that her first stop whenever she needed anything. From time to time, she also shops at discount warehouses and Craigslist, but she's a dedicated and enthusiastic Habitat ReStore customer, who often brainstorms with employees to come up with unique ideas.
"Flexibility and creativity are required to be green", advises Susan. When she needed baseboards for the garage, what she found wasn't exactly what she was looking for, but she realized she could make it work since it was not in a public location.
Another tip she offers is to check what's available as often as possible because inventory at the ReStore is always changing. Once, she scooped up a pair of sconces that had just been dropped off by an interior decorator and used them in the waiting room. She also found vinyl flooring, baseboards, fluorescent lights and bathroom fixtures at bargain prices.
Every room in the new facility has something from the ReStore and although she hasn't had a chance to add up the receipts and determine exactly how much money she saved in the process, she estimates she purchased all of the lighting, including drum shades, pot lights, and fluorescents for approximately a fifth of the retail cost.
In the kidzone, she had her son paint waves on a curtain and turned it into the backdrop for a whiteboard. She included her children in the process as much as possible in order to teach them the principles of caring for the environment and saving money.
"Our goal was to create a state of the art facility without spending state of the art prices," declares Susan. A goal she not only achieved, but exceeded. To make the experience of going to the dentist as comfortable as possible, they offer kids a place to hang out and watch videos, play with toys, read or just lie quietly if that's what they prefer
Before work could begin on the new office, at, 5311 S. 138th St., the yhad to deconstruct the existing space and donated many items to the Habitat ReStore to continue the cycle of reducing waste, re-using and recycling. They also installed geothermal heating and cooling, LED lights and used water purifiers throughout the building.
David Klitz, director of Omaha's Habitat ReStore, says "Both stores generally have electrical fixtures, cabinets and vinyl, ceramic tile and wood flooring, as well as paint and painting supplies on hand all the time."
Omaha has two Habitat Restore outlets, one located south of 24th and Leavenworth and the other just west of 108th and Maple Streets. Both stores are open to the public Monday through Saturday and offer quality new and used building supplies, furnishings and appliances at 50 to 70 percent lower than retail.
Donations, which are tax deductible, come from private individuals, as well as contractors and metro area businesses. Since 2006, Omaha's Habitat ReStore has kept more the 7,000 tons of reusable items out of area landfills.
For the best deals, sign up for Omaha's Habitat ReStore e-newsletter, Bargain Beat at habitatomaha.org.
From Designer Displays to Donations
Westroads Mall Supports Habitat ReStore
Special thanks to Westroads Mall for supporting the first Habitat ReStore Designer Challenge and for their $1,000 donation to Omaha's Habitat ReStore. Because of the hard work from Westroads Mall and the fantastic designers, Habitat ReStore gained many new fans who are now helping support the mission to end poverty housing. Take a look at photos from the check presentation ceremony below and find out who was crowned the first ever Habitat ReStore Designer Challenge winner.
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| Kasi Haberman, Marketing Coordinator at Westroads Mall, presented David Klitz, Habitat ReStore Director, with a $1,000 donation. The Habitat ReStore Designer Challenge participating designers helped celebrate the success of the event. |
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| After the check presentation the first ever Habitat ReStore Designer Challenge winner was announced. This year the dining room display by D3 Interiors was voted to the top spot. | D3 Interiors was crowned the first Habitat ReStore Designer Challenge winner. |
Habitat ReStore Designer Challenge Participating Designers
D3 Interiors - Designer's Touch - Interiors By Patti Adams - The Interior Design Firm - Tangerine Designs
Metropolitan Community College School of Interior Design
Habitat for Humanity of Omaha ReStore's 2011 Commercials
Second Habitat ReStore Coming to Omaha
Grand Opening August 10, 2012
You can begin the countdown; Omaha's Habitat for Humanity ReStore is hosting a grand opening ceremony on Friday, Aug. 10 at the new Habitat ReStore, 10930 Emmet St. The new store, which is double the size of the original location, will enable Habitat Omaha to increase its capacity to build decent, affordable housing in the Omaha area.
Omaha's Habitat ReStore owes many thanks to Lozier for their generous contributions to the new store. Lozier partnered with Habitat ReStore to provide new racking for the store, and even installed it for free. Community partners such as Lozier allow Habitat Omaha to focus on our mission of building community through homeownership.
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