Project ReUse

We still need a couple more people (or teams of people) to fill up the remaining designer spots for our DIY fashion show, Project ReUse. You don't need a background in fashion, you just need to be creative! If this sounds like something you'd be into, go ahead and send an e-mail to sherri[at]reuseindustries.org! I'll go ahead and forward the information to you from there.

The Compact

In 2005, a group of friends in San Francisco got together and decided that they would not buy anything new, expect for food and essentials. What began as a simple idea to make a good faith effort at reusing material among friends has become a movement of nearly 8000 people.

The people involved with the Compact "reuse or recycle what they have and buy only used or secondhand goods — except for food, health-related items and personal things, like socks and underwear. You can spend as much as you like on life’s more intangible pleasures, like travel, sports, music and other cultural activities."

To read more about this fascinating movement, please visit The New York Times to read the full article.

Glouster Reuse Day!

Today, we headed up Route 13 to Glouster to flyer for our Reuse Day, which will be held on March 10 from 10 am to 4 pm. Although the weather reports over the weekend were predicting a mess of rain, snow and cold, it turned out to be a pretty nice day for flyering. We'd also like to extend a special thanks to AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer Emily Boyer from the Sunday Creek Watershed Group and volunteer Jordan Vincent for helping us out!

The Glouster Reuse Day, through a grant from the Athens Foundation, will provide a special day of free pickup service to residents within the village limits of Glouster. We will also have a truck parked at Glouster Memorial Park for anyone in the area who wishes to bring donations to us. This is a great chance for the residents of Glouster to get rid of their reusable materials!

Monday in Glouster!

This Monday the AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteers at ReUse will be heading up to the Glouster area to go door-to-door flyering. If anyone is interested in volunteering, please give us a call at 740-698-8200 ext. 15 or e-mail me at sherri[at]reuseindustries.org!

Toy Room in Albany!

In the past two weeks or so, Chuck Howard and AmeriCorps*VISTA Duane Bogart have been hard at work converting the book room at our Albany location into a toy room! You can come check out the new toy room, as well as the rest of our farm in Albany- we're open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 am to 6 pm. See you soon!

Above: Our brand new toy room!

The Athens Bag Sale Returns!

The ever-popular bag sale is BACK at the Athens Thrift Store!

Located at 100 Columbus Road (next to Hyacinth Bean), the ReUse Athens Thrift Store is having a bag sale on clothing items for men, women, and children. For only three dollars, you can fill up a tall kitchen bag with items such as pants, shirts, socks, and bras from the ReUse Thrift Store! The sale excludes jeans and coats.

The sale is expected to run for at least a week, so get out to ReUse and get in on this great deal!

Volunteer opportunity in Glouster!

Through a generous grant from the Athens Foundation, ReUse has the opportunity to hold special community “ReUse Days” in a different town or village in Athens County roughly once a month. These community days are held in areas that are not in our network of free pickup service. On these days, ReUse offers free pickups to residents who live within the village limits and also has a dropoff site for residents to bring donations to throughout the day. In the past, we have held these community days in the villages of Chauncey, Trimble, and Jacksonville. Next on our agenda is Glouster!

In preparation for our Glouster ReUse Day on March 10, we will be flyering door-to-door in the Glouster area on February 26-27, and possibly on February 28. We are looking for volunteers to help us flyer households within the village limits of Glouster. If this is something you’d be interested in, please e-mail me at sherri[at]reuseindustries.org!

Project ReUse Seeking Designers!

We are still seeking designers for Project ReUse, the reuse-inspired fashion show that we are putting on in May. The show is going to be held at Casa Nueva in Athens on May 12. In addition to the fashion show, there are going to be two awesome bands playing, and plenty of fun to last the whole night!

Best of all, the winning designer will receive a prize basket full of locally made goods, gift certificates, and more!

The deadline to register to be a designer is March 12, 2007.

And if you don't want to design an outfit all by yourself, you're more than welcome to form a team of up to three people (including yourself) to work on the outfit.

For more information, please e-mail me at sherri[at]reuseindustries.org. Thanks!

ReUse Valentine's Guide 2007: Keep It Green and Local!

Beautiful Jewelry – in Nelsonville!

At Element 47, Jonathan Silbert features beautiful handmade silver jewelry in his gallery in the Nelsonville Public Square.

Locally Made Wine

Shade Winery's Schnuckelputz Lemon Ginger Wine is amazing! This local winery also offers up a Dry Elderberry Table Wine and a Root Source Elderberry Wine with Ginseng.

Valentine’s Cards

ReUse has tons of Valentine’s cards—for cheap—in stock at our Wellston, Athens, and Albany locations, donated to us by the Hallmark in Wellston, which recently went out of business.

Looking for something a bit more homemade? We have tons of fabric scraps and other crafty materials at our Athens and Wellston locations that you can use to create your own special valentine.

Support Your Local Florist!

Hyacinth Bean is a wonderful locally-owned florist located on Columbus Road next to our Athens Thrift Shop. You can also order flowers online through their website.

Local Dining

There are so many wonderful restaurants to choose from in and around the Athens area. Many of these restaurants use locally harvested produce and meats, so you can be sure that you are helping out your local farmers while enjoying a delicious meal. Treat your loved one to a dinner at one of these fine establishments!

-Casa Nueva, Purple Chop Stix, Stephen’s, Seven Sauces, Lui Lui, Mistretta’s Italian Market, all located in Athens, Ohio.

-Jana’s Soul Food and Zoe, both located in the Eclipse Company Town, in The Plains, Ohio.

No time for a sit down meal? You can buy a delicious pastry for your sweetie at Village Bakery in Athens, and pick them up a great locally-made gift from their Undercover Market while you’re at it!

If caffeine is more your thing, head on over to Donkey Coffee, and pick up some fair trade coffee to share with your valentine.

Not in the Athens area?

Here are some great websites to find green Valentine’s Day gifts:

Cred Jewelry

Cred is committed to providing a positive fair trade alternative that pays special attention to human rights, labour standards and care for the environment. Our pursuit of this has led to unique partnerships with small-scale mining communities (Oro Verde), cutting and polishing co-operative workshops, master jewellers and stone setters.

Green Feet

They have lots of green gifts for your loved one!

Co-Op America’s Valentine’s Day Green Gift Guide

From fair trade chocolate to organic flowers, it’s all here!

Bake Sale Update - The Final One

Much to our chagrin, after looking at the weather forecast for tomorrow, we've decided to cancel the bake sale fundraiser until a later date. There's a wind chill advisory in effect until early Sunday afternoon, and temperatures are supposed to be in the low teens with winds between 15 and 25 mph. Probably not standing-outside-selling-cookies kind of weather.

So, Mother Nature has finally reared her ugly head, and ReUse has to back down to her this time. But don't fret, we're in the process of rescheduling a new and better bake sale as I type this!

Super Bowl Sunday Bake Sale UPDATE!

Just an update, we're having a fundraising bake sale to pay for our new website at Walmart on Sunday, February 4!

We've changed the hours to 12 - 4 pm.

It's going to be really cold, but we hope that all of you guys can come out and support ReUse Industries that day by donating a little money and getting a delicious baked good in exchange!

We really need a new website, so this bake sale is extra important!

Remember, we'll be camped out in front of Walmart on East State Street in Athens from noon to 4 pm!

See you there!

Bake Sale Fundraiser!

This Sunday (Super Bowl Sunday, nonetheless) , the ReUse AmeriCorps*VISTAs will be camped out at Walmart on East State Street in Athens for our bake sale fundraiser. We'll be there from 10 am to 5 pm, and we encourage all of ReUse's supporters to stop by and help us out! We're raising money to pay for a new website, which should be up by the middle of April. We've needed a new website for a long time, and we're really excited about it, but we need to raise the money to pay our web designer. So please come out and support us on Sunday, and get a tasty baked treat while you're at it!