Spring Cleaning Helping Habitat Build Homes

Spring Cleaning Helping Habitat Build Homes

This spring cleaning season, Milwaukee area residents are donating gently used home goods to Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores, helping the organization build much-needed affordable homes in our community. Whether it’s to make room for a new chair or a brand new kitchen, Habitat’s ReStores accept items ranging from tools and appliances to furniture, home goods, household fixtures and more.

These donations are resold to the public at Milwaukee’s three area ReStores, with the proceeds being invested locally to help families invest in the stability and equity of homeownership. Families like LaQuanta’s, who just moved into her brand new Habitat home in Milwaukee’s Harambee neighborhood. When she became a mom, she set a goal to invest in a place her kids could always call home. Thanks in part to ReStore donors, LaQuanta achieved that goal.

Donations can be dropped off at ReStores in Wauwatosa, Greenfield, and Franklin. ReStore will even pick up donations from homes and businesses. They now offer disassembly and the ability to haul items up or down stairs – for those difficult items on your spring cleaning list. Residents can visit milwaukeerestore.org for a complete list of items they accept and to schedule a pickup online. With ReStore’s new expedited pickup service, they’ll pick up any item in any condition in as little as two business days – helping you knock out your spring cleaning to-do list even faster.

It’s amazing the impact things like a donated sofa, gently used stove, or unneeded tools can make in the lives of families in our community. Each year Milwaukee’s three ReStores raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to help families like Shirley’s – who closed on her brand new Habitat home this February.

Shirley had seen her rent increase every single year since moving into her prior apartment. The rising housing costs made her feel like she could never get ahead of her finances and save for things like the down payment on a home.

“I’ve always lived paycheck to paycheck, never thinking I could have anything that was my own,” she said. “When I got approved, my heart did a happy dance.”

Shirley built and bought a home in Milwaukee’s Harambee neighborhood. On the day of her home dedication, she celebrated alongside Habitat staff, volunteers, supporters, and many of her grandchildren.

“This home gives me privacy, peace, and a new lease on life,” Shirley says. “It’ll be somewhere my grandkids can play outside. I have 11 of them.”