Last Friday – February 3 – marked the one-year anniversary of the fire that swept through Reclaim Detroit’s warehouse and destroyed our inventory. To mark that anniversary, we want to tell you what we’ve been doing the past year to rebuild and to let you know what you can do to help us continue to rebuild.
Three ways we’ve been rebuilding:
1) Workforce development.
We launched a revamped workforce development training program last May focused on construction and environmental services. Graduates received industry recognized certifications and paid on-the-job training. We’ve had 45 trainees in 4 cohorts with a 100% completion rate and 79% job placement by graduation. A new cohort starts this month.
2) Mill shop
We have used our revamped mill shop to make custom orders of tables, cutting boards and plaques for businesses, nonprofits and individuals.
3) New partnerships
We have explored new partnerships with the city and neighborhood development efforts such as Recovery Park to integrate deconstruction and workforce development into this work.
Three ways YOU can help us continue to rebuild:
1) Share our story.
Tell others about our deconstruction-workforce development-reclaimed products work. Forward this newsletter to your contacts, like our Facebook page, wear a t-shirt from our ongoing t-shirt campaign. Find our shirts here.
2) Buy our reclaimed wood products.
We have bud vases ready to ship (a limited number – after they’re gone, they can be made-to-order) and butcher blocks and charcuterie boards made-to-order. Shop here.
3) Donate to our Crowdrise campaign.
Over 200 people provided financial resources to help get us back on our feet. With the one-year anniversary, we’re retiring the campaign soon but could use a final push to get some additional mill shop equipment to further our work. Donate here.
Source: Reclaim Detroit