Fairfield Habitat ReStore receives huge donation

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield Habitat ReStore received one of its largest donations ever this past week after city officials cleaned out the former DOT building on West Briggs Avenue.

The city plans to demolish the building to make room for a new fire station, but before doing so, it wanted to ensure that everything inside the building found a good home. The city donated office furniture from the building to Habitat ReStore with a resale value estimated at $3,500.

Shanaz Kreider, who runs Habitat ReStore, said her team of employees made four trips to the building, filling its large truck with desks, sinks, toilets, filing cabinets and much more. That was after the city had dropped off a bunch of heavy duty doors at ReStore.

Kreider estimates that this donation from the city is the largest donation of office furniture and hardware ReStore has ever received.

“It will take us a while to sell them all, but we’ve already sold quite a few,” Kreider said. “[Fairfield Public Works Director and City Engineer] Melanie Carlson is our contact with the city, and she’s super to work with.”

Kreider said ReStore has sold between $1,000 and $1,500 worth of items from this donation already, and expects to sell at least $2,000 more.

“This money will go into our housing fund, and with everything so expensive now, every dollar is appreciated,” Kreider said. “This donation is helping us build homes.”

In January 2022, Habitat ReStore in Fairfield finished yet another expansion onto its building on the west edge of Fairfield. The ReStore moved to that building in 2016, when it was just 2,400 square feet, and immediately added 4,000 square feet. ReStore expanded by adding 1,100 square feet a few years later, and now this most recent expansion takes the building up to just over 10,000 square feet.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com