Fairfield ReStore receives donation to buy truck

FAIRFIELD – Greater Fairfield Area Habitat for Humanity ReStore opened a wonderful Christmas present recently thanks to a generous local donor.

Shanaz Kreider, the manager of the ReStore on West Burlington Avenue, said that a “Secret Santa” donated money to the ReStore so it could purchase a replacement moving truck to haul big items like furniture and appliances. Kreider said ReStore actually got the donation about a year ago, and just recently found exactly the truck it needed.

Smithburg Automotive in Fairfield found a truck at an auction, and fixed it up at their shop. Then with money from the Secret Santa and a grant from the Greater Jefferson County Foundation, ReStore was able to purchase this truck about a month ago.

Kreider said that the Secret Santa is a couple in Fairfield who have always been great supporters of Habitat for Humanity and ReStore.

“We greatly appreciate [this donation] because ReStore definitely needed a truck,” Kreider said. “It was falling apart.”

Kreider said ReStore uses its moving truck daily to gather or deliver donated items such as furniture, appliances, doors, windows and anything else that its patrons can’t deliver themselves.

“In many cases, people donate things to us when they’re moving or selling their house,” Kreider said. “We take everything from refrigerators to washing machines, stoves, lawn mowers, trimmers and weed eaters. Even on days when ReStore is closed, we are using the truck because that’s when people are available.”

ReStore sends its truck to pick up items in Ottumwa, Mt. Pleasant and all the small towns in Jefferson County. After accepted those donated items, ReStore sells them for a low price at its store on the west edge of Fairfield. The money it makes from those sales goes to Greater Fairfield Area Habitat for Humanity and its program of building a home for a family in need every year.

Kreider said that, though ReStore accepts a wide variety of items, it does not accept broken items or items that would require some labor to fix.

“We also don’t sell clothing or dishes, pots or pans,” she said. “That’s not our area of expertise because we don’t have the facility to clean them.”

Fairfield Habitat President Amber McDowell said that Fairfield is the smallest town in Iowa with a Habitat ReStore.

Fairfield Habitat ReStore is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

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