Habitat for Humanity of the NRV and the New River Valley TimeBank will co-host a day of celebration beginning 9 a.m. Saturday at the ReStore (1675 N. Franklin Street) in Christiansburg.
Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore will celebrate its fifth year at its current location in Christiansburg. The ReStore has become a popular local source for new and used building supplies and home furnishings.
At 11 a.m., the ReStore employees will lead the celebration with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, which will also recognize new inventory item offerings, including never-used Frigidaire appliances that are scratch and dent models and come with a one-year warranty.
Most models have been manufactured in the last year and are energy efficient. Other new items include flooring and ReColor Paint (a 100 percent recycled brand of paint.)
The ribbon cutting will coincide with a Repair Café, co-hosted with the New River Valley TimeBank, which will run from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Volunteer repair technicians will offer free repairs to small appliances, furniture, computers, clothing, knife and tool sharpening and plant diagnosis/re-potting. Residents may bring up to three items for repair.
Local high schoolers from Robotics Team 401 will be at this event with a demonstration of one of their designs to entertain children and adults.
During the Repair Café, Habitat for Humanity and the TimeBank will be offering information on their latest collaboration, a new Tool Lending Library. This will be a place where people can “check out” tools as they would books from a traditional library.
The Tool Lending Library will give New River Valley residents access to power tools and hand tools for projects without buying them. For homeowners and do-it-yourselfers the library offers an opportunity to use expensive, unique and specialty tools without a large monetary investment.
The Tool lending Library is also expected to function as a meeting place for exchanging ideas and advice, while providing the means to make ideas a reality.
“We are lucky to have secured a donation from Judy Ruggles of Christiansburg, who donated the tools her late husband, John Ruggles, collected in his workshop over many years,” Outreach and Development Manager Kim Snider said. “And we are accepting donations of additional tools as we build our inventory.”
Habitat and the TimeBank are recruiting for an advisory committee and volunteers to staff the library. They are also accepting monetary and tool donations at the ReStore to help start the Tool Lending Library.
The New River Valley TimeBank began two years ago as a project of the NRV Aging in Place Action Team and the NRV HOME Consortium.
“The mission of the TimeBank is to recognize and value the many assets that we have within the community,” the announcement said, “by facilitating the exchange of skills and services between its members without using money.”
TimeBank members earn a Time Credit for each hour of service, which can then be used to purchase any service being offered by other members. Skills and services are valued equally.
To become a tool contributor and for more information about TimeBank and Habitat for Humanity of the New River Valley, contact Kim Snider at ksnider@habitatnrv.org.
