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Furnishing a Habitat to
make it home Newsday
BY CAROL POLSKY
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carol.polsky@newsday.com
December 24, 2007
'Tis the season for holiday cheer, and this
story about a
deserving family moving into a newly built
home with beautiful donated furniture, just in time for the holidays,
certainly fits the bill.
Habitat for Humanity built the home for the mother and her three
children in Rocky Point. The cost to the homeowner: 250 hours of sweat
equity in the construction, plus a 20-year, no-interest mortgage for
about $70,000. Donated labor, materials and federal and state
affordable-housing grants paid for the rest.
The furnishings, however, are the result of a new relationship between
Habitat and a small business with a charitable heart on Long Island's
East End. The ClearingHouse, with stores in Southampton and Greenport,
is donating the furniture for this house and others now under
construction. And its owners, James "Nick" Nicolino and Victoria
Collette, say they hope this arrangement can serve as a model for
philanthropy nationally.
The ClearingHouse sells high-end furniture and accessories at
below-market prices on consignment for homeowners of nearby "fine homes
and estates," says Nicolino. It also receives numerous donations, from
pricey settees to mundane household objects.
The high-value donations are sold at
the ClearingHouse's charitable No
Place Like Home Foundation shop in Greenport to raise funds for its
charitable operations (although, with charitable activities and expenses
rising, ClearingHouse's owners say they are looking for corporate
sponsorships to help defray some of the costs of trucking, insurance,
warehousing, sorting and staff.)
The rest - from sofas and lighting to mattresses and microwaves - is
trucked to agencies with clients who can put it to use. The Retreat, the
East End shelter from domestic violence, and the women and children who
move on from there to apartments, get much of it, says Nicolino.
"We'll pick up the table set, the blankets and couch and recycle them
back into the community," he says. "The need is unbelievable. We didn't
realize it ourselves until we started doing it."
The Habitat for Humanity houses, says Nicolino, seemed like a natural
fit, but surprisingly, he says, "no one has ever said we can
consistently give you the furniture you need so you can furnish the
houses as you build them. It's a radically new concept."
He says he and Collette, a designer, think this concept "could go
national." They belong to a national furniture bank, with a membership
of 70 businesses, that recycles furniture into the communities in which
they operate. "If we can do it here locally, then why can't it be
implemented across the country?"
Nicolino and Collette are working with Christine Baker, family services
director for Middle Island-based Habitat for Humanity of Suffolk, which
has built more than 110 houses in the county in the last 20 years. She's
enthusiastic about the new arrangement.
"I'm very psyched," she says. "It's very exciting, and I'm hoping this
thing explodes. Maybe we could go worldwide."
"Whatever we can do to help these low-income families is a good thing."
The new owner of the Rocky Point house is Joannie Toro, 35, a school
district employee who lived in a water-damaged apartment in Brentwood
with her children, ages 6, 8 and 11, until Habitat moved them into
transitional housing.
Under Habitat's rules, families selected for houses agree to sweat
equity of 250 hours of labor on their home and other Habitat houses,
plus they agree to take out a 20-year, zero-percent interest mortgage of
about $70,000 to pay for costs not covered by, in Toro's case, $35,000
in state and federal affordable housing grants, and by donated labor and
material.
Recently, Baker brought Toro to the ClearingHouse to give Collette an
idea of what she and her kids liked.
"She was very shy about asking for anything; they're overwhelmed that
this is happening to them," says Collette, who is busy choosing,
rechoosing and stockpiling pieces for the new home. "She was very drawn
to colorful things with flowers ... She liked a yellow floral chintz
sofa, and I have something very similar that just came in. Every time
something new and better comes in, I save it for her."
She adds, "She said she always wanted a table in back of the sofa to put
pictures of her family, and I registered that in my mind ... It's like
when the kids give you the Christmas list and you go out and find them,
and they show up under the tree miraculously."
In fact, the charity will donate everything from drapes to towels to a
whitewashed armoire and captains' beds.
Baker says in the past, families came to their new Habitat houses with
old, usually insufficient furnishings and had to acquire and set up the
rest. Not anymore.
"For everything to arrive instantly, it's a wonderful gift," Baker says.
"I know the family is overwhelmed with gratitude."
Contact The ClearingHouse, 640 County Rd. (Route 27), Southampton, at
its
Web site or call 631-287-
6653 (ask about its tag sale with deep discounts on merchandise).
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Habitat for Humanity house in Rocky
Point
furnished by No
Place Like Home.
You all know about the
extraordinary work HABITAT for HUMANITY does. The homes they build
through volunteerism provide sanctuary for families in dire
circumstances. Well, we are privileged to be able to partner with this
outstanding charity and taking the vision of home, security and safety
to another level. We have committed to filling the homes with the
"comforts" that make a house a home. Our ClearingHouse retail stores,
along with No Place Like Home, our non-profit foundation, are pulling
out all the stops. We will fill the Habitat houses on Long Island with
furnishings, neat, clean and ready for the families to move right in. A
kitchen at the ready to make a warm meal, a dining room table with
plenty of chairs to seat the group and a few friends for dinner, and
each and every bedroom furnished with comfy places to call their own.
We even tuck them into new beds with cheerful bedding, pillows and
toasty warm blankets. Mom and or dad get a room reflecting a sense of
pride in the welcoming bed and lots of dresser space. If the little
ones need a desk to do school work or mom needs a rocker to cuddle with
her babies we make every effort to fill their wish lists with just the
right items. As you can see, we love what we do and feel blessed to
give what we have to those of our neighbors that can gain so much from
so little.
The ClearingHouse-Southampton
640 County Road
39 (Highway 27)
Southampton, NY 11968
Ph: 631.287-6653
Email:
info@theclearinghousesouthampton.com
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