Habitat for Humanity ReStore opens in Mishawaka

A new Habitat for Humanity ReStore opened on Grape Road in Mishawaka Friday.

It's the second location in St. Joseph County; there's also a ReStore on South Bend's south side.

The store is stocked by donations and sells gently-used or new home improvement items.

And, all of the profits help build new homes for local families, like Ashley Andresen and her two sons.

"I had a wonderful home growing up and I would like for them to have the same thing, to have a yard, to play in the backyard on the swing set," Andresen said. "To just have a place to call our own is going to be amazing."

Habitat hopes the prime location on Grape Road will help bring more customers and more money into the store, ultimately helping to build more homes.

It's estimated St. Joseph County's two stores will bring in about $1 million in profits by the end of the year.

"We think this store and our South Bend store will eventually be able to fund five houses a year," said Jim Williams, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County.

Besides bringing additional money into Mishawaka's economy, the opening of the ReStore has other benefits for the city.

The city actually helped Habitat acquire the longtime vacant building, so Habitat agreed to build some homes in Mishawaka.

"They're going to build nine homes for us on some residual property to a construction project we had that was really not developable," said Mishawaka Mayor Dave Wood.

That means more families like Andresen's will finally have a place to call home.

Source: http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/Habitat-for-Humanity-ReStore-opens-in-Mishawaka-179755731.html

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