Home Resource

Reuse store operations: reducing waste, building a vibrant and sustainable local economy, channeling materials to those in need, providing meaningful work experiences, educating and inspiring to promote sustainability. Home Resource's reuse store continues to collect and sell used building materials to reduce waste, provide affordable materials, and keep them in the local economy. For the first 6-months of 2024, over 22,000 western Montana residents across the demographic spectrum shopped, donated, volunteered or participated in activities in support of our mission. Our store operations facilitated the reuse of 860,000 pounds of materials and the recycling of 100's of tons, fostering a circular economy where materials are reused instead of thrown away. We also expanded our services in the store to make the recycling of hard-to-recycle items more accessible. In 2023, we started collecting fluorescent light bulbs for recycling and community members who pay for this service have kept over 1,000 lightbulbs out of our local landfill. The reuse store promotes a culture of reuse and provides affordable building materials to the community. For the first 6-months of 2024, Home Resource employed 51 missoulians, 58 percent of our income was from the sale of publicly donated materials, the retail store had 22,009 transactions. Home Resource prices materials in the reuse store to be accessible to most. We spent 95% of all Home Resource's expenditures in the local economy. Home Resource donated over $3,000 worth of construction and project materials to 25 local nonprofits, schools and churches through our materials giving program. We donated over $2,500 worth of construction and project materials to 15 individuals that could not afford the repairs to maintain their homes.

Work training & community engagement programs: Home Resource provided meaningful work experiences, educating and inspiring to promote sustainability. For the first six-months of 2024, Home Resource provided meaningful work with mentoring, dignity, and job skills training to 18 work program participants experiencing barriers to employment such as age, a history of incarceration or addiction, or mental and physical challenges. Participants in our youth internship or youth apprenticeship programs which partner with high schools and youth-focused organizations to offer a safe, structured work environment and skill-development. 152 people volunteered for Home Resource, including 110 community service volunteers, working a total of 1,000 hours helping to process reusable building materials in our store. For the first six-months of 2024, we continued our partnership with the lifelong learning center to offer classes to the entire missoula community getting more people into our woodshop and engaged with Home Resource. In addition, 46 low to moderate income individuals learned reuse skills in our workshops building projects with reused materials. Home Resource hosted 5 in-person fix-it clinics teaching repair skills and keeping items in use from textiles to small engines and appliances with 43 participants.

Zero waste systems & education: reducing waste, building a more vibrant and sustainable local economy, and educating and inspiring to promote sustainability. Our zero waste programs work to transform our relationship with things to reduce our demand on extracted natural resources and mitigate climate impacts of the materials economy while helping generate a local regenerative economy. We are working to build a culture of zero waste and help reach missoula's zero by fifty goal of 90% waste reduction by 2050 by addressing policy, education, access, and infrastructure with multiple community partners. In 2024, Home Resource worked to achieve goals and actions in the education and infrastructure pathways of the plan, and continued work on building reuse and recycling infrastructure in missoula. Home Resource participated in communities of practice that focus on hard-to-recycle materials, exploring capacities to reduce waste by developing infrastructure for materials that cannot currently be reused in missoula, and finalized plans for an on-campus year-round household chemical waste collection facility. Over the past 12-months, Home Resource led green team efforts at four of missoula's largest community events and helped divert 100,000 pounds of waste from the local landfill to compost and recycling facilities. Our flagship education program, the zero waste ambassador program (zwap!) Takes place during the school year. During the most recent school year, we reached sixty-one 5th grade classes from 24 area schools, educating over 793 5th graders with our stem-aligned, inquiry-based curriculum that teaches students where materials come from, where they go, and empowers them to make choices that lead us all to a sustainable future. For the past twenty years, Home Resource has hosted a spontaneous construction event where 20 teams representing 65 individuals participate in an educational, reused materials building contest.