DePuy Young Professionals ‘Take Over’ Habitat ReSale Outlet
November 6, 2021 at 12:33 a.m.
DePuy Young Professionals ‘Take Over’ Habitat ReSale Outlet
By David [email protected]
On Friday, Habitat for Humanity of Kosciusko County Executive Director Ben Logan explained, “Here at Habitat for Humanity Resale Outlet, we are actually doing a first-of-a-kind store takeover weekend. It’s this idea we’ve had for a little while. How can we leverage the store and its visibility to help the community even more?”
He said Habitat partnered with DePuy’s Young Professionals employee resource group (ERG) for the store takeover weekend.
“They wanted to help out and I said, ‘Why don’t we try this?’ So, it’s kind of a hybrid volunteer/fundraising event where a lot of these employees are actually giving through their company – so you get kind of a company match as well – to the build that’s coming up,” Logan said. “And at the same time, they’re actually helping us by taking over the store for a weekend so they’re staffing volunteer slots in the store and it becomes this event that we’ve put on.”
Cole Brown, DePuy associate marketing manager, said, “We’re here to help out for the weekend and we thought it would be great to raise more awareness, especially around the next home build and what they’re trying to achieve with that. It’s been on hold for quite a while now with the influx of housing costs and building materials and all those things. We just want to come in, help out with the home store specifically and then raise funds around the next home build with Habitat.”
He explained that DePuy has different ERGs on DePuy’s campus and one is specifically for young professionals.
“It’s actually open to all ages, but anyone who would like to join, it’s really professional development and helping out with the community and so on and so forth,” Brown said. “With COVID the past year, it’s been difficult to meet in person and have live events, and we’ve been wanting to help out with Habitat for quite a while now and we’re finally able to come in and donate our time here today in the shop.”
There’s been at least one DePuy volunteer working on each of the three days of the event. Friday, there were six helping rearrange some of the things in the outlet store. Brown said the Young Professionals ERG has 60 members, with 15 of them volunteering this weekend at Habitat.
Logan explained how the DePuy volunteers were assisting at the store. He said, “It’s a lot of helping customers, a lot of processing and cleaning donations that we’ve received. The community around us has been very generous, but our building is only so big, so we have to keep things moving so that the people in the store can get the donations that they need and buy the furnishings and home improvement goods that they need. The (DePuy) employees are helping us process through things, possibly throw a few things out, scrap a few things, bring all the good stuff forward. So, really, when you have a lot of hands, that work goes fast.”
After the experience with DePuy, Logan said he’d like to do it again with other groups.
“I think it would be a really great opportunity, especially for those larger organizations wanting to see more of their employees get involved,” Logan said.
He said he would love to see them on the build side, as well as at the store.
“I think this is a great opportunity for other companies as well,” Logan said.
Brown said one key element of the group’s credo and DePuy’s mission statement is “around community and donating our time in developing the community around us. We really wanted to reach out and do that here in Warsaw, and we feel like we want to have a bigger footprint in Warsaw overall and make sure that this next home build we can be involved with it and it’s going to be a great opportunity for all parties involved.”
The next Habitat for Humanity of Kosciusko County build was planned for this fall, but Logan said that is looking like it may be pushed back to spring 2022. Construction costs and the housing market have “really put a damper on our build schedule,” he said, but Habitat is hoping to “shelter through the winter and really start strong in the spring. But we’re always open for miracles,” he said.
It will be the 35th home built by Habitat for Humanity of Kosciusko County. The build is taking place in Warsaw, and is for a grandmother named Missy, who is currently a contractor at DePuy, according to a previous news release provided by Logan.
The ReSale Outlet is at 3970 Corridor Drive, Warsaw, and is open Thursday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“It’s all donations from the local community. Heavily discounted prices. You’re not going to find these prices in retail. I would encourage everyone to come out and shop. All the money goes back to supporting Habitat and our operations of building houses locally,” Logan stated.
To learn more about the ReSale Outlet, visit kosciuskohabitat.org/resale/
If you would like to support the new build, visit the website kosciuskohabitat.org/give/
If you would like to volunteer with Habitat, fill out the volunteer form at the website at kosciuskohabitat.org/volunteer/.
On Friday, Habitat for Humanity of Kosciusko County Executive Director Ben Logan explained, “Here at Habitat for Humanity Resale Outlet, we are actually doing a first-of-a-kind store takeover weekend. It’s this idea we’ve had for a little while. How can we leverage the store and its visibility to help the community even more?”
He said Habitat partnered with DePuy’s Young Professionals employee resource group (ERG) for the store takeover weekend.
“They wanted to help out and I said, ‘Why don’t we try this?’ So, it’s kind of a hybrid volunteer/fundraising event where a lot of these employees are actually giving through their company – so you get kind of a company match as well – to the build that’s coming up,” Logan said. “And at the same time, they’re actually helping us by taking over the store for a weekend so they’re staffing volunteer slots in the store and it becomes this event that we’ve put on.”
Cole Brown, DePuy associate marketing manager, said, “We’re here to help out for the weekend and we thought it would be great to raise more awareness, especially around the next home build and what they’re trying to achieve with that. It’s been on hold for quite a while now with the influx of housing costs and building materials and all those things. We just want to come in, help out with the home store specifically and then raise funds around the next home build with Habitat.”
He explained that DePuy has different ERGs on DePuy’s campus and one is specifically for young professionals.
“It’s actually open to all ages, but anyone who would like to join, it’s really professional development and helping out with the community and so on and so forth,” Brown said. “With COVID the past year, it’s been difficult to meet in person and have live events, and we’ve been wanting to help out with Habitat for quite a while now and we’re finally able to come in and donate our time here today in the shop.”
There’s been at least one DePuy volunteer working on each of the three days of the event. Friday, there were six helping rearrange some of the things in the outlet store. Brown said the Young Professionals ERG has 60 members, with 15 of them volunteering this weekend at Habitat.
Logan explained how the DePuy volunteers were assisting at the store. He said, “It’s a lot of helping customers, a lot of processing and cleaning donations that we’ve received. The community around us has been very generous, but our building is only so big, so we have to keep things moving so that the people in the store can get the donations that they need and buy the furnishings and home improvement goods that they need. The (DePuy) employees are helping us process through things, possibly throw a few things out, scrap a few things, bring all the good stuff forward. So, really, when you have a lot of hands, that work goes fast.”
After the experience with DePuy, Logan said he’d like to do it again with other groups.
“I think it would be a really great opportunity, especially for those larger organizations wanting to see more of their employees get involved,” Logan said.
He said he would love to see them on the build side, as well as at the store.
“I think this is a great opportunity for other companies as well,” Logan said.
Brown said one key element of the group’s credo and DePuy’s mission statement is “around community and donating our time in developing the community around us. We really wanted to reach out and do that here in Warsaw, and we feel like we want to have a bigger footprint in Warsaw overall and make sure that this next home build we can be involved with it and it’s going to be a great opportunity for all parties involved.”
The next Habitat for Humanity of Kosciusko County build was planned for this fall, but Logan said that is looking like it may be pushed back to spring 2022. Construction costs and the housing market have “really put a damper on our build schedule,” he said, but Habitat is hoping to “shelter through the winter and really start strong in the spring. But we’re always open for miracles,” he said.
It will be the 35th home built by Habitat for Humanity of Kosciusko County. The build is taking place in Warsaw, and is for a grandmother named Missy, who is currently a contractor at DePuy, according to a previous news release provided by Logan.
The ReSale Outlet is at 3970 Corridor Drive, Warsaw, and is open Thursday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“It’s all donations from the local community. Heavily discounted prices. You’re not going to find these prices in retail. I would encourage everyone to come out and shop. All the money goes back to supporting Habitat and our operations of building houses locally,” Logan stated.
To learn more about the ReSale Outlet, visit kosciuskohabitat.org/resale/
If you would like to support the new build, visit the website kosciuskohabitat.org/give/
If you would like to volunteer with Habitat, fill out the volunteer form at the website at kosciuskohabitat.org/volunteer/.
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