Day of Service

Each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, people across the country take part in a day of service to honor his legacy. This year the ‘Lift welcomed a troop of volunteers gathered by the Central Kenilworth Avenue Revitalization Community Development Corporation!

Photo credit: Lateef Mangum

Over 20 community members joined us to help sort donations, pick up trash, organize inventory, and generally ‘freshen’ up our warehouse.

Photo credit: Lateef Mangum 

Photo credit: Lateef Mangum

Photo credit: Lateef Mangum 

Over the course of the day, they:

• Removed 325 gallons of trash from the roadway and the park across the street. To put that into context, this is roughly 6 full trash cans of litter that didn’t go into the Anacostia River!

• Helped to organize our furniture section, which was previously very difficult to browse through. Now it’s easier for folks to hunt for treasure!

• Measured and helped reorganize 120 doors, so that people can find the sizes they need more quickly.

• Sorted and pulled recycling from 23 buckets of vintage door hardware. These historic materials are incredibly important for maintaining the look and feel of older homes; many pieces will be offered through our Etsy and eBay stores to help preserve homes nationwide. Once sold, these materials will bring in $6,900 in proceeds to support our community programs.

• Helped organize storage areas so we’re ready for the new year!

Many, many thanks to these volunteers who braved the cold yesterday to help us out. The time they generously gave us equates to 50 hours of labor!  Volunteers who organize and clean help us to survive and thrive.  The better our warehouse looks, the easier it is for Forklift Fans to find what they need, the more good stuff we can save from the landfill, the more green jobs we can create, the more materials we can distribute to neighbors in need, and the more good we can do in the community.

If you are interested in volunteering at Community Forklift, please fill out this form so we can get a little info and put your talents to work! https://podio.com/webforms/17134895/1151861