The Michigan Regional Warehouse
At the September 2007 Affiliates in Motion Conference (AIM), put on by Habitat for Humanity of Michigan (HFHM), ReStores from all over the state met for their third year to elect three members from each of three regions within Michigan to sit on the Michigan ReStore Committee (MRC). At this time, the MRC was still an informal committee of HFHM, which had previously been known as MARS (Michigan Association of ReStores). This grass roots committee was formed in 2004 with the mission to maximize the potential of Habitat ReStores throughout the state. Anyway, at this meeting, the committee elected a chair, yours truly, and we began to put together an agenda to carry us through the next year – until the 2008 AIM conference. Among the items on that agenda was the creation of the first regional warehouse.
The concept of having regional warehouses is something that I had been advocating in the ReStore arena for a couple years. It was my sense that ReStores were becoming a huge entity which wasn’t (isn’t) being fully maximized. I felt that there were donors out there waiting to be tapped who could provide donations on a scale so big that no single store could effectively deal with them. The answer: have regional warehouses at the ready to say “yes” to major donations and equitably distribute those items to affiliates/ReStores throughout the country. This is what the Michigan ReStore Committee set off to do.
In a matter of a couple months, the Battle Creek affiliate had found a fantastic building in Battle Creek, which was part of a local land bank. The purchase price of the building was a mere $20,000.00. However, once the land bank learned what our intent was, they dropped the price to a whopping $1.00. Here comes the first of a few minor glitches encountered during this process. At this time, the committee was not a formal committee of HFHM. We didn’t have any money or any means to buy property. Herein lays the beauty of what you see in Michigan Habitat affiliates. Art Pierce, the executive director of Battle Creek Habitat for Humanity, made the call for his affiliate to buy the building with the sole intent for it to be used as the warehouse. While we did try to get Habitat for Humanity of Michigan to buy the building, it was far too cumbersome of a process to make it happen in the time we had. Art realized that this venture was a no lose situation: if the warehouse concept works, then all is well; if not, he’s sitting on quite an asset. Let me further say that Art is a big picture Habitat guy. He’s in it for the overall mission, not just for his affiliate. His work on the ReStore committee, and his willingness to offer his affiliate resources towards this venture, were critical in making it happen.
So, in less than three months from when we set out on this idea, we had a building, and we had Battle Creek Habitat willing and able to run it in the interim. Now, equitably distributing product to the 37 ReStores spread all over this big state was thought at the time to be a very difficult thing to accomplish. Battle Creek is in the south western part of Lower Michigan, far from being centrally located. So, the initial intent was to make this warehouse a pilot program. I knew that my northern affiliate would probably find that shipping costs would make our use of the warehouse unprofitable, but that didn’t concern me. We wanted to see if we could make it work, then later get other warehouses strategically placed across the state up and running. We received our first shipment of product in January 2008, and it quickly became apparent that not everyone in the state felt as I did. So, we had to build a distribution system that would make getting the product fair for everyone.
When we started down this path, we had a budget and a business plan. Of course, there wasn’t anything like this, as far as we knew, so we had to build it from scratch. When the warehouse first opened, we had determined that a 10% handling charge would be assessed to cover the MRW’s costs associated with storing, handling, etc. When we were faced with the challenge of equal distribution costs, we turned to Lynn Schmoll of Parkshore Associates, a consultant specializing in nonprofits and governments. Lynn developed several different formulas to address this issue, and we ended up with a 20% fee on all outgoing product. This 20% fee covers all the costs associated with the warehouse and all transportation costs to any ReStore in the state. Whether you are Battle Creek HFH, located just down the street, or Marquette HFH located 10hrs north, you pay the same. It’s like the auto industry: people living in Detroit pay the same as those living in Missouri.
It should also be noted, that while I have used phrases such as “all the ReStores in the state”, the committee made it a point to not limit the use of this warehouse to Michigan affiliates. All Habitat for Humanity affiliates can, and will, benefit from the MRW! Further, while it was the ReStore committee that made this happen, we all recognized that this warehouse was to serve the Habitat for Humanity mission and, thus, would not be limited to use by ReStores only. The home building programs of affiliates will also enjoy having this warehouse to draw from. It’s all about building homes!
With that, in May 2008, the Habitat for Humanity of Michigan board of directors formally recognized and adopted the Michigan Regional Warehouse and our committee. Bruce Woerner (formally from Battle Creek HFH) was hired by Habitat Michigan to operate the warehouse. Bruce served on the committee and was immensely important in getting the warehouse up and running.
Where do we go from here? Anyone who knows me understands that I don’t ask “how” first. I say, “let’s get stuff, sell stuff, and build homes”. That’s just how I roll… allowing vision to pave the way and process to catch up! Are all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed with this warehouse? Probably not. Is a 20% fee too much or too little? I don’t know. If it’s too much, and we have an unnecessary surplus in our account, then we’ll cut a check to those affiliates who have used the warehouse (proportional to yadda, yadda, yadda…). I personally don’t have a problem going into a venture like this without knowing the “how” of every little detail. Our committee has demonstrated what a group of talented, inspired, and hardworking folks can accomplish. We’ve crashed through many roadblocks and some negativity, but, so far, have persevered. What I see on the horizon, is the MRW funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars (perhaps millions) to affiliates across our state and region; building hundreds of new Habitat homes which otherwise would not be built. Maybe someday, the MRW will warehouse container loads of purchased goods, which can be had for a better per unit price. Being able to say “yes” when opportunity knocks is where we should be focused.
To date, more than $350,000.00 in donated goods has come in and out of the warehouse. We went from idea to open doors in three months, using a volunteer committee meeting monthly in Lansing. I’d like to thank these folks for all their hard work on the Michigan ReStore Committee:
Ken Bensen – President, Habitat for Humanity of Michigan
Anna Beningo – Former Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity of Michigan
Sandy Pearson – Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity of Michigan
Tom Williams – Director of Coalitions & Capacity Building, Habitat for Humanity of Michigan
Lynn Schmoll – Parkshore Associates http://bcparkshore.net/
Art Pierce – Battle Creek HFH
Bruce Woerner – Formally from Battle Creek HFH, now MRW director
Ron Stafford – Blue Water HFH
Bob Bystrom – Northwestern Michigan HFH
Tom Hyde – Kent County HFH
Joe Rios – Lakeshore HFH
Joe Madden – Kalamazoo Valley HFH
Jeff Kato – Genesee County HFH
Donna Stephansky – Monroe County HFH
Andy Anderson – Detroit HFH
Mike Shimon – Marquette County HFH
Debbie Wykes – Monroe County HFH
Thanks for reading!
Mike
Tags: Business, Habitat for Humanity, Michigan, nonprofit, Recycle, ReStore, Warehouse
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