Home for the Holidays!

The Home Depot Foundation and Habitat for Humanity Rehabilitate Home for Local Vietnam Veteran

The Home Depot Foundation and Habitat for Humanity San Bernardino Area will partner on Tuesday, December 4, 2012 to provide a local San Bernardino veteran and his family with home repairs and modifications, just in time for the Holidays!

Daniel Equihua is a disabled Vietnam veteran and is in need of major home repairs to get access inside his home, bathroom, and kitchen. Daniel suffered from a severe stroke, which left him in the Intensive Care Unit for 3 months. While in a coma, doctors did not believe he would survive his ordeal. Currently, Daniel visits the VA Hospital for therapy: 2 days for speech therapy and 3 days for physical therapy.

Daniel and Rose Equihua  

Daniel Equihua served in the Army from 1965-1967 during the Vietnam War. Daniel and his wife, Rose, recently celebrated their 39^th wedding anniversary on November 10. They have 2 daughters and 3 grandchildren, who also live in their home. 

“I am looking forward to getting back to a normal life. The stroke has been very hard on me and my family. We didn’t think I was going to make it, but I am here and fighting!” Daniel stated enthusiastically. “Thank you for making me feel better. We want to be together in our home and it will be nice to decorate for Christmas with my grandchildren!”

More than 20 Home Depot employees will work alongside Habitat for Humanity to rehabilitate the home. Repairs and modifications will be made in the kitchen, living room, bathroom and the exterior of the home.

"We are excited to partner with The Home Depot Foundation and engage them in our work to help veterans and families in need," said Rhea Stumm, Communications Manager at Habitat for Humanity San Bernardino Area. “We want to thank The Home Depot Foundation and Home Depot volunteers for their service and dedication to local veterans.”

Not only is The Home Depot contributing countless volunteer hours to this project, but The Home Depot Foundation has also sponsored this project through a generous gift of $17,000. The rehabilitation project is expected to be completed in 1 week.

“On behalf of The Home Depot Foundation, we look forward to working with Daniel Equihua and Habitat for Humanity” said Steven Klein, Team Depot District Captain. “Daniel served and protected our county, and we are honored to help him repair his home in ways he needs to fully recover from the stroke. We can see the fight in him, the perseverance to fully recover.”

A Board Cutting Ceremony (project kick-off event) will take place at 8:30am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012. Construction will commence at 9:00am and will continue through the day until approximately 3:00pm. 

Pictures to come! 

ReStore Workshop

Update - Check out the pictures from the workshop! CLICK HERE! 

Be sure to make it out to our first ever ReStore DIY Workshop on Saturday, November 17 from 2:00pm - 4:00pm! The theme of the workshop will be refurbishing and painting second hand furniture! The event is FREE and it will be instructed by the talented Rebecca Waring-Crane, owner of 2nd Chance Designs. She will show guests how to paint and refurbish an old piece of furniture, and give the piece a new life! Rebecca will be using an item from the ReStore during the workshop.  Hope to see you there!

Don’t dump it! Donate it to the ReStore!

By Heidi Lai, Habitat Volunteer

Do you have old furniture lying around the house? Maybe you have a rug, or a lamp, or a door that’s been left, propped up in the garage? Or perhaps you dived into cleaning out the house over the weekend, and discovered a bucket full of unused hardware and tools. Before throwing anything out, think first of the ReStore. Many families in need in your local community could benefit because of you.

The ReStore works directly with Habitat for Humanity, which builds houses for low-income families in the local community. In fact, 100% of the proceeds go directly to helping build houses for families. The ReStore depends on people like you to donate their old home improvement items, which will then be sold up to 50% off to the public, or used directly into the building of families’ homes. You may not think your home improvement items are worth much, but they’re worth a lot to the ReStore. It could mean everything to a family in need.

The ReStore accepts a variety of home improvement items. Chances are, what you have, the ReStore will gladly take. And to make it all even easier, all your donations are tax-deductible. You are only a drive away from helping others in need. You have two, extremely easy and convenient options. You can either drop off your donations at the ReStore - 25948 Business Center Dr. Redlands, CA 92374 - during its opening hours of 9am-6pm, or give the ReStore a call to schedule a FREE pickup (909) 799-6738. Shawn, our donation pickup employee, will be more than happy to pick up your donations.

GET TO KNOW SHAWN!

Shawn is an outgoing guy who would love to pick up your wonderful donations. He loves the outdoors, and has a family of two kids (with one on the way!), two cats, and two dogs. He enjoys spending time with his family, especially by going to rodeos with them. Shawn describes working at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore as “a lot of fun.”  He “enjoys working with (his) co-workers and all the volunteers in the ReStore.” And Shawn knows the impact his job has on the community. “It is great to know that all the work I do in the ReStore is helping families in need in our community,” he said honestly. Shawn would love nothing more than for you to send some donations his way!

The ReStore depends on donations. If you want to see more low-income households receive homes, and more change in the community, please donate!

For more information about the ReStore, call us at (909) 799-6738 or visit www.habitatsb.org/restore

Donate, Shop, Volunteer 

at the 

Tuesday - Saturday 

9am - 6pm

25948 Business Center Dr. Redlands, CA 92374 

Refurbishing a Wooden Coffee Table

DIY with Khoz, Habitat Volunteer!

DIY (Do It Yourself) projects are simple, given the right vision and planning prior to the start of the project! It is best to start out with small projects and work your way up as you become experienced, skilled, and confident at your craft.

Let’s start off with a project that is beginner friendly.

“Refurbishing a wooden coffee table” (coffee table from the Habitat ReStore!!)

Refurbishing a coffee table may seem tough; however, this is a simple project. All in all, this project should take 3 days to complete. 

Before:

After: 

Step 1 Sanding:

The first step would be to take a sander and gently sand down the top layer of the coffee table. You can sand the table down the old fashion way with sanding paper, but this will take a lot of time. I would recommend buying a ¼ inch sander and ¼ inch sanding paper for this project. The sanding time will vary depending on the size and style of the table! The table in the picture above took me roughly 5 hours to completely sand. 

Step 2 Staining:
After sanding, prep the table for staining! Next take a dampened rag and wipe of all the wood dust of the table.  After the wipe down, apply the stain to the table. Some people use a fine paint brush to apply stain; however, I prefer using a rag. Staining is fairly simple and should take 30 minutes to 1 hour to complete depending on the project; be sure to apply the stain in the direction of the wood grain. Make sure to lightly dip the edge of a rag into the stain can and then wipe the rag against the grain of the wood.  If you feel the stain you have applied is not dark enough let the table dry for about 10 minutes and reapply another coat of wood stain. For my DIY coffee table project, I applied two coats of Walnut colored wood stain. Let the stain dry for one full day after finishing the process. 

Step 3 Clear Coat:
For the final step, apply clear coat to the table. Clear coats come in glossy, semi-glossy, or matte options; select the clear coat type based on your preference. I used the matte clear coat on my project; matte is better suited for older/antique furniture. Also, for this step you will need a fine paint brush! 

Apply the clear coat in the direction of the wood grain. You will need to apply three coats in total. After the first coat has been applied, let the coat dry for two hours.  Repeat this step for the second coat. For the third coat wait 24 hours before application.  Before applying the third coat, lightly sand the table.  After applying the third coat, allow the table 48 hours to fully cure before putting into use.

Items needed:

¼ inch sand paper

¼ inch sander

Paint brush

Can of clear coat

Can of stain

Rag/Cloth

Tarp