Habitat for Humanity ReStore celebrates move to Southfield

SOUTHFIELD — The city of Southfield recently welcomed a new neighbor into the community. 

On Dec. 4, the Southfield Area Chamber of Commerce, city officials, supporters, volunteers and shoppers gathered to celebrate the grand opening of Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County’s newest ReStore location at 22110 Telegraph Road. The ReStore had previously been located in Farmington Hills. 

Habitat’s ReStores serve as home improvement and resale stores that sell donated furniture, decor, building materials and appliances at a low cost to customers. The funds raised by ReStore locations help further Habitat’s mission of helping families achieve homeownership. 

“Today, we’re celebrating a home of a different kind. It’s our new home. It’s Habitat’s new home in our ReStore,” said Michele Hodges, executive director and CEO of Habitat Oakland after she asked the DJ to play “Our House” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. “But this is the place that will empower us to continue to build homes, community and hope for those who are dear to us. We might not sleep here, but we certainly live here, and we will love here, and we will thrive here just like home. And most importantly, we will prosper here, and I don’t even think we can imagine to what extent we’re going to be able to share that prosperity with the community that we serve.

“ReStore. It’s a moniker I certainly love because it simply states what we’re charged with doing every day, and we can’t do any of that without you, and that’s what we’re here to celebrate today, is the partnership that we have with each and every one of you,” Hodges said. 

Southfield Mayor Ken Siver explained that the Habitat for Humanity Oakland County team and volunteers have become familiar faces through the years through initiatives such as Rock the Block. 

Rock the Block has taken place in Southfield neighborhoods every year since 2016 to help residents with yard cleanup, which includes leaf removal from yards, trash removal, limited branch trimming, hedge trimming, lawn mowing and edging.

Siver also shared that the Southfield Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, a group with the mission of restoring Southfield homes to improve and maintain property values for residents, has worked with Habitat For Humanity Oakland County on over one hundred home rehabs with more in the works and have built new homes. 

“And why we did all this is because Southfield had more foreclosures following the mortgage crisis than any other community in Oakland County; we were hit very, very hard,” Siver said. “Our neighborhoods were in danger with bank foreclosures and then tax foreclosures. It was very, very bad. And these homes were being stripped, they were being vandalized, and we had to do something. 

“So we jumped in with our partnership with Habitat, and began really, not only rescuing homes, but rescuing neighborhoods. The reinvestment of millions of dollars in Southfield neighborhoods turned things around,” Siver said.

He shared that he used to donate items he had lying around to a charity in Livonia, but now he is excited to do that in his neighborhood. 

“This has been a great, great partnership going on nine years, and it all started because I was nosy one day, but I am very pleased to be here, and I’m so glad the ReStore’s in Southfield,” Siver said. “Now, as I look around here and, I hope you’re doing the same thing that I’m doing. I’m thinking about that stuff in the garage. I’m thinking of this stuff in my basement. You save stuff and think someday, ‘I might use it,’ but you probably won’t.”

Shoppers can browse the ReStore inventory in person Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Inventory and more information can be found anytime online at habitatoakland.org/restore.

Donations are tax-deductible, and drop-offs are welcome seven days a week during store hours. Free donation pickups can be made by calling the Donation Call Center at (248) 365-4090 or by emailing callcenter@habitatoakland.org with your first and last name, phone number, ZIP code and photos of your item(s).

For more information about ReStore Southfield, visit habitatoakland.org/restore or facebook.com/restoresouthfield.